Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune Utah Utes Forward Kyle Kuzma (35) dunks the ball as Utah hosts Northwest Nazarene, NCAA basketball at the Huntsman Center in Salt Lake City, Saturday, Nov. 12, 2016.
Former University of Utah basketball forward Kyle Kuzma is among a group of star players who received thousands of dollars from a sports agency while in college, according to an explosive Yahoo Sports report released Friday morning.
Kuzma, who now plays for the Los Angeles Lakers, received $9,500 in loans, or cash advances, from an agency while he was in the United States. the report saysciting bank statements and other documents from an ongoing FBI investigation that resulted in federal charges against three college assistant coaches.
Kuzma spoke to reporters before Friday night’s Lakers game in Los Angeles, but he neither confirmed nor denied the allegations. In a video posted to Twitter by Orange Country Register reporter Bill Oram, Kuzma was asked how he thought the people of Utah had reacted and if he had spoken to them.
“I don’t really think they reacted at all,” Kuzma said. “It’s all allegedly nonsense. It is what it is. It’s all going to come out, and people are going to say what they want to say and just try to escalate the investigation that’s going on.”
Kuzma’s inclusion in the report appears to have surprised the Utah athletic department. Following the FBI’s initial arrests in September, Ute men’s basketball coach Larry Krystkowiak had been frank about his associated frustrations by remaining honest in recruiting while others cheated.
This fall, Pac-12 Commissioner Larry Scott named Utah athletic director Chris Hill to a task force charged with resolving “issues that threaten the integrity of collegiate athletics and protecting our student-athletes.”
“We learned of this information this morning, as did everyone else,” Hill said in a statement released Friday morning. “Unethical agents have been a problem in college sports – particularly men’s basketball and football – for many years, despite repeated educational efforts by schools. This is certainly a topic our Pac-12 NCAA Men’s Basketball Reform Committee is addressing.
“Personally, I welcome the increased scrutiny of men’s basketball because the behavior of some agents, as well as reports of other illegal recruiting activities, are harming the sport. Coach Krystkowiak has great integrity and runs a clean program, but this situation shows that there are areas outside of a coach’s control that need to be corrected.
Krystkowiak praised Kuzma as a player who did things the right way. Krystkowiak said during an October radio appearance on “The Bill Riley Show” on ESPN 700 that someone called the coaching staff, saying the program would have to pay to get Kuzma’s high school transcript and bring him to campus for an official visit and pay again for him to commit. When it was brought to Kuzma’s attention at the time, according to Krystkowiak, the player paid his own way during an unofficial visit to campus.
Speaking to a group of reporters in an interview the next day, Krystkowiak said his point in making the comment was “that Kuz wasn’t looking for shortcuts. I don’t even know how aware he was of what was going on behind the scenes.” Krystkowiak spoke of Kuzma as a positive example of a successful player who played by the rules.
“This situation came to my attention this morning and I have absolutely no knowledge of it,” Krystkowiak said in a statement Friday. “At this point, these are allegations. I know we are running a clean schedule and I will be fully focused on preparing our team for our game against USC.”
Salt Lake City Stars center Diamond Stone is also listed in the report, with documents showing he received $14,303 while he was a freshman at the University of Maryland. Utah Jazz center Tony Bradley is cited in the report for having a meal with an agent, although it is unclear whether that constitutes an NCAA violation.
The documents “meticulously detail the expenses of prominent former NBA agent Andy Miller, his former associate Christian Dawkins, and his agency, ASM Sports. They include expense reports and balance sheets that list cash advances, as well as entertainment and travel expenses for prospective high school and college students and their families,” the Yahoo report states.
Yahoo Sports had access to hundreds of pages of documents as part of a years-long investigation by the Justice Department.
Other former players who received money from ASM, according to the documents, included former North Carolina State star and current Dallas Maverick Dennis Smith ($43,500); Isaiah Whitehead of Seton Hall ($26,136); LSU’s Tim Quarterman ($16,000); and Washington’s Markelle Fultz ($10,000), the No. 1 overall pick in the NBA draft, who now plays for the Philadelphia 76ers.
Current players who reportedly received money include USC’s Bennie Boatwright and/or his father, Bennie Boatwright Sr. (at least $2,000), and Chimezie Metu and/or his advisor Johnnie Parker ($2,000).
The Trojans play at Utah on Saturday.
In response to the Yahoo Sports report, NCAA President Mark Emmert released a statement that said: “These allegations, if true, point to systematic failures that must be repaired and corrected now if we want college sports to be played in America. Simply put, people who engage in this kind of behavior have no place in college sports. They are an affront to anyone who plays by the rules.”
— Reporter Kyle Goon contributed to this story.
