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Will There Be A Shift Of Focus To Agents Giving Benefits To Basketball Players?

As Marc Isenberg correctly pointed out on this website not too long ago, Sports Agents = The Issue de Jour.  But for much of the past few months, the focus of the media and the NCAA Agent, Gambling and Amateurism division has been on sports agents’ relationships with football student-athletes.  The University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, University of South Carolina, University of Alabama, and University of Georgia have all been negatively affected by sports agents who have ignored NCAA regulations, and state and federal athlete agent laws.  But the issue of athletes receiving benefits from agents does not only exist on those four campuses.  It is a problem at many other schools and is also not restricted to the sport of football.

Many agents actually believe that when it comes to the highest rated players in each sport, agents are offering and giving more benefits for free to student-athletes in basketball than in football.  Basketball AgentGate may have begun with the recent investigation of the University of Oregon basketball program, where an agent supposedly promised money to a student-athlete (Michael Dunigan) while he still had NCAA eligibility remaining.

Without a doubt, Oregon has a big athletic program, but its basketball focus is nowhere near the size of a Kentucky or UConn.  Then again, UConn has already had its own NCAA compliance issues to worry about in this respect, when it was discovered that an agent named Josh Nochimson provided benefits to Nate Miles for free.  My guess is that if the same thing was discovered today, it would be sensationalized and covered much more extensively by the media.  And in turn, it would probably make Connecticut’s Commissioner of Consumer Protection take some sort of action.

By Darren Heitner

Darren Adam Heitner, Esq., is a preeminent sports attorney and the founder of Heitner Legal, P.L.L.C., a Fort Lauderdale-based law firm specializing in sports law, contract negotiations, intellectual property, and arbitration. He earned his Juris Doctor from the University of Florida Levin College of Law in 2010 and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science, magna cum laude, from the University of Florida in 2007, where he was named Valedictorian of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. Admitted to practice in the state bars of Florida, New York, and the District of Columbia, as well as multiple federal courts, Darren also serves as a certified arbitrator with the American Arbitration Association.

As an adjunct professor, Darren imparts his expertise through teaching Sports Law at the University of Florida Levin College of Law and Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) at the University of Miami School of Law in the Entertainment, Arts, and Sports Law LL.M. program. His scholarly contributions include authoring several books published by the American Bar Association, such as How to Play the Game: What Every Sports Attorney Needs to Know, and numerous articles in prominent publications like Forbes, Inc. Magazine, and Above the Law. His thought leadership in NIL has earned him recognition as one of the foremost experts by The Wall Street Journal, USA TODAY, and On3, and he has been lauded as a “power player in NIL deals” by Action Network and a “top sports trademark attorney” by Sportico.

Darren’s passion for sports law led him to establish Sports Agent Blog on December 31, 2005, initially titled “I Want To Be A Sports Agent.” The platform, created as a New Year’s resolution, has grown into a cornerstone of the sports agency community, offering in-depth analysis of industry trends, legal disputes, and agent-player dynamics. His commitment to the field is further evidenced by his representation of numerous athletes and sports agents, as well as his prior role as an Adjunct Professor at Indiana University Bloomington, where he developed and taught a course on Sport Agency Management from 2011 to 2014.

Darren’s contributions have been recognized with prestigious honors, including the University of Florida’s 40 Under 40 Award, the University of Florida Levin College of Law’s Outstanding Young Alumnus Award, and designation as the best lawyer in Fort Lauderdale by Fort Lauderdale Magazine. He remains an active voice in the sports law community, sharing insights through his weekly NIL newsletter and his X posts, engaging a broad audience on legal developments in sports.

One reply on “Will There Be A Shift Of Focus To Agents Giving Benefits To Basketball Players?”

I don’t see why agents continue to go after players that they’re still not allowed to touch. We need to start penalizing agents for this kind of behavior, not just athletes and schools.

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