Detroit Pistons guard Malik Beasley owes more than $1 million in damages, his former agency alleges in a lawsuit brought this week in the Southern District of New York. Beasley fired the agency earlier this year with more than two years remaining on their agency agreement.
Hazan Sports Management (HSM), which is led by president Daniel Hazan and vice president Andrew Hoenig, is suing Beasley for breach of contract and related claims. HSM says it “single-handedly” resuscitated Beasley’s NBA career when he signed with the agency in November 2023, and describes Beasley as having “known issues” at the time that included “financial” ones. He has experienced legal problems since joining the NBA, spending 78 days in jail in 2021 for making threats of violence.
HSM says it “provided” Beasley “with a substantial marketing advance” to address his “issues.” In an exhibit to HSM’s complaint, the marketing advance is detailed. HSM agreed to pay Beasley a one-time advance of $650,000.
Drafted by attorney Daniel Marcus, HSM’s complaint asserts Beasley signed two contracts with HSM. The first was the standard player agent contract (SPAC), which concerns a player’s employment contracts with NBA teams.
The second was a marketing deal for endorsements, NIL and similar promotional activities, which had a four-year term and made HSM Beasley’s exclusive marketing agent. The deal contained a $1 million liquidated damages clause, which specifies a dollar amount penalty in the event of breach. The clause is worded as saying the parties agreed this dollar amount was “fair and acceptable in light of the amount of the marketing advance and the risk assumed” by HSM as Beasley’s marketing agent.
HSM claims it “revived” Beasley’s career “both on and off the court” and is responsible for him signing a one-year deal with the Pistons for $6 million for the 2024-25 season. That reflected a major raise from the prior season, when Beasley earned $2.7 million from the Milwaukee Bucks.
Beasley, 28, is in his ninth NBA season and the Pistons are his sixth NBA team. A first-round pick of out Florida State in 2016, Beasley has also played for the Denver Nuggets, Minnesota Timberwolves, Utah Jazz and the Los Angeles Lakers. Beasley has enjoyed a solid season for the Pistons in 2024-25, averaging 16 points per game.
HSM says Beasley fired the agency in February, 15 months into their contractual relationship and thus far earlier than when the four-year marketing term will expire. HSM contends it has tried to collect the marketing advance but has “only received little more than drips and drabs” along with “vague promises to repay the balance over time.”
HSM’s lawsuit notably does not claim Beasley breached his SPAC, which governs agents who represent NBA players. Agents are licensed by the National Basketball Players Association (NBPA), which is the exclusive bargaining representative of NBA players. The NBPA has regulations for agents, who must follow those regulations as a condition of their license.
Key to the HSM-Beasley dispute is that the SPAC contains a mandatory arbitration clause. The clause expresses disputes between a player and his agent regarding their contractual relationship are ordinarily governed by an NBPA arbitration procedure. Arbitration is a logical method of dispute resolution for a players association. It keeps the dispute out of court, where documents are accessible to fans and journalists.
The NBPA’s method of arbitration also relies on experts in contractual disputes in the NBA agent context, whereas litigation is heard by a judge and possibly a jury who probably lack that knowledge and industry sensibilities. As Sportico has detailed, that line of defense has been used in legal disputes concerning Nerlens Noel and agent Rich Paul, and agent Mark Termini and Paul.
HSM’s complaint appears designed to insulate against the possibility of Beasley securing the complaint’s dismissal by claiming the dispute must first be heard by an arbitrator. The complaint does so by keeping the breach claim limited to the marketing contract, which does not contain an arbitration clause—just the opposite, in fact. The marketing contract states that “any and all disputes” arising out of it “shall be adjudicated” by a New York court.
Beasley could offer other types of defenses. He might contend that HSM breached the contract by failing to adequately perform its duties. Perhaps Beasley was unhappy with the representation and felt it fell short of what he was contractually owed. However, if Beasley has already made some repayments—even “drips and drabs”—of what he allegedly owes HSM, it would make it more difficult for him to claim he doesn’t owe money. The court would question why he would pay any amount if he doesn’t owe money.
The case is before U.S. District Judge Jeannette A. Vargas, who is also presiding over Drake’s high-profile defamation lawsuit against Universal Music Group. Beasley’s Pistons, meanwhile, are currently tied with the New York Knicks, 1-1, in the first round of the NBA playoffs. Game 3 is on Thursday.
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