Rich Paul (center) with John Wall and LeBron James Erika Goldring/Getty Images for Remy Martin As salaries in the NBA continue to skyrocket and player movement has become more difficult, agents are more powerful than ever.

As we near the NBA trade deadline, we have already seen the impact agents can wield as it is widely believed that the underwhelming return in the DeMarcus Cousins trade was driven by his agents telling teams Cousins would not re-sign with any team that traded for him.

Not surprisingly, most of the NBA's biggest stars are represented by a select few agents. In fact, of the nearly $3 billion in team payrolls, more than $1.5 billion in salaries are represented by the ten most powerful agents, according to data collected by Hoops Hype and Spotrac.

Here is a closer look at those agents and the players they represent.