Pelicans: A legal analysis of Zion Williamson’s lawsuit against Prime Sports
More info about the legitimacy of the case
Prime Sports threatened a lawsuit seeking $100 million in damages should Williamson try to terminate the contract. What might Prime Sports get out of this situation, and how did it happen?
My analyst source familiar with how negotiations like these typically work replied, “They won’t get exactly what the contract specifies. Something less but still significant. I’m just so perplexed that he and his parents let this happen. But people take advantage of folks all the time.”
Might Prime Sports have a small percentage of Zion Williamson going forward? Could Prime Sports win the lawsuit and remain engaged in a business relationship with Williamson? According to my source, the answer is “likely no.”
“It’s very unlikely that Prime (Sports) handles any aspect of his representation going forward. Disputes like this rarely ever end with parties being forced to have an ongoing relationship with one another. CAA’s involvement makes it a near certainty that Prime won’t be playing third wheel in the future. This is all about whether Prime can get money for him terminating the contract, and how much. End of the day, they are going to get a lump sum or a percentage of something for a set number of years. Or both. Or nothing at all. But they will not be actively representing him in any way, in my opinion.”
That’s a bold statement, but I needed some legal logic to back it up.
In short, the idea that they don’t have to include the required legal language because Zion already declared is a tough argument to succeed on. The waiver language exists so players know exactly what rights they are releasing by signing on the dotted line. Zion still had the option to return to school instead of staying in the draft.
Zion is alleging that Prime Sports got him to waive his rights without knowing by producing a document without a voluntary release clause, and Prime doesn’t appear to be disputing that fact. Instead, they seem to be saying that shouldn’t matter. However, that clause is required by statute. That is a strong legal argument, says a legal analyst.
Prime Sports is also not a registered agent. Signing players is impossible if a company is not certified to do so. Prime Sports could have pressured Zion Williamson into signing somehow. Still, it’s an illusory contract if you contract for something that cannot actually be done.
My source assumes Prime Sports will argue they could be certified after signing Williamson. This would be paired with an argument that the NBA contract is just a “perfunctory process.“
A substantial percentage of that rookie scale contract would be needed to foot the lawyer’s bills.