Nerlens Noel's $58M Claim Against Rich Paul Heads To New Phase

After Klutch Sports' Rich Paul convinced Nerlens Noel to turn down a 4-year, $70M offer from the Dallas Mavericks in 2017, Noel was left holding the bag, and had to accept minimum deals totaling $13M over the course of those same four years. He sued Paul last year for $58M to recoup lost salary. 

A Dallas-based district court judge has now made a ruling on the lawsuit. 

While the Judge dismissed the suit, he did send it to the National Basketball Player's Association for arbitration. "The Court has determined that a valid, enforceable agreement to arbitrate exists between the parties," wrote the federal judge in her decision.

Noel, said the Judge, contractually assented to arbitration as part of his Standard Player Agent Contract (SPAC) with Paul and Klutch Sports Group, and therefore, the dispute doesn't belong in Court.

Noel claimed that in addition to wrongfully costing him the $70M deal with Dallas, Paul neglected to tell him about free agent interest from several teams including the Los Angeles Lakers, Houston Rockets and Philadelphia 76ers. 

Noel has since signed a 3-year, $27.7M contract with the New York Knicks, that has two years remaining. He was traded to the Detroit Pistons this offseason, who will be responsible for the remaining two years.

Photos: Pool Photo-USA TODAY Sports, Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports