The Washington Post dropped a bombshell of a story on Wednesday night that provides an insight into the seedy world of basketball recruiting and involves people that have many local ties. According to the story, NBA player Michael Beasley, who currently plays for the Minnesota Timberwolves, is suing former agent Joel Bell for bankrolling Curtis Malone's famous D.C. Assault AAU team and funneling money and gifts to Beasley's family in return for Bell representing him when Beasley became a professional. Beasley is claiming this denied him the chance to look for the right professional representation.
Beasley asserts in his suit that Bell Sports Incorporated President Joel Bell bankrolled Curtis Malone’s nationally recognized DC Assault summer basketball program and that in return Malone felt obliged to steer Beasley, the No. 2 overall pick in the 2008 NBA draft, to Bell for professional representation. Beasley’s suit contends that, along the way, Bell and Malone violated NCAA rules and federal laws governing agent conduct.
The suit is a countersuit to one Bell filed against Beasley for allegedly terminating his contract with Bell wrongfully. That occurred in 2009. Beasley alleges that Malone was Bell's runner, which is code for an intermediary between the agent an the player. Beasley alleges that Malone provided payments to Beasley's mother that was "intended, ultimately, improperly to induce Beasley into executing a player agent agreement without competition from other agents."
There are many other elements to this story. Upon joining D.C. assault, the story alleges that the team paid for a lot of Beasley's mother's travel costs and more. The suit also alleges that Malone had Beasley's mother move out to Kansas to be with him at Kansas State to "keep other agents away from him." There's much more in the story, and the details could lead to an NCAA investigation into Kansas State. Here are the relevant court documents.
The story also involves current Maryland assistant coach Dalonte Hill, who is one of Beasley's mentors and was named assistant coach at Kansas State to help lure Beasley there.
The discovery hearing will be on October 31 and a pre-trial hearing and settlement conference is scheduled for November 3.