William Wesley is one of the most powerful men in the NBA, but he is virtually unknown.

Wesley who goes by the moniker World Wide was described by Scoop Jackson in his ESPN Page 2 column as “The second most powerful man in sports after Phil Knight at Nike Sportswear.” Very few people are able to describe his role and those who do know what Wesley is up to don’t talk. That is the way he likes it.

Worldwide Wes was friends with ex-Louisville Cardinals star player Milt Wagner and later became the godfather to Dajuan Wagner, who would grow up to be a phenom in high school basketball in Camden, New Jersey. He acted as an "uncle" to Wagner Jnr, managing his career from the age of 12. When Wagner went to Memphis, it is alleged that Worldwide Wes negotiated Memphis not only giving Wagner's best friend Arthur Barclay a scholarship, but also Wagner's father a big coaching job at the college.

Once Dajuan Wagner got drafted by Cleveland following his one season in college, Wes met a 14 year old kid named LeBron James who was making a big name for himself in nearby Akron, Ohio. The two became friendly, due in part to Wesley introducing him to Jay Z, who Lebron idolised.

Theory has it that Wesley eventually convinced James to fire his original agent Aaron Goodwin and seek the advice of one of his best friends, the lawyer Leon Rose, who was relatively unknown. 10 years ago, Rose’s client list consisted of NBA journeyman Rick Brunson and a handful of players plying their trade overseas. In 2002 seemingly out of nowhere he started representing Dajuan Wagner and Allen Iverson. This was followed by Richard Hamilton and then in 2005 Lebron James.

Worldwide Wes officially works for nobody, so he is able to work for a number of companies and organisations. He unofficially represents Nike and Reebok, and guides players to them. If you look closely at the various forces at work in basketball at every level— from the AAU programs that link young players to collegiate hoops, the agents looking to land players as early as NBA rules allow, the shoe companies, coaches, franchise owners, front-office executives, players—it eventually dawns on you that they have one thing in common: William Wesley.