Audio By Carbonatix
Ja’Kobi Gillespie is reportedly preparing to take legal action against an NIL collective associated with the University of Maryland if it does not pay him the money that is allegedly outlined in his contract. His lawyer plans to file in court even though he currently plays college basketball for Tennessee.
This could go in a lot of different directions but neither side seems like it is willing to budge!
Gillespie was an unranked prospect in the recruiting Class of 2022. He began his college basketball career with two years at Belmont and blossomed into a star as a sophomore. The 6-foot-1 combo guard averaged 17.2 points on an impressive 56.1% shootiing, 3.8 rebounds, 4.2 assists and 2.2 steals per game for the Bruins in 2023-24.
That year allowed Gillespie to transfer up to the high major level at Maryland. He averaged 14.7 points on 45.3% shooting, 2.8 rebounds, 4.8 assists as a member of The Crab Five last season.
Unfrotunately, the Terrapins lost most of their roster from 2024-25 to the transfer portal when Kevin Willard left for the head coaching job at Villanova. Gillespie was among them.
The rising senior will close out his four-year career at Tennessee. However, he still wants to get paid by his former employer. I don’t know if we’re talking hundreds of dollars or millions.
Taylor Lyons of The Baltimore Sun was the first to report on the supposedly imminent lawsuit. Ja’Kobi Gillespie’s lawyer claims Blueprint Sports refuses to fulfill the remaining payments on his contract. Blueprint Sports says Ja’Kobi Gillespie breached his contract by entering the transfer portal.
Blueprint says it works with more than 70 college athletic departments and partnered with Maryland in 2023. The school announced a “multiyear partnership extension” with the NIL collective last month.
Gillespie’s camp consists of two primary people: his dad, Byron Gillespie and his lawyer, Isaac Connor. They told The Baltimore Sun that Ja’Kobi’s contract with Blueprint was signed before last season and did not have a clause that terminated the agreement if he decided to transfer.
I don’t think Ja’Kobi Gillespie’s lawyer would take this case if he did not think his client had a legal leg on which to stand but I don’t know how the contract is not void if the player leaves for a different school. It feels to me like Gillespie and his dad are trying to force some kind of out-of-court settlement with this legal threat to solve the disagreement quickly. Maybe they took a pay cut on Rocky Top and want to get that money back. Maybe they are trying to double dip. Or, perhaps, Blueprint actually does owe their former employee a lot of money based on his contractual agreement.
There seem to be a lot of moving pieces involved here that may or may not play out in court. We’ll see what happens!