Former Wildcat Cam'Ron Fletcher Among Six Florida State Players Suing Leonard Hamilton

Some might say that the emergence of NIL in college athletics opened up a Pandora’s Box. While that might be a bit dire, we have only seen a fraction of the unintended consequences. The latest development is a wild one.

According to a report from Ross Dellenger, six former Florida State basketball players have filed a lawsuit against Leonard Hamilton over unpaid NIL compensation. The complaint alleges the players were promised $250,000 apiece from Hamilton’s business partners, payments that never materialized.

One of those players is a former Kentucky Wildcat, Cam’Ron Fletcher. The small forward from St. Louis’ stint in Lexington was brief. He played in only two games after he was suspended and sent home following an altercation on the bench during a 2020 loss to North Carolina. He spent three injury-plagued seasons with the Seminoles before transferring to Xavier this offseason.

All six of the players in the complaint — Fletcher, former Louisville Cardinal Josh Nickelberry, Darin Green Jr., Primo Spears, De’Ante Green and Jalen Warley — are former Florida State players. Half the team left in large part due to the unpaid NIL money. The lawsuit uses text messages to Hamilton and the NIL collective’s director as evidence. This part of the report was the most eye-opening:

In one of the more striking revelations, FSU players say they boycotted a practice before a Feb. 17 game against Duke. They “walked out of the gym” during practice to show their frustration over the unpaid NIL promises and they intended to boycott the game as well, the claim says. Hamilton discovered the plan and, in a meeting in the team’s film room, re-emphasized that the money would be in the players’ accounts the very next week. Players competed in the game, losing to the Blue Devils, 76-67.

Ross Dellenger, Yahoo Sports

That scenario might provide one explanation as to why Florida State was 17-16, 10-10 in ACC play a year ago.

This is not the first NIL lawsuit. Georgia quarterback Jaden Rashada has litigation pending against various NIL reps at Florida who botched his recruitment that featured extravagant NIL promises that were left unfulfilled.

Leonard Hamilton was an assistant at Kentucky for a dozen years. Shortly after he left, the scandal of the century was opened when $100 cash fell out of an envelope addressed to Chris Mills’ father at Emery Worldwide. Now he’s facing a lawsuit against former players who claim they were owed nearly $1.5 million in total to play one season of college basketball.

The NIL world is a wild, wild world.