Why be an Agent?
Being an agent is a very powerful and influential position in Mock GM®. They control the free agent market, push the limits of the salary cap and can dictate the landscape of a league with regards to how GMs builds their teams. Being an agent doesn’t take as much time as being a GM, but the better Agents are very involved with their clients and the teams they are on throughout the Mock GM® season. The relationship between Agents and GMs goes hand-in-hand-- while it may seem that GMs are at the mercy of Agents at the core of the free agency period, that feeling is reversed during the regular season because GMs ultimately decide which of your clients they put in their teams rotation during the Head-to-Head Mock GM® regular season. Those decisions affect an Agents scorecard and utilization number which ultimately affects an agents rating in the Mock GM® universe (more on what these things on as you continue reading) . Agents are measured against other Agents based on the fantasy points their clients accumulate throughout the game season and Agents onlyonly fantasy points when a GM has their client in rotation during a live game.
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Agent or GM?
The Agent role was created for basketball fans who weren't so keen to fantasy basketball. In other words, if you don’t want to manage a team but want to make your presence felt in a fantasy basketball league, then being an agent is the right choice for you. The bulk of your involvement is during the free agency period when you are negotiating contracts. After that, your points are based on if your clients are in a GMs rotations so there is no additional work involved. During the NBA/Mock GM® regular season you watch the landscape of the NBA and your league progress, GMs will always be looking to make roster changes so whenver there will always be possibilities for you to chime in and be an influence in your league(s).
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After becoming an agent, what is the bottom line goal?
The bottom line goal of being an agent is to find a balance between earning commission by performing transactions while building a portfolio of star-powered clients under contract. Earning commision comes from being involved in contract negotiations via free agent offers and/or buyouts. With contract offers, the higher the contract value, the better commission. The same goes with buyouts, but buyouts are a tricky slope because approving a client buyout is only as good as the potential of finding another GM/Team for that client after the fact. Buy the start of the NBA Regular season, you want all your clients under contract status (YBC) because only clients under contract can be in GMs rotations and only then can an Agent earn points.
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Commission earned as an agent
Agents get approximately 2% commission of the starting salary of their free agent client and 2% of the total up-front buyout value and a pro-rated percentage each year for the remaining amount of money negotiated as being pro-rated.
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Ways to earn commision as an agent
As stated above, agents earn commission based on the transactions they are involved in (excluding trades) those transactions include approved contracts and buyout negotiations. The more free agent clients you represent, the more you are likley to earn commissions. With buyouts you can doubl-dip buy performing a buyout and then negotiating a new contract for the player so long as you can find a GM to take on your player.
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Agent rating system
Mock GM® has a system for rating agents based on their contract negotiation skills. The higher the contract value, the higher your rating is as an agent. This rating helps differentiate agent members from one another and gives GMs a sense of what type of participant you are. An agents rating can also affect participating when it comes to joining exclusive leagues in Mock GM®. Agents are broken up into 4 Ratings (Highest to Lowest):

• $Ari Gold$
• David Faulk
• A GMs Agent
• A Push Over Agent

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How can I be an Agent?
Just like GMs with teams, Agents can claim clients on a first-come first-serve basis. Once you pick a client to represent, you have the power to control where he/she goes and how much money he/she would like to sign for based on his/her salary band level. You make the calls.
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How many clients can an Agent claim/represent?
Typically, Agents can represent up to 30 clients. Each client has a free agent tier from 1 to 3 (3 being the highest free agent tier, 1 being the lowest free agent tier). Of the 30 clients, up to five clients can be of free agent tier 3, eight clients can be of free agent tier 2, and seventeen clients can be of free agent tier 1.
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How do agents actually claim/represent clients?
1.) You must be an agent in your league to claim clients. Clients that are available will have an Add Client indicator next to them. The system will verify if you are successful in claiming that client to represent
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Who is SuperAgentXXXX?
Each league will have a master Agent that represents the 'un-represented'. If the league creator decides to be an agent then he is automatically assigned access to SuperAgentXXXX. If the league creator decides to be a GM he gets to appoint one of the league agents access to SuperAgentXXXX. Under SuperAgentXXXX, all players have the potential of being involved in contract talks.
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What are the contract statuses that indicate a client is a free agents?
FA, UFA, TO, QO and PO statuses are considered free ang clients however TO, QO and PO clients are handled a bit different than UFA and FA clients
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Representing clients with Player Options (PO)/When do clients with (PO) have to be decided?
As an agent you have the choice on whether or not that player will enter the free agent market or play out their contract for the specified remaining years of their existing contract. You make that decision based on your client and the likelyhood that they will/will not make that money back in the free agent market. All clients with Player Options (PO) must be decided before the free agency signing period begins. POs not decided will default to the players' logical option based on their contract and performance from the previous season and likleyhood of a contract being re-negotiated in the free agent market.
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Representing clients with Team Options (TO)
Unlike clients with POs, Team Options (TO) are decided by GMs. In essence the situation is reversed: GMs decide whether or not they let your client enter the free agent market or play out the remaining years of their existing contract. GMs make those decisions based on their plans of re-organizing their teams in the offseason. Clients with TOs must be decided before the College Draft Period.
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Representing clients with Qualifying Offers (QO)
Agents with clients who have Qualifying Offers (QO) have minimal influence during the contract negotiation process. The most an agent can do for their client is set an additional salary requirement above the qualifying offer salary before contract offers are submitted otherwise, the control of the players contract is in the hands of the GMs competing your clients services. GMs submit offers and the GM who owns your clients bird rights can match the highest offer available to your client. As an agent you will have no choice but to accept the matched offer as Agents cannot propose contract offers on behalf of their QO clients. If a GM decides to withdraw a QO offer, only then will the agent have full influence on the contract negotiations for that client since they are now designated as free agents.
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Representing clients with other contract distinctions (YBC), (UND), (RET), (TR), (DRFT)
Agents with clients who are not free agents (YBC, TR, DRFT, UND, RET) only have influence in earning commission if those clients contracts are buyout-eligible. Only YBC clients can be involved in buyouts. If agents decide to represent draft picks, or undrafted rookies, it's likely based on future earning potential if for any other logical reason. In other words their is no immediate gain in earning when it comes to representing other contract status besides free agent and clients already under contract during the offseason. During the NBA Regular season those clients can earn points based on player performance during NBA games, but that decision to represent them is based on the agency's discretion.
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What is a flagship client?
An Agents' flagship client represents their agencies main client usually a superstar client or client with a max salary. This client is your 'sigel' and will be the icon of your organization when league members visit your agencies home page.
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What is ranking clients?
Agents have the ability to rank their clients based on their discretion. This ranking will be reflected on their client list by default for other league members to see.
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Can I drop clients?
Agents can drop client representation with no penalty however if you represent a player with a Player Option (PO), you MUST complete the negotiations of a new contract if you declare that player a free agent. The same applies to buyout negotiations. A player in buyout negotiations cannot be dropped during negotiations or if a buyout has been processed successfully. It is your obligationto find your client a new team and contract or risk carrying a non-earning client in your portfolio during the NBA regular season.
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What are the salary band levels?
Salary band level are assigned to players based on how many years they have been in the NBA. Players with 0-6 years are band 1, 7-9 years are band 2, and 10+ years are band 3. The different band levels have their own salary ranges of what salaries can be offered to them during contract negotiations.
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What are free agent tiers
Free agent tiers are assigned to players based on their performance the previous season and are used when agents pick clients to represent. Clients with free agent tier (3) are typically superstars or high-performing players. Free agent tier (2) are solid starters, Free agent tier (3) is everyone else. Agents are limited to 5 Free agent tier (3), 8 Free agent tier (2), and 17 Free agent tier (1) clients to represent.
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What are minimum bids?
Each player has a number of minimum contract offers that need to be reached before an agent can decide on a contract. This is to prevent agents from signing the first contract they receive. Agents cannot 'take action' on contract negotiations of a player until this provision is met. The minbids is unknown to all league members.
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How are agents involved in trade proposals/approvals?
Agents can propose or 'instigate' trades in Mock GM® however agents cannot take action on those trades unless the trade involves their client with a 'No trade clause' (NTC) in their contract.
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Can an agent see all the trades pending for their client?
Agents can only see the trades they propose and do not have a view of all the trades involving their clients. The most an agent can do in these situations is follow their league(s) rumor board or add their clients to their watchlist.
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What role does an agent play in client buyouts?
Agents can initiate and approve buyouts for their clients.
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What is in it for the Agent to agree to a client buyout offer?
The incentive in approving a buyout for a client is the ability to re-negotiate another contract for that player. Agents cannot drop players once they are bought out and must re-negotiate a contract otherwise that player become a client without earning potential in during the regular season.
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What role does an agent play in free agent client contract offers?
Agents can initiate and approve contract offers on behalf of their client(s) The higher the contrac value, the higher the agents rating is in Mock GM®. The higher the rating an agent recieves, the more distinguised the agent not only in that particular league, but in Mock GM®.
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Resignation of Agency
Agents can close shop of their agency so long as all their clients have contracts accounted for. If an agent accepted a buyout on behalf of their client, they cannot close their agency until they find a new team for that player
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Create an agency
Create an agency by joining a Mock GM® league as an agent. That league may have requirements that need to be met before becoming one in a league.
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Claiming free agent clients
Use the menu option provided by the players profile or select the 'Add Clients' Mock GM® menu option for the list of players without agent representation. Click the 'Add Client' link next to the players name to check whether you qualify to represent them.
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Claiming clients already under contract
Same as claiming a free agent.
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Setting salary requirements
Set salary requirements for the clients you represent selecting 'Set Salary Requiremnts' in the players profile menu or by using the 'Set Salary Requirements' Mock GM® menu option.
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Setting agent assistance
Use the 'Agent Assistance' options menu on the players profile or by using the 'Agent Assistance Settings' Mock GM® menu option
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Ranking clients
Use the Rank Clients Mock GM® menu option under My Orgs -> Player Assignment -> Rank Clients
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Setting flagship client
Use the Flagship client Mock GM® menu option under MY Orgs -> Player Assignment -> Set Flagship Client
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Instigating trades
Propose trades using Mock GM® menu option under My Orgs -> Add -> Propose A Trade
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Approving/rejecting trades
Perform all transactions using the Mock GM® transaction manager
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Deciding player options
Decide player options using the Mock GM® menu option under My Orgs -> Player Assignment -> Decide Player Option
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Proposing client buyout offers
Create a buyout by using the menu option under the players profiile or by using the Mock GM® menu option under My Orgs -> Drop -> Propse A Buyout
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Approving/Rejecting client buyout offers
Perform all transactions using the Mock GM® transaction manager
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Proposing client contract offers
Create a buyout by using the menu option under the players profiile or by using the Mock GM® menu option under My Orgs -> Drop -> Propse A Contract Offer
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Approving/Rejecting client contract offers
Perform all transactions using the Mock GM® transaction manager
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Adding/Removing Clients from watchlist
Use the menu option under the players profile or the Mock GM® menu option under Tools
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Never ending cycle
Although a majority of an agents work is done during the offseason, GMs never stop makeing roster moves. As a result of this fact, the agents job continues during the regular season play as well. Every NBA season there emerges a diamond in the rough player that active GMs try to sign for minimal deals. Your job during the regular season is to keep an eye out for those players as well and see they get the proper representation.
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Turning free agent clients into contracted clients
As stated in the Agent/FAQ, your job as an agent is to get all your players under contract before the regular season. Doing so will maximize your client utilization rating as well as your overall agent rating. in Mock GM®
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Your client portfolio
An agents client portfolio consists of the contracts negotiated, the clients itself, and how the clients are utilized by their GMs during the regular season
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How involved are Agents while GMs compete in Head-to-Head during the NBA season?
Agents are not involved in traditional fantasy basketball Head-to-Head competition. Their scores are based on whether or not a GM has their client in their rotation during NBA games. This is why choosing the right team for your client is just as important as how large the contract value is.
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How are agents measured amongst other agents?
Each week there will be agent standings as well as daily updates from the previous NBA night on how many clients played on GMs rosters vs how many clients were on the bench of GMs rosters.
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The agent scorecard
Each league will have an Agent Scoreboard that will reflect the points accumulated by agents as well as the agents utilization percentage of their clients
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Agent client utilization
Agent client utilization is tracked daily and is reflected on the Agents homepage and Agent Scoreboard in a league on a week-to-week basis
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Agents with clients designated to IL/DL list of a GM/Team
Clients who are on GMs Injured List (IL) or Developmental League (DL) will not get points during the regular season while they are placed under these assignments. It is important for Agents to diversify what teams their clients are on in order to avoid situations where GMs have too many players on their roster and are forced to use this player assignment on an agents client
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Agents with clients on Mock GM® playoff teams
Another incentive for scrutinizing GMs during contract negotiations is that you want your clients to be on winning teams. Why because winning teams mean more points during the regular season for agents. This includes league playoffs as well. Agents get points for clients in the playoffs so pick who you negotiate contracts with!
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