Six former Florida State University men’s basketball players have filed a lawsuit against head coach Leonard Hamilton, accusing the coach of withholding NIL payments and making false promises.
The former players include Primo Spears, Jalen Warley, Josh Nickelberry, Cam’Ron Fletcher, Darin Green Jr. and De’Ante Green. All six men appeared on the Seminole’s 2023-24 roster, and none of them will continue to play in 2025.
According to the Tallahassee Democrat, the men allege that, “Hamilton promised them $250,000 each to play for the Seminoles but they weren’t paid.”
Hamilton, who is in his 37th season as head coach at FSU, is accused of verbally promising the players $250,000 each during the recruiting process. The players claim they asked Hamilton about the money throughout the season, and they were always told the payments were coming. Now, the total NIL compensation for all of them in the lawsuit is $1.5 million.
When Florida State University officials got wind of the lawsuit, the school released it’s own statement. “Upon learning recently of the allegations made by former men’s basketball athletes, the University has worked diligently to determine what transpired last season. Though our inquiry is not yet complete, at this point we know of no unfulfilled commitments by FSU in terms of scholarships or other appropriate benefits or the Rising Spear Collective relative to NIL payments owed to the athletes.”
Two of the six former Seminoles have used up all of their NCAA eligibility, but the four players with remaining eligibility left FSU and are now playing for other teams including Xavier, USF and Gonzaga.
The law firm representing the student-athletes told the Tallahassee Democrat, “What stood out was that there were so many players and families that were saying the same exact thing and had the same recollection of what took place. The promise was uniform in what was uttered by Coach (Hamilton) to the players and their families multiple times.”
Coach Hamilton has yet to make a public comment on the matter.
