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Asomugha Drops Baker For Condon

It is an agent’s biggest fear.  You invest a ton of time, money, and your heart into a solid player who is a great role player, but not yet a super star.  He gets his chance in his respective league, gets better and better by the year, and eventually gets elected to represent his conference in his league’s all-star game.  Then he drops you for a bigger, more well-known agent right before you get the chance to truly make some money on his big pay day.  There is no doubt in my mind that Steve Baker of Baker Sports Management is hurting right now.

Steve’s website still lists Nnamdi Asomugha as a client; however, that is no longer the case.  The former last pick of the first round for the Oakland Raiders in the 2003 NFL Draft has fired Baker Sports for Tom Condon and CAA.    Asomugha got onto the 2007 Pro Bowl roster at the last second due to another player being injured, but did not make the trip out to Honolulu.  This year is the second in a row that he has been invited to the game (although this time he was invited right after the ballots were counted).  The team captain had a Franchise Tag thrown on him before the 2008 season, which he was obviously very upset about.  Asomugha believed he was worth more than the $9.765 million he is receiving for suiting up in silver and black this year.  Angered with his current situation and not interested in a repeat, Asomugha fired Baker and hired Condon.

What will this mean for Asomugha’s cousin, Adimchinobi Echemandu, who is also represented by Baker?  Will he also jump ship and go CAA?  Will CAA accept him as a client?  Does he have any intention of following his cousin’s lead or will he act on his own?  No matter is Asomugha is represented by Baker, Condon, or Jerry Maguire, he will have only two options if the Raiders refuse to offer a long term deal and instead tag him again this offseason: Accept the Franchise Tag value for another year or hold out.

By Darren Heitner

Darren Heitner created Sports Agent Blog as a New Year's Resolution on December 31, 2005. Originally titled, "I Want To Be A Sports Agent," the website was founded with the intention of causing Heitner to learn more about the profession that he wanted to join, meet reputable individuals in the space and force himself to stay on top of the latest news and trends.

Heitner now runs Heitner Legal, P.L.L.C., which is a law firm with many practice areas, including sports law and contract law. Heitner has represented numerous athletes and sports agents as legal counsel. He has also served as an Adjunct Professor at Indiana University Bloomington from 2011-2014, where he created and taught a course titled, Sport Agency Management, which included subjects ranging from NCAA regulations to athlete agent certification and the rules governing the profession. Heitner serves as an Adjunct Professor at the University of Florida Levin College of Law, where he teaches a Sports Law class that includes case law surrounding athlete agents and the NCAA rules.

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