By now, we know what goes on in college basketball. It’s a story as old as the sport. Schools are desperate to win and garner attention. Boosters want their programs to be on television and play deep into March Madness. Athletic departments demand the money keeps rolling in. The coaches need to keep their jobs. It all amounts to a sport ripe for corruption and cheating. Paying for players is the easiest way to do so.
We used to care quite a bit about these transgressions. Media and fans howled when power programs ran afoul of the rules over the years. Syracuse had the 1980s “free meals/cash in the Christmas cards” and Fab Melo scandals. North Carolina owns the recent academic fraud saga. UCLA fired Jim Harrick for violations. UConn had stolen laptops. Michigan was forced to take down the Fab Five banners. UNLV watched a dynasty short-circuit. Memphis vacated its trip to a championship game. The list is too long to write, but they were all front-page, top of the sports section stories.
It’s amazing that Duke has slid under the radar, never been caught in any wrongdoing, and avoided the slightest whiff of scandal despite being the best program in basketball for 35 years. Sure, winning begets winning -- great talent flocks to an NBA factory. Coach K is obviously an excellent coach. But scandal has caught up to every program, from elite academic institutions to four-year diploma mills. It’s hit the blue-bloods and the never-weres. It’s seemingly unavoidable for every program that's ever tried to win, except at Duke.
The recent Adidas scandal has roped Kansas, Louisville, LSU, and Arizona. Unsurprisingly, sneaker reps fed cash to recruits to direct them toward certain schools that wore Adidas apparel. The FBI found out. Everyone got caught. All the coaches knew, the only question has been whether you can prove it. If the head coaches didn’t know -- which is virtually impossible to believe -- they certainly deserve blame for allowing their assistants to be embroiled.
And then there’s Duke. And the Adidas scandal has now splashed ink on them too.
The Raleigh News and Observer reported, “Court documents filed as part of a civil lawsuit between former college player Brian Bowen and Adidas detail a series of payments the company allegedly made to [Zion] Williamson’s family in 2016 and 2017 prior to his Blue Devils’ career.”
Adidas’ own lawyer admits his company “is aware of the following documents suggesting that certain fund transfers to Mr. Williamson or his family may have occurred.” The letter details “potential transfers from [Adidas executive] Chris Rivers that may have been to Lee Anderson, Zion Williamson’s step-father.”
It's pretty solid evidence that Adidas paid Zion’s step-dad to steer the biggest star in high school hoops to one of their schools. The sneaker company is copping to it. There are nine payments that amount to roughly $5,500. At this time, Anderson coached Adidas-backed South Carolina Supreme basketball, where Zion played. This team played on the Adidas Gauntlet circuit. So, Adidas just so happened to employ Zion’s family during his extremely competitive recruitment. A convenient way to launder the cash, and get a leg up in the race.
Oh but there’s more.
Adidas' lawyer admits, “Rivers may have transferred $3,000 per month to the Williamson family for an unspecified period of time… Rivers may have transferred [another] $1,000 to the Williamson family. Adidas does not know the specific purpose of these transfers.”
Again, Adidas is admitting its own executive paid Zion’s family, but claims to not know the reason. Plausible deniability. Why would a sneaker rep just happen to pay a player without the knowledge of his company? Duke is a Nike school, so ultimately, Adidas' overtures didn't work. But (cue dramatic sound effect) two years ago, celebrity attorney Michael Avenatti said Nike also arranged payments to Zion to attend Duke. “The documents and the hard evidence do not lie,” Avenatti told The News & Observer then. “Zion Williamson was paid to attend Duke.” Avenatti was eventually convicted of trying to extort $25 million from Nike. But during his trial, text messages were entered into evidence, and showed three Nike executives discussing offering Williamson $35,000. Again, Duke has slipped through the tentacles of outrage.
Perhaps that's because most people, including myself, believe Zion and other stars deserve to get paid anyway. He creates millions in revenue. Zion was a one-man marketing machine, who put Duke into the national conversation nightly. He caused people to watch his games, consume his highlights, buy his jersey. He was a force of nature. Sneaker blowout? It became one of the most notable pieces of basketball memorabilia ever. Elite players are the reason why Duke gets to hang banners, so if Zion took money to play college hoops, he earned it. But Duke can't be wrapped up in the dark arts and then pretend to take the moral high-ground (we’re looking at you too, Rick Pitino).
Documents and wire-taps proved the going rate for [Brian] Bowen was $100,000 to attend Louisville. So, how much was the market value for Zion? $200,000? $300,000? He had millions of social media followers, and was one of the most Googled prep stars in decades. He was nearly unguardable because of his size, a human highlight-machine, and a sure-fire NBA lottery pick.
We are supposed to believe that Adidas was paying his step-dad, but the money never reached Zion. We are supposed to accept Williamson chose to play at Duke for free, despite likely getting six-figure offers at every other school. We acknowledge that Nike execs likely offered him money, and he suffered a serious knee injury, but declined it all, no matter the risk. We are led to reason Duke knew about none of this. That’s some stretch.
At best, Zion was likely ineligible when he played his lone season at Duke. The program should probably have to forfeit those wins (a meaningless but image-damaging act). At worst, the Blue Devils are tied into major recruiting violations. But because of the ivory tower that Duke and Coach K reside in, and overall apathy toward college hoops' underhandedness, the nation yawns. Once upon a time, this led the day's news. No longer. The Blue Devils should be caught in the web like every other school, but no one cares to notice.