It has not been a stellar year of headlines for Calvin Andrews of BDA. Earlier this year, after the O.J. Mayo-USC-Ronald Guillory story blew up, Andrews -- who allegedly paid Guillory to deliver Mayo to his client list -- was dropped by the Memphis guard and then suspended from agenting activities for a year by the NBA Players Association. This suspension is more of public slap on the wrist than anything -- rumors abound that Andrews is the real agent for top prospects including Hasheem Thabeet, who is listed as a BDA client. (The policing of the agents is a complete joke, in other words.)But here's a karmic punishment that works: Carmelo Anthony, Andrews' top client by far, has reportedly dropped BDA to move over to CAA, the agency led by Leon Rose and attached to William Wesley.
New York-based reporter Adam Zagoria reports Anthony and his wife La La Vasquez will move over to CAA, which represents actors as well as athletes (with LeBron James marked as the agency's top NBA client).
This isn't a big surprise. Last April, Anthony cut ties with BDA's marketing group to go solo. BDA (and, oddly, ESPN's Ric Bucher) spun it as a positive -- the fact that 'Melo retained Andrews was somehow a vindication of his great work. Fifteen months later, and ... well, trying spinning this one, y'all.
Luckily for Andrews (I suppose), the loss won't hurt him right away. Anthony didn't take the "mini-max" deal fellow class of '03 stars James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh signed in 2006. Anthony signed a full five-year extension, which means he won't be eligible for free agency until 2012. He can still sign an extension in 2010, however -- it would just be tacked on to the end of the deal. James, Wade and Bosh can opt for free agency in 2010, can sign options for the 2011 and 2012 seasons, or can sign a new (more lucrative) extension this summer which would commence with the 2011 season.
