Report: Willie Reed lost out on $15 million contract with Heat due to uncertified agent
Reed will reportedly file a $13.5M arbitration claim for losing out on a big deal due to an uncertified agent
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2 min read
With college basketball currently amidst a huge scandal involving brand companies, bribery and sports agencies, it seems weird to have an NBA player connected to everything. However, few players have been as impacted as former Heat center Willie Reed due to the fallout of everything.
Reed was a client of ASM Sports, which was recently raided by the FBI, with high profile agent Andy Miller in the middle of it all. An employee of ASM, Christian Dawkins, was the primary representative for Reed over the last few months. However, not only was Dawkins arrested by the FBI, but he was also fired from ASM months ago and still representing Reed despite no longer being officially employed.
Dawkins was arrested for his role in the FBI probe, in which he was connected to two separate fraud and bribery schemes and was indicted on four counts of wire fraud.
Dawkins, sources say, advised Reed to turn down a preliminary three-year, $15 million deal by the Miami Heat early in the free-agency juncture with the promise of a larger market opening up for his services.
That never occurred.
Reed terminated his contract with Miller on the evening of July 11, sources say. Sources say Dawkins represented Reed and others well after he was believed to have been fired from the company over two months ago for racking up $42,000 in Uber charges on an unnamed NBA player's credit card.
This means that Reed went through his free agency process without a certified agent. Instead of the three-year deal he was supposed to get with Miami, he's now on a one year minimum deal with the Clippers. As a result, according to Chris Haynes of ESPN, Reed is filing a $13.5 million arbitration claim.
In the wake of the FBI corruption probe that has shaken the college basketball world this week, multiple clients have severed ties with Andy Miller, one of the NBA's most prominent agents, and another has filed a $13.5 million arbitration claim, alleging he was defrauded, league sources told ESPN.
According to the Miami Herald's Manny Navarro, the Heat, however, deny the reported offer for Reed was ever made.
While there is no way to prove that Dawkins' advice to Reed wasn't in his best interest, he's right to file charges against an agency that had an uncertified agent representing him. Players trust these agencies, and knowing what happened over the summer he has to feel betrayed with recent events.
