Tonight will see the Cleveland Cavaliers play host to Olympiacos in Ohio and while the game will surely bring in the paying audience – if only to see the monster Shaq-King James tandem – the Greek side could well be leaving America $400,000 lighter.
According to the Cleveland Plain-Dealer, U.S. District Court judge Christopher A. Boyko gave the official OK for USA-based creditors to attempt to collect some $400,000 outstanding due to player agent Tom McLaughlin. It seems that Olympiacos cut former New Jersey Net/Utah Jazz player Chris Morris in 2001, still owing him $1.3 million in pay and McLaughlin another $400,000 atop that.
However, though Judge Boyko has in theory paved the way for McLaughlin to collect his money, there has been no word on whether an Olympiacos club representative in fact appeared in Boyko’s court on Friday, which the judge had ordered “before he [would] rule whether McLaughlin can proceed with the asset seizure.”
McLaughlin has stated that he would like to employ U.S. marshals in confiscating enough property to make up the $400,000, if necessary. One wonders if we’ll be seeing a lot of Olympiacos equipment and gear on eBay before too long … or maybe the Greek powerhouse will be taking on a new sponsor for 2009-10, a sports agency, perhaps…
Morris himself has yet to comment on the situation, but we’re sure he’d prefer to let his jamming do the talking anyway:
