Ex-centennial player linked to basketball conspiracy trial
Federal court documents allege that sports agent Christian Dawkins provided former Centennial High School star Troy Brown Jr., now an NBA rookie, with $5,000 worth of tickets to see a Floyd Mayweather fight.
Brown’s agent Adam Pensack said neither he nor his client would comment on the allegation, but the director of the player’s former AAU team pushed back hard against the accusation.
“Troy doesn’t know Christian Dawkins,” said Anthony Brown — no relation to Troy — who runs Las Vegas Prospects. “Troy has never met him. If he knocked on his door and kissed him on the cheek, Troy wouldn’t know who he is.”
Yahoo Sports columnist Dan Wetzel reported the allegation in the documents related to Troy Brown. The story did not say when he allegedly received the tickets.
Under NCAA rules, student/athletes are not allowed to accept anything of cash value for their services.
The accusation emerged on the third day of a conspiracy trial in New York in which Dawkins, former amateur basketball director Merl Code and ex-adidas executive Jim Gatto were charged with being involved in secret payments to top recruits, including Brian Bowen. The scandal forced Bowen, who had signed with Louisville, out of college basketball and resulted in the firing of Cardinals coach Rick Pitino.
Dawkins, Code and Gatto face wire and conspiracy charges.
This is the first of three similar trials. The U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York indicted 10 men, including assistant coaches at four Power Five programs, in September 2017 of being involved in payments to lure recruits. The coaches represented Arizona, Auburn, Oklahoma State and Southern California.
The indictments followed an FBI investigation into alleged corruption in the sport, and all eyes are on the trials to see how much the scandal grows.
Troy Brown was highly recruited out of Centennial and signed with Oregon after also considering UNLV, Alabama, Arizona, California, Georgetown, Kansas and Ohio State. He averaged 22.3 points, 10.5 rebounds and 4.6 assists in his senior season at Centennial.
Brown, a 6-foot-7-inch guard/ forward, played one season for the Ducks before declaring for the NBA draft. He averaged 11.3 points, 6.2 rebounds and 3.2 assists.
He returned to Las Vegas for a draft party and was selected No. 15 overall in June by the Washington Wizards. He played in the NBA Summer League in Las Vegas.
Contact Mark Anderson at manderson@reviewjournal.com. Follow @markanderson65 on Twitter.