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Tim MacMahon, ESPN Staff Writer
A lawsuit in which Indiana Pacers coach Rick Carlisle is the defendant is scheduled to go to trial on April 28, 2025, which would be during the first round of the NBA playoffs, according to Dallas County, Texas, court documents.
Former agent Jarinn Akana filed a lawsuit in December 2023 alleging that Carlisle reneged on his promise and breached their contract by refusing to pay the commission owed to the agent for negotiating the coach’s contract extension that was signed with the Dallas Mavericks in 2018.
The trial date was set after the parties did not reach a settlement in mediation over the summer, according to court documents.
Carlisle, his attorney and a Pacers spokesperson did not immediately reply to requests for comment.
According to the lawsuit, Carlisle wrote a check dated Jan. 1, 2019, to Akana for $200,000 as the initial, reduced commission payment on the extension, which was worth $8 million per year, and then refused to pay the commission in the following years. The lawsuit alleges that Carlisle threatened to report Akana for violating the National Basketball Players Association regulations governing player agents — preventing agents from simultaneously representing players and coaches — “despite being complicit with Akana taking such action on his behalf.”
In an answer to the lawsuit, Carlisle issued a general denial of all the allegations, stating that they are “not true in whole or in part.”
The lawsuit alleges that Carlisle, the longtime president of the National Basketball Coaches Association, requested that Akana act at his representative following the sudden death of agent Dan Fegan, whom Akana had worked alongside. The lawsuit alleges that Carlisle had hired Fegan, who had a lengthy list of player clients, to renegotiate the coach’s contract with the Mavericks before the agent’s death.
According to the lawsuit, Carlisle initially agreed to pay Akana a 3% commission, the same as the terms of the coach’s deal with Fegan, before offering a lower percentage when the first annual payment was due. The lawsuit states that Akana accepted the lesser percentage “in light of the initial work done by his mentor and to avoid any further disputes.”
Carlisle resigned from the Mavericks in June 2021 following the third season of the five-year contract. He was hired by the Pacers that offseason.
Carlisle, 64, ranks 12th in NBA history in wins with a 943-828 career record. After rebuilding the previous two years, the Pacers went 47-35 last season and advanced to the Eastern Conference finals, marking the first time one of Carlisle’s teams won a playoff series since the Mavericks’ 2011 championship run.