The Federal Bureau of Investigation is probing the messy underbelly of the NCAA’s recruiting process and the roles of NBA agents. Most notably, these extensive cases cost former Louisville head coach Rick Pitino his job.
Thus far, the cases have led to 10 arrests — four assistant coaches and six other “assorted participants in the basketball underworld.” One of those six assorted participants is a man by the name of Christian Dawkins who worked for former NBA agent Andy Miller at ASM Sports.
Yahoo Sports released a report on Friday that meticulously details the “potential impermissible benefits and preferential treatment for (high school and college) players and families of players.”
Listed in documents released to Yahoo Sports are the names of current prominent college athletes – Michigan State’s Miles Bridges, Alabama’s Collin Sexton and Duke’s Wendell Carter – and current prominent NBA players — Dallas’ Dennis Smith Jr., Philadelphia’s Markelle Fultz, and Miami’s Bam Adebayo — to name a few.
Less prominent names named in the documents, but most relevant to the Minnesota Timberwolves, are Justin Patton and Anthony Brown.
Patton was the 16th overall pick in 2017 NBA draft acquired by the Wolves in the Jimmy Butler trade, while Brown was signed to a two-way contract by Minnesota this offseason. Both players are currently playing for the Wolves’ G-League affiliate, the Iowa Wolves.
Details of Benefits Provided
The documents provided in the report distinguish between two types of benefits that could be seen as violations of amateurism:
- Loans to players
- Meals and meetings with players or their families while in college or high school, and before they turned pro.
The distinction is important because the former implies specific payments of cash from ASM Sports to the players while the latter implies but does not specify that ASM Sports paid for the meals and meetings.
For the Wolves players, Brown was named in the “Loans to Players” segment of the documents; Patton was not, his name only shows up in the “Meals and Meetings” portion.
This provides more potential for innocence in regards to Patton than Brown. If Patton — or his parents — paid for the meals then he would not have received what could be classified as “extra benefits.” The extra benefits to Brown are clear in the report: Cash.
The unfortunate reality of this messy situation is that this is but one set of documents pertaining to one agency. In theory, there could have been further benefits provided — to any player — at a later date than these documents filed in 2015 and there could be a set of similar documents from different agencies that provided similar benefits.
For example, Dennis Smith Jr. allegedly received $73,500 from ASM Sports but never signed with ASM Sports. Adebayo received $36,500 and Fultz $10,000 according to documents but neither signed with ASM Sports either.
These documents and Yahoo Sports’ reporting paint a picture of a messy underbelly to the amateur basketball world yet only shine light into one exposed agency. There certainly could be more mess to come.
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