Jimmy Butler refuses to pay $842,500 to former sports manager over $5 million Nike deal

Heat star Jimmy Butler was sued by his former sports managers over their commission from a $5 Million Nike deal they helped Butler land

The NBA is not only a league for basketball players and teams. It is also a platform where players can change their lives and the lives of others around them. Getting into the NBA is no easy task, but once you’re in, you can leverage the situation and make a comfortable life.

The salaries alone that come with being in the NBA are life-changing. On top of that, if you’re good at your craft, endorsement deals don’t take much time to come your way. For Jimmy Butler, a similar deal came from Nike. The shoe giant offered Jimmy Butler a 5-year deal for $5 Million.

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The amount, even though it’s not as much as we’ve heard for other players, was in no way small. However, the $5 million he got from Nike landed Jimmy Butler in trouble. Legal trouble.

Jimmy Butler was sued by his former sports managers for not paying their commission

Back in 2013, Butler was in Chicago and had signed with Independent Sports & Entertainment to assist him with marketing and public relations. According to their deal, Jimmy agreed to pay commissions for the services, including “15% of the Gross Compensation, paid to, earned by, or credited to the Athlete in connection with each such Activity.” Their agreement had a clause that explained ‘Gross compensation’ to include all income, salaries, earnings, royalties, residuals, bonuses, percentages and shares of profits.

The firm filed a case on Butler and stated,

“While under the PR Agreement, Butler entered into a contact with Nike. Butler was paid over $616,666.67 in compensation on the Nike contract. The suit says Butler “failed to pay fees owed to ISE on $616,666.67 in compensation he warned from the Nike Contract which consists of base compensation and performance base payments, and thus owes $92,250 for such compensation.”

Butler also received a $1,000,000 signing bonus and $1 million for the first four years of the Nike deal. The agency claims he owes them $750,000 from the same as well.

In total, they claimed Jimmy didn’t pay them the $842,500 they were owed, and filed a case against him in 2020. They also asked for his entire financials to check if he withheld any other money he might have received while in contract with the agency.

The details of the lawsuit have been kept under wraps. However, since then, Jimmy has moved on from the agency, as well as from Nike. He signed a muti-year deal with Li-Ning.

Li-Ning officially welcomes @JimmyButler to the brand.

What would you want to see for Jimmy’s 1st signature shoe?

The 30 year-old company has nearly 6,500 stores throughout China, making for a huge royalty & branding potential for Butler. https://t.co/tcRP3bvav2 pic.twitter.com/zDsUp4camg

— Nick DePaula (@NickDePaula) December 2, 2020

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