SFX Basketball has signed 17-year-old, 7-foot forward Nemanja Aleksandrov — who is projected as the No. 1 pick in the 2005 NBA draft — and negotiated a five-year shoe deal for him with Reebok, said his agent, David Bauman.
Aleksandrov, a Serbian who is listed as the likely top pick in next year’s draft by basketball Web site nbadraft.net, signed his representation agreement and shoe deal last year, when he was 16.
Aleksandrov’s Reebok deal is structured so that he will be paid an endorsement fee based on where he is picked in next year’s draft, said Tom Shine, Reebok’s head of sports and entertainment marketing.
Aleksandrov’s family is not wealthy and he needed the money, which is part of the reason he signed the shoe deal, said Bauman, managing director of SFX Basketball’s international division.
“Tom [Shine] and I worked out a deal that is unbelievably fair to both sides,” Bauman said. “The kid is making great money now. And, if he is a top five pick, he will be paid like a top five pick.”
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At 7-feet and 220 pounds, Aleksandrov “is very fluid,” Bauman said. “He can handle the ball and he is very quick. He is not one of those 270-pound bruisers.”
For this year’s draft, Bauman and SFX have 10 international players, although Bauman allows that perhaps only five might be drafted in June. The 10 players are Luka Bogdanovic, a 6-9 forward from Serbia-Montenegro; Sasha Vujacic, a 6-7 point guard from Slovenia; Roko-Leni Ukic, a 6-5 point guard from Croatia; Erazem Lorbek, a 6-10 forward from Slovenia; Drago Pasalic, a 6-9 power forward from Croatia; Aleksandar Djuric, a 6-11 center from Serbia-Montenegro; Marko Tomas, a 6-6 shooting guard from Croatia; Armands Skele, a 6-7 shooting guard from Latvia; Sergei Lishouk, a 6-11 forward/center from the Ukraine; and Dusan Sakota, a 6-10 forward from Serbia-Montenegro.
The issue for the players is that all are playing in professional leagues overseas, and some may not finish their seasons in time to come to the United States and participate in the SFX showcase of talent for NBA teams, Bauman said. Some may be pulled out of the draft, depending on their circumstances, he added.
Some of the players also have contracts that would have to be bought out before they could play in the NBA. Bauman anticipates that some teams with multiple picks in this year’s draft might choose one of his players but leave him on his European team to develop his skills before bringing him to the NBA.
Of the 10 international players SFX is representing for this year’s draft, only Vujacic was listed on nbadraft.net’s Web site, and he was ranked No. 23. SFX Basketball officials said that many of the players are still unknown in the United States.
WILLIAMS & CONNOLLY SIGNS BEARD: Williams & Connolly has signed Alana Beard, who was selected No. 2 in the 2004 WNBA draft by the Washington Mystics, for representation. Beard will be represented by Lon Babby and Jim Tanner, agents and lawyers at the Washington law firm. Beard won a number of athletic awards in the past year, including the inaugural women’s Wooden Award.
Babby and Tanner represent some other top WNBA players, including Chamique Holdsclaw and Tamika Catchings. The firm is best known for its NBA star clientele, including Grant Hill and Tim Duncan.
PRIORITY SIGNS FISHER: Priority Sports & Entertainment has signed Los Angeles Lakers guard Derek Fisher for representation. Mark Bartelstein, CEO of Chicago-based Priority, will be Fisher’s primary agent.
Fisher has two years left on his contract but has a player’s option at the end of this season, Bartelstein said. “We will take some time and look around” at other possibilities before deciding whether to exercise the option, Bartelstein said.
FEGAN SIGNS NBA DRAFT PROSPECT: Fegan & Associates has signed Minnesota power forward Kris Humphries for representation in this year’s NBA draft. Agent Dan Fegan will represent Humphries, who was ranked No. 21 last week by nbadraft.net.
SAGA SPORTS SIGNS TWO: New York-based Saga Sports signed San Antonio Spurs guard Jason Hart and Los Angeles Clippers forward Matt Barnes for representation. Saga Sports President and agent Bill Neff will represent the players.
GSI SIGNS UDEZE: Agents at GSI Sports, a Westwood, Calif.-based sports agency founded this year, were taking calls last week from a number of NFL teams about their first big client, draft prospect Kenechi Udeze, a defensive end from USC.
Among the teams who had called or invited Udeze to visit in recent weeks were the Washington Redskins, Jacksonville Jaguars, Houston Texans, Detroit Lions and Minnesota Vikings. Udeze is represented by GSI agents Jamal Tooson and Thomas Barnes.
Tooson is a Loyola Law School student who has worked for NFL player agents David Dunn and Norm Nixon. Barnes is a young attorney who is Udeze’s brother. Both were recently certified by the NFL Players Association to represent players in contract negotiations.
“Thomas was a practicing attorney already and he always had a passion for sports, and with his brother being a top prospect, it didn’t hurt for him to get certified,” Tooson said.
GSI also employs Todd Hasson, a baseball agent who formerly worked for Reich, Katz & Landis. Hasson, Tooson and Howard Kornberg, an attorney, own the firm. Former UCLA linebacker Audie Attar is head of recruiting. The company also represents three other NFL draft prospects, three minor league baseball players and San Francisco 49er Brian Poli-Dixon.
Contact Liz Mullen with labor and agent news at lmullen@sportsbusinessjournal.com.
