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On To The Next One: Andrew Goudelock

After one professional season in the NBA, former College of Charleston and current Los Angeles Lakers guard Andrew Goudelock has changed his representation.  Goudelock had been represented by Austin Walton of Walton Sports Management Group since leaving school.  He will now be represented by Andrew Vye of ASM Sports.

[blackbirdpie url=”https://twitter.com/ASM_SPORTS/status/236200876744773632″]

After learning that Goudelock left Walton for ASM Sports, I spoke with Walton, who sounded as if he has accepted Goudelock’s decision, wishes him the best, but will not let the change affect his practice.  “I love Drew; he’s a great kid and I believe in him 100%,” said Walton to SportsAgentBlog.com.  “I think that he will have a ten year career in the NBA. Ultimately, his family wanted to make a change and that is the nature of the business. I’m very proud of what we accomplished for Drew. He was originally not projected on a single mock draft his entire collegiate career, not even in the top 100, and I was able to get him drafted at #46 to the Lakers. He had the most individual team workouts of any player in the draft that year with 19, including the Combine and New Jersey mega workout. I was also able to secure him a feature on SportsCenter, procure a shoe deal with Peak, and a trading card deal with Panini America. He is a great kid and I wish him the best in his future endeavors.”

[Related: Interview with the Agent: Austin Walton]

Goudelock signed a one-year contract, with the Lakers having an option to keep him for the 2012-13 season, after being selected in the second round of the 2011 NBA Draft.  If the Lakers choose to retain Goudelock for this coming season, he will get paid $762,195, and Walton will be entitled to the commission on that salary.

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 “On To The Next One: Andrew Goudelock”

There are a few issues I see here:

1. A player, not his family, hires and fires an agent. The player made a decision to fire Austin Walton and hire Vye.

2. Goudelock is known to have signed a poor rookie contract. A 2 year minimum deal with $0 guaranteed in either year. What is the incentive for the player to have the 2nd year? I believe I remember the Lakers signing a similar, or maybe identical, deal with Rony Turiaf as a rookie and Turiaf subsequently fired his agent Bouna Ndiaye and hired Priority. Same contract, same result for the agent.

3. Endorsement deals and interviews and all that are great but if a player signs a bad contract the agent usually gets blamed, and usually rightfully so.

4. In that interview with Walton you cited, Austin Walton claims to want “quality over quantity” with his clients but it looks like he signed 15 guys or so this year, some of whom don’t seem to have much of a career ahead of them. I believe at least one of them (JP Primm) already fired Walton as well after only a few months.

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