Duke officials said outside investigators spent five months looking into attorney Michael Avenatti’s claims that Nike funneled money to players, including former Blue Devils star Zion Williamson, to steer them toward college basketball programs it sponsored and found no evidence supporting his allegations.
Payments for Duke’s Zion Williamson Discussed in Nike texts https://t.co/NVLLtwsHWK
— SportsGossip.com (@sportsgossip) August 17, 2019
Duke said it found no proof that Williamson, the 2019 ACC Player of the Year as a freshman and the No. 1 pick by the New Orleans Pelicans in June’s NBA draft, received improper benefits that would have made him ineligible to play for the Blue Devils last season.
Federal prosecutors charged Avenatti in March with attempting to extort up to $25 million from Nike by threatening to expose the shoe company’s alleged improper payments to high-profile players in its grassroots basketball league, the EYBL.
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