Filings suggest Nike paid in pursuit of players
Attorneys representing lawyer Michael Avenatti filed a court motion on Wednesday that alleges that a Nike employee at least approved under-the-table payments to former Duke star Zion Williamson and ex-Indiana star Romeo Langford when they were still in high school in February 2017.
In an email on July 30, 2016, Carlton DeBose -- the director of Nike's EYBL grassroots basketball division -- wrote that bidding for top players reached as much as $100,000.
In the email to Nico Harrison, the company's vice president of North American basketball operations, DeBose suggested Nike was still at a disadvantage against competitors such as Adidas and Under Armour in efforts to secure top prospects.
"It has always been a thankless journey but we are now sitting ducks because our competition and enemies have decided to no longer fight us on our turf but go where we rightfully refuse to go for all of the right reasons," DeBose wrote, according to emails and text messages that were filed Friday at U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. "We have a code. Our enemies don't."
https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/27403106/filings-suggest-nike-paid-pursuit-players