“Pierre Jackson has signed a lucrative contract with Afyon in order to help them maintain their position, his agency SLASH Sports informed Sportando,” journalist Emiliano Carchia tweeted this Saturday morning. When an agent informs the media of the arrival of one of his players in a club, he never informs of the financial dimension of the agreement. So for the SLASH Sports representatives to feel compelled to state that the contract is “lucrative”, there must be a bit of provocation in it. Or naivety, your choice…
Nine recruits in one week!
For good reason, the same Afyon club was targeted by serious accusations from Jamelle Hagins held at the microphone of … Sportando this week. Ex-rookie of the Choir of Roanne, passed by the Turkish club between 2017 and 2019, the American interior affirms that he is still waiting for 210,000 dollars from his former employer. “I have been silent for a long time but how can Afyon sign so many players while still owing me $210,000? It is difficult to understand this situation. Earl Calloway, Randy Culpepper ($50,000, editor’s note), Tyrus McGee and Marcos Knight are experiencing the same problem. It must stop. Enough is enough. “And the list does not stop there since other players would be concerned, starting with the current Cholet leader TJ Campbell, released from Afyon at the beginning of December following … the club’s financial problems. Hence the question about the use of the term “lucrative contract”…
Hagins during his brief stint in Roanne in 2013
(photo: Olivier Fusy)
Especially since Afyon has piled up the signings this week with… nine recruits in four days! Including several big players: Wayne Selden, defector from the New York Knicks, Kenny Hayes, the former Limoges scorer snatched from Forli (Italy) or Johnny Hamilton, seen at Fenerbahçe last year. Without forgetting Pierre Jackson who, if he was ridiculous at the end of last season in Bourg-en-Bresse and very close to ending his career, proved in the spring of 2021 that he could be a dominant leader in Turkey ( 19.4 points at 42%, 3.6 rebounds and 8.9 assists in 7 games with Galatasaray Istanbul).
An obscure press release
BSL’s red lantern (3 wins in 18 games), humiliated on January 2 with a 45-155 defeat against Tofas Bursa with a group made up entirely of young people, the Afyon Belediye club has therefore managed to recompose a new teams up with astonishing speed, convincing (and this is perhaps the most astonishing thing…) several renowned players to come, despite the weight of debts and an execrable reputation that has been woven over the years. By what miracle? Mystery. Especially with the existence of a body like the Court of Arbitration for Basketball (BAT) to deal with this kind of situation…
Following the words of Jamelle Hagins, the club still reacted via an obscure press release on Wednesday. “The transfer process of our club continues. During this process, priority was given to lifting FIBA bans and new transfers. All past debts and issues will be resolved with the completion of the legal process. This is announced to the public with respect. “But despite the famous” lucrative contracts “distributed with a vengeance this week, at least one thing does not change in Afyon: with his reconstituted team, while waiting for Jackson, the last of BSL sank again at home against Yalova this Saturday ( 73-106).
At least Afyon still has some means for pretty visuals…