Pelicans: A legal analysis of Zion Williamson’s lawsuit against Prime Sports

Could this affect Zion’s Duke Accomplishments?

According to the legal analyst I spoke with, this is a mixed bag. In their words, “Fortunately for Duke, it sounds like this is all extra-curricular.”

That’s all well and good, but any player still enrolled and using the facilities is bound to obey NCAA bylaws. Prime Sports has an obligation to respect laws governing how people and agencies seeking to represent amateur athletes can engage those athletes as well. The FBI has taken too much interest into amateur hoops corruption recently.

The contract was signed only days after Zion Williamson announced his entrance into the NBA Draft. How did an upstart company from Florida gain access to the most marketable basketball prodigy since LeBron?

I asked my legal analyst source, who replied: “You assume there is a handler somewhere. Ultimately, this all seems like stuff that happened outside of the Duke environment. People who have real access at the university level don’t generally funnel players, especially not star players, to ******* startups like Prime.”

The North Carolina Uniform Athlete Agents Act, which requires contracts with amateur athletes to contain certain disclaimers so the athlete clearly understands what’s at stake if he agrees to be represented by an agent, will be at the center of the case. Allegedly, the contract failed to make the proper disclaimers. Prime Sports is on record stating they would fight the lawsuit.

Their release claims this is the second time Zion Williamson has acted in bad faith. Prime Sports also believes Williamson filed the lawsuit in the wrong court, in the wrong state. The company will fight for their legal rights concerning Williamson’s “exclusive global marketing/branding/endorsement” rights for the next five years.

The contract has a clause that it could not be terminated for five years. The relationship turned sour after five months. These termination clauses are standard in many agreements between athletes and companies like Prime Sports.

The first act of bad faith, according to Prime Sports release, was hiring Creative Arts Agency, after he had signed a contract with Prime Sports. The second act of bad faith was filing a lawsuit. Prime Sports alleges in their press release that the parties were already in negotiations towards an amicable solution.