When the Adelaide 36ers took legal action over Mitch Creek’s attempt to play in the NBA it was met with uproar and derision on social media by NBL fans and Australian basketball players.
Mitch Creek has been a great servant of the 36ers, the boomers and Australian Basketball. His NBA dream hinges on a precarious exhibit-10 deal put at risk by this injunction. This is shameful. https://t.co/WOirdP5VMB
— William Goodings (@WGoodings) August 8, 2018
Really hoping there is more to the @Adelaide36ers story with them getting in the way of Mitch Creek trying to achieve his dream. Should be happy and not worried about themselves, it’s a great story that could be awesome for the club but now they will look greedy and selfish.
— Matt (@hammo04) August 8, 2018
I can give u a tip on where he isn’t signing if he comes back……. ? https://t.co/IZj19lqbXD
— Joe Ingles (@Joeingles7) August 9, 2018
It’s a very emotional issue at the surface, that of an Australian player being blocked from playing in the NBA by his hometown team, one he gave it all to for 8 years.
But if you look through the emotional responses and look at the situation, I think you’ll see the Adelaide 36ers had some claim to taking action.
If an NBA team wishes to sign a player currently in a contract overseas they can do so, they simply need to compensate that team in exchange for taking away said player. As a rule, international clubs are entitled to receive a transfer fee when a player signs an NBA deal so they are not “gutted” from losing their best player from an NBA team and can use that money to find a replacement… the NBA after all isn’t in the business of hurting international teams who are developing their league’s future stars.
Mitch Creek, was expected to play for Adelaide in the NBL in 2018-19, he had one year remaining on his NBL deal which also included a European and NBA out clause. Last month Mitch decided to exercise his European out clause to play in Germany, where he had just played 3 months of basketball (which is how things started to get a little cloudy), a result of the Adelaide 36ers granting him permission to play there whilst under contract. this was a move granted by Adelaide to help Mitch develop his game and earn some additional income without it impacting his commitment to the 36ers.
At season’s end, fairly Mitch Creek exercises his European out-clause which Adelaide agrees to, but ultimately before playing for any European team he signs a deal with the Brooklyn Nets.
This is a clear violation of the European out clause, a player can’t exit his contract to play with a European club and then never play for said European club.
There are many people in jobs outside of basketball where they would be restricted to work and if they gained an exit from their contract on the basis they were going to work somewhere that wouldn’t impact the business and then after being granted said exit they went somewhere which did impact the business. That would end up in court.
Because Mitch Creek was contracted to play for Adelaide in 2018-19 and instead signed a contract to play for the Brooklyn Nets, Adelaide deserves compensation for if and when he does during the time he was supposed to be playing with the Sixers.
It’s a tough pill to swallow, losing arguably the best Australian player without any compensation, so with Adelaide fearing it would receive no financial compensation — believed to be at least $100,000 — if Creek secured an NBA contract, they took legal action.
There are always two sides to a storey and with Adelaide 36ers owner Grant Kelley fearing the Sixers losing the club’s best player and be left empty-handed he foresaw a situation where not only would it significantly impact the club financially and on the court, but it could have set a precedent of Australia becoming a free poaching ground.
“There are usually two sides to every story,” Kelley told The Advertiser.
“All we have done is seek to have our rights under the contract honoured.”
The situation is a messy and complicated one which has ended with the 36ers now having it in writing that they will be compensated if Creek plays in the NBA. Creek was swiftly granted his release from the club soon after and took to social media with the following message.
“A relief that today has officially been a success with the careful guidance and support from the NBL players association, BDK Lawyers and Mogul Sports Group,” Creek said. “Thanks to all the fans who supported me.”
It seems clear somewhere, that one or both of the parties didn’t act on something they should have at a much earlier time this probably is something that could have and should have been settled behind closed doors by Adelaide, Mitch and his management. No doubt it would have been much easier for both parties if it was.
Should we be upset about a player being blocked from playing in the NBA by an NBL team,, as fans who want to see Mitch play against the world’s best, sure, but there is another side.
Mitch Creek did give it his all for Adelaide for 8 years, but the 36ers also developed him from an 18-year-old kid to an NBA star and if the NBA is going to make money from him during a time he was contractually obligated to play for Adelaide they deserve compensation.
The Adelaide 36ers had a case for blocking Mitch Creek’s path to ensure they get an agreement to compensation in writing. It’s just a shame it wasn’t handled without the media being involved.
Dan Boyce is a die-hard Sydney Kings fan who grew up in Melbourne during the roaring 90's of Australian Basketball and spent far too much time collecting Futera NBL Basketball cards.
