TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Six former Florida State basketball players sued Seminoles coach Leonard Hamilton on Monday, alleging he failed to make good on a promise to get each of them $250,000 in name, image and likeness compensation.
The plaintiffs — Darin Green Jr., De'Ante Green, Cam'Ron Fletcher, Josh Nickelberry, Primo Spears and Jalen Warley — filed suit in Leon County circuit court. Their attorney, Fort Lauderdale-based Darren Heitner, shared the 20-page complaint with The Associated Press. Yahoo Sports first reported the case.
The former players allege Hamilton promised them the money from his "business partners." The lawsuit says they walked out of a practice last season over the missed payments and intended to boycott a Feb. 17 game against Duke. They ended up playing — the Seminoles lost 76-67 — amid a guarantee from Hamilton that they would be paid but never were, according to the suit.
Read the full lawsuit below:
No attorney for Hamilton was listed in the lawsuit. FSU hosts Syracuse on Saturday.
The complaint includes multiple text-message exchanges between players and some between players and Hamilton.
Heitner said all of this is something that players and parents should be aware of.
"Many college athletes are coming from poor, depressed socioeconomic backgrounds," Heitner told WPTV on Monday. "Many of these players were relying on the promise of payment for bills that were becoming due."
FSU finished 17-16 last season, including 10-10 in the Atlantic Coast Conference. The 76-year-old Hamilton is in the final year of his contract. The Seminoles are 9-4, including 0-2 in league play.
None of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit remain with the team. Green and Nickelberry exhausted their college eligibility last spring, and the four others transferred. Spears is now at UTSA, Fletcher is at Xavier, De’Ante Green is at USF and Warley is at Gonzaga.
WPTV received the following statement from Florida State regarding the lawsuit:
Since the beginning of the name, image, and likeness era of collegiate athletics, FSU has maintained a comprehensive compliance education program for coaches and other athletics staff, and a clear expectation of ethical conduct by all in dealing with student-athletes.
Upon learning recently of the allegations made by former men’s basketball athletes, the University has worked diligently to determine what transpired last season. Though our inquiry is not yet complete, at this point we know of no unfulfilled commitments by FSU in terms of scholarships or other appropriate benefits or the Rising Spear Collective relative to NIL payments owed to the athletes.
We support Coach Hamilton’s right to defend himself against these allegations and look forward to an expeditious resolution of this matter.
The lawsuit is the latest in a growing number of NIL legal battles.
Matthew Sluka, a starting quarterback for the UNLV football team, left the program after three games in September because he was never paid a $100,000 NIL deal. Former Florida quarterback signee Jaden Rashada, now playing at Georgia, sued Gators coach Billy Napier last year over an unpaid $13 million NIL deal. And several Tulsa players claim they were never paid thousands in NIL commitments made by former coach Kevin Wilson.
