Report: Adebayo on agent’s list
NEW ORLEANS — Heat rookie and former Kentucky big man Bam Adebayo is included on a list of players from at least a dozen Division I men’s basketball programs who have been identified as possibly breaking NCAA rules through violations that were uncovered by the FBI’s investigation into corruption in the sport, according to documents published by Yahoo Sports.
The documents obtained by Yahoo detail the work of former NBA agent Andy Miller and his agency, ASM Sports. The documents include expense reports and balance sheets that list cash advances, as well as entertainment and travel expenses for high school and college prospects and their families.
An ASM balance sheet obtained by Yahoo that is in the hands of federal investigators shows accounts through Dec. 31, 2015, with the subheading, “Loan to Players.” Adebayo, who played one season at Kentucky in 2016-17, is among the players who were either in high school or college at the time with the largest listed loans.
The report says Adebayo received
$36,500 before turning professional. But the document classified this as a “Bad loan” because ASM didn’t sign him. Adebayo is instead represented by Octagon sports agency.
Mavericks guard Dennis Smith Jr. and 76ers guard Markelle Fultz are also among the players who reportedly received loans from ASM. Like Adebayo, they both did not end up signing with the agency.
The 20-year-old Adebayo, who was selected by the Heat with the 14th overall pick in the 2017 draft, is averaging 7.3 points, 5.3 rebounds and 1.7 assists as a rookie this season.
The new details of payments to players are the latest in a federal investigation that has lurked in the shadows since first rocking college basketball
last fall, showing the breadth of alleged corruption.
The depth of the violations raises questions about the structure of college athletics, a business funded primarily through college football and basketball, including $19.6 billion in TV money for the NCAA Tournament over the past 22 years — a hoops extravaganza for American sports fans known as March Madness.
NCAA President Mark Emmert said in a statement Friday the allegations “if true, point to systematic failures that must be fixed and fixed now if we want college sports in America.”
Yahoo said Friday the documents obtained in discovery during the investigation link current players including Michigan State’s Miles Bridges, Duke’s Wendell Carter and Alabama’s Collin Sexton to potential benefits that would be violations of NCAA rules. According to the report, players over the past several years and family members allegedly received cash, entertainment and travel expenses from Miller and his agency. Line items in four pages of documents released by Yahoo showed some five-figure payments and two dinners for less than $40 each.
Coaches and athletic officials at several schools, including Clemson, North Carolina State, South Carolina, Southern California and Utah, said they did not know of the alleged payments until Yahoo’s report was released but pledged to cooperate in any investigation. Kentucky coach John Calipari said neither he nor his staff used Miller or any other agent to provide financial benefits to student athletes.