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A sports agent alleges a rival “lured” away one-time client Mitchell Robinson with a $35,000 pickup truck — right before the player was drafted by the New York Knicks, according to a new lawsuit.
David Lee, who signed Robinson in Sept. 19, 2017, filed a suit against agent Raymond Brothers in Manhattan Supreme Court on Monday, accusing him of offering Robinson a brand-new Chevy Silverado pickup truck worth $34,464 to get him to leave Lee on March 28, 2018.
The following month, Robinson, a center, was drafted by the Knicks with the 36th overall pick in the NBA Draft. He signed a four-year contract worth up to $6.4 million — a deal that would have made Lee nearly $200,000 if his client hadn’t left, the court papers allege.
“Without any justification or excuse for doing so, Raymond Brothers intentionally induced Mr. Robinson to breach the contract by luring Mr. Robinson with a new 2017 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 pickup truck (in violation of NBPA regulations) in exchange for his terminating the contract with [Lee] and switching to defendants’ agency services,” the suit charges.
“Without defendants’ improper conduct and outright bribery, [Lee] would have earned (and should have earned) a total fee of $191,124.44 for the four years of Mr. Robinson’s contract with the Knicks,” the court papers allege.
Robinson, 22, is not named as a defendant in the suit.
Lee is suing Brothers — who is now with Roc Nation — and his former companies for unspecified damages.
Brothers told The Post that his former old high school coach called him to tell him that Robinson needed new representation. Brothers said that, at the time, he didn’t know Robinson and had never seen him play.
“My coach asked me to help Mitchel Robinson,” Brothers said. “I didn’t even know the name of [his agent]. I didn’t know who David Lee was.”
“I never recruited Mitchell. I didn’t know who he was … I tried to help the kid and the kid ended up firing me and he’s had six different agents in the meantime,” Brothers said.
Brothers said that Lee had been asking him for money for years over the dispute.
Days after getting drafted, the 7-foot player switched agents again because the rookie player thought he could have had a shot at the late first-round pick — which would have come with an even higher salary.
Robinson has since switched agents multiple times, signing in December with a sixth agency — Wasserman Group.
Lee’s lawyer, Brian Brick, declined to comment.
A rep for Robinson did not immediately return a request for comment.
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