Kings lodge complaint with BA
August 23, 2005 - 9:19PM
The Sydney Kings have lodged a formal complaint with Basketball Australia (BA) after Russian club Unics Kazan approached point guard CJ Bruton and offered him a two-year contract during last month's Australian tour to China.
Bruton signed a new three-year deal with Sydney back in May, just weeks after steering the club to a third straight NBL crown.
The contract had a standard clause should Bruton be contacted by an NBA club in the US, but didn't contain any out-clause for European interest.
A coach from Unics approached Bruton when he was on national duty in China last month, despite already being told in no uncertain terms by coach Brian Goorjian that Bruton was signed to the Kings and wouldn't be going anywhere.
The incident didn't end with the initial approaches, however, with Unics then understood to have faxed a copy of the lucrative offer to Bruton's agent Warren Craig.
Craig couldn't be reached for comment but it's believed the contract was accepted.
Russian newspapers have been trumpeting the signing as a fait accompli.
It's understood Bruton may have wanted to use a loophole and take up the Russian contract offer, which would be well in excess of what he can earn in Australia, as he is yet to be officially registered with the NBL for the coming season.
Melbourne Tigers centre Chris Anstey spent the past two seasons with the cashed-up Russian Superleague club, earning over $1 million per year.
But the supposed loophole is a moot point, according to Kings chief executive John Overs, who revealed Bruton was already receiving payments on his three-year deal.
"It's pretty straight forward from our point of view," Overs told AAP.
"He has a contract. He has a signed heads of agreement, which we've been paying him under.
"The formality of his NBL paperwork's irrelevant, he's been away with the Boomers.
"But he has a signed heads of agreement which states quite clearly he will enter into an NBL contract with this club."
Bruton's stocks have been on the rise following a dominant performance in the NBL last season and a starring role in Australia's recent international schedule.
The incident is the last thing the Kings need just 10 days from the start of the new season.
"We've lodged a complaint through BA and they will inform FIBA, who in turn should inform that club's management that it's just not the done thing at a FIBA event," Overs said.
"Particularly when Brian had told the fellow that CJ was contracted. I think he had an obligation to back right off and they didn't which is very disappointing.
"Similarly with his agent, his agent has an obligation to tell that club when they're contacting him that he is a contracted player, rather than allow a contract to come through."
Overs said the Kings would consider negotiating a release after this season, but there was no room to move this year.
"We indicated to the agent that we could not release CJ at this point in time," he said.
"We're literally days away from the season beginning, there are no replacements available, however we did indicate we were happy to discuss possibilities at the end of the season."
