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Report: Michael Avenatti mentions UK basketball assistant in lawsuit against Nike
By Keith Farner
Published:
An unnamed Kentucky basketball assistant was mentioned in a motion in federal court this week on behalf of attorney Michael Avenatti where he alleged under-the-table payouts to elite high school players within Nike’s Elite Youth Basketball division, led by director Carlton DeBose.
The report of the motion comes from Yahoo’s Pat Forde, Pete Thamel and Dan Wetzel and it details how Nike’s grassroots system had a willingness to pay former college stars like Duke’s Zion Williamson and Indiana’s Romeo Langford while they were still in high school.
But the Kentucky portion of the story alleges that DeBose, according to the motion, also “acknowledged in an exchange of text messages with an assistant coach at the University of Kentucky that Nike was funneling payments to high school players through at least ten different EYBL coaches.”
The UK assistant coach is not named, and the filing does not mention any payments involving Kentucky.
Avenatti was charged with extortion in March after he allegedly threatened to go public with evidence of pay-to-play schemes within Nike’s EYB league similar to ones that sparked an FBI investigation largely centered on Adidas and its grassroots basketball league. Avenatti pled not guilty to the charge.
The NCAA remains opposed to players accepting any compensation off of their athletic talents, including profiting off their name, image or likeness.
A former newspaper veteran, Keith Farner is a news manager for Saturday Down South.
