Florida State men’s basketball coach Leonard Hamilton is the subject of a lawsuit filed by six former players alleging he promised but failed to follow through on $250,000 NIL packages for the players last season. The lawsuit, reported by Yahoo Sports, was filed Monday in Florida and claims they never received the payments despite several instances during the season in which they were assured by their coach that payments would be made.
The players who filed the suit are Darin Green Jr., Primo Spears, Jalen Warley, Cam Fletcher, De’Ante Green and Josh Nickelberry, representing the second-, third-, sixth-, seventh-, ninth- and 12th-leading scorers on last season’s team, respectively.
Of those six players, two transferred into FSU last season under the belief that NIL packages would be part of their agreement to sign with the school.
In the documents filed in Monday’s legal proceedings, the players divulged they boycotted a practice last season over the issue of not being paid. The boycotted practice came before a home game vs. Duke on Feb. 17 as players walked out of the gym and intended to boycott the Duke game, according to Yahoo Sports. Hamilton, upon learning of their plans, promised payments would be coming and convinced them to play in the game, which FSU lost 76-67.
Florida State was picked in the preseason media poll to finish 11th in the 15-team ACC last season and stumbled out of the gate early to a 6-6 record that included losses to rival Florida, Georgia, South Florida and Lipscomb. The Seminoles finished 10-10 in regular season ACC play and 17-16 on the season.
While none of the six players who filed the lawsuit are on the 2024-25 roster, with four transferring and two having exhausted their eligibility, six players on this year’s team were also on last year’s team. That includes leading scorer Jamir Watkins, assist leader Chandler Jackson and blocks leader Taylor Bol Bowen.
FSU is off to a 9-4 start this season behind Hamilton, 76, which includes a 14-point home loss to Louisville just before Christmas. The lawsuit comes less than a week after another coach in the state, 75-year-old Miami coach Jim Larranaga, abruptly stepped down from his role citing frustration over the NIL landscape.
