Report: Clippers' Willie Reed seeks compensation from NBA agency after FBI probe

Ben Rohrbach
·Senior NBA writer
Clippers center Willie Reed’s former adviser was arrested as part of the FBI’s NCAA bribery investigation. (AP)
Clippers center Willie Reed’s former adviser was arrested as part of the FBI’s NCAA bribery investigation. (AP)

At least two NBA players fired high-profile ASM Sports agent Andy Miller and a third filed a multi-million dollar arbitration case against him after one of his representatives was indicted by the FBI in the NCAA bribery scandal this week, according to ESPN.com’s Jeff Goodman and Chris Haynes.

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Former ASM Sports rep Christian Dawkins was among 10 people indicted for allegedly bribing elite amateur basketball players in hopes of funneling them to universities, shoe companies and agents, the report said. Four Division I assistant coaches and an adidas executive were also among those brought up on federal charges for a practice long considered to be widespread.

Additionally, Los Angeles Clippers center Willie Reed is seeking $13.5 million from Miller’s agency — the difference between a three-year, $15 million offer from the Miami Heat that Dawkins reportedly advised him to turn down and the $1.5 million deal he ultimately signed in L.A., ESPN.com reported. Reed severed ties with ASM Sports in mid-July and signed with the Clippers in early August.

Most shocking is the fact that Dawkins was still advising Reed and other NBA players into the draft and free agency. As The Vertical reported at the time, ASM Sports terminated Dawkins in May, when a National Basketball Players Association investigation revealed he had run up roughly $42,000 in Uber charges on an unnamed player’s credit card. Miller’s agency was reportedly cleared of any wrongdoing in the probe, and members of the players’ union were alerted of Dawkins’ misconduct in a memo.

Miller is considered one of the NBA’s most prominent agents. His client list includes Toronto Raptors teammates Serge Ibaka and Kyle Lowry, who signed for a combined $165 million this past summer, as well as budding bigs Kristaps Porzingis of the New York Knicks and Myles Turner of the Indiana Pacers.

Dawkins was not a registered agent, and his primary role at ASM Sports was to recruit clients and maintain those relationships, according to documents released by the Department of Justice. In the months after his firing, Dawkins was attempting to launch his own sports management business, with the help of others involved in the alleged bribery scheme, according to those same DOJ documents.

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The FBI alleges that Dawkins conspired with two adidas employees and financial adviser Munish Sood to distribute an estimated $100,000 from the shoe company to the family of Brian Bowen, a five-star recruit at the time who committed to adidas-sponsored University of Louisville in June. In exchange, Bowen was expected to hire Dawkins and Sood and sign with adidas upon entering the NBA.

Dawkins allegedly told coaches during a wiretapped conversation, “If we take care of everybody, we can control everything. We can make millions off one kid.” He added in another alleged conversation with an undercover FBI agent, “Obviously, we have to put funding out, and obviously some of it can’t be completely accounted for on paper because some of it is, whatever you want to call it, illegal.”

Lousville has since suspended Bowen and fired coach Rick Pitino and athletic director Tom Jurich.

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Ben Rohrbach is a contributor for Ball Don’t Lie and Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at rohrbach_ben@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!