NBA should stop Thunder from denying rookie his full pay

[dirt_dobber]

Will be interesting to see if the players union gets involved here or not.

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NBA should stop Thunder from denying rookie his full pay
By Tom Ziller @teamziller on Jul 23 2014, 12:56p
http://www.sbnation.com/nba/2014/7/2...ookie-d-league

The Thunder may have found a loophole that allows them to strong-arm their first-round pick into accepting a D-League salary for one year. The NBA can't allow that to happen.

rest of article at link http://www.sbnation.com/nba/2014/7/2...ookie-d-league

[dirt_dobber]

NBA by-laws state:
Prior to the annual NBA Draft, Members may have preliminary discussions with players eligible for the Draft, but may not discuss the matter of compensation.

All along, this arrangement seemed pre-negotiated. Huestis’ agent confirms it was.

the below 4 tweets by Zach Lowe of Grantland:
Talked earlier today with Mitchell Butler, agent for Josh Huestis. Said D-League deal was pre-arranged before the draft with OKC. (1/2)

Butler was not sure if Huestis would get drafted in either 1st/2nd round, viewed D-League promise as best means of guaranteeing being picked

Butler insisted arrangement did not violate rules against pre-draft discussion of player compensation. A gray area, but seems like semantics

Huestis, Butler says, was fine w/ arrangement. Didn't want to go to Europe, would do D-League thing only for two franchises: OKC, Spurs.