Tuesday, September 21, 2010

NBA Agent Andy Miller Nailed for Poaching

Filed under: NBA TransactionsIt's common these days that you hear a player, star or otherwise, is leaving his agent for another. It's an unsavory reality of the league much more embedded in the day-to-day operation of the NBA than franchise-player tampering, a crime managed effectively by the commissioner's office with hefty fines.

There's really no one to police the agent ranks when it comes to poaching. The players union has cursory oversight, but can't realistically enforce anti-tampering statutes. The NBA itself generally keeps its fingers out of the representation game. Agents themselves certainly don't work on an honor system; in fact, it's completely the opposite.

But there was apparent justice in one recent poaching case, reports Howard Beck of the New York Times. Agent Keith Glass brought a tampering suit against Andy Miller regarding the alleged poaching of former Kings guard Quincy Douby. After the case went to binding arbitration, Miller was required to pay Glass $42,000.

Glass was able to prove through phone records and other circumstantial evidence that Douby signed a contract with Miller while still under contract with Glass. That's the only real no-no in the agenting world: players cannot enter into representation agreements while still legally represented by another agent. It appears, based on the evidence Beck cites, that Miller won Douby's signature before Douby had notified Glass of his decision to end their agreement.

The question is whether this type of tampering suit will become more commonplace. So-called poaching certainly hasn't slowed. Particularly loud have been murmurs about the nature of Al Horford's move from agent Aaron Goodwin to Arn Tellem just before negotiations for his early extension began. Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

New Jersey Devils Nicklas Lidstrom Michael Jorden Tiger woods David Beckham

No comments:

Post a Comment