Guide 1: What is Eurobasket video (click here). Who we are and how to research the market
Guide 2: Highlight Tapes, Game Tapes, and Resume. Detailed Info and Deadlines in May

Guide 3: Scams-Certified Agents-Deceptive Advertisements

We’ve talked about research before. The reason we talk about research is because for all the good that is in pro basketball, there is also some  bad. American players dream of playing pro without the knowledge of the process and bad people take advantage of that. Here are some examples of that.

Contract Scams

You get offered a contract. You sign it. You send it back. You are celebrating and letting all your family and friends know that your dream has finally come true. All good right? Maybe not. Why? There are imposters and scammers waiting to feast on your inexperience.  They get in contact with you through a friend, trainer, coach, social media, whatever way they can. Let me show you how it happens and how they get you.

Step 1: They get in contact with you letting you know they are looking for player. Please send us your film
Step 2: Congrats! You have been chosen. Here is contract with a very generous salary
Step 3: You sign and return it
Step 4: They say you need to send the money to process your work visa and living paperwork that will be returned to you when you arrive. Makes sense right?
Step 5: THAT’S THE SCAM!

Players never have to pay their work visa. This is always paid by the team. But players dont know this on their own and they write it directly into the contract! Check out these fake contracts that look super real. In the Uruguay fake contract its in located Article 6, 8th bullet point. If you ever have any questions on something offered to you. Feel free to ask me.

Uruguay Scam       Montenegro Scam Example        Greece Scam Example

Certified Agents

We will talk more in depth about how to find an agent in a few weeks when college seasons end across the country. But for now, we will touch on simply agent certification. Agents can be certified by the FIBA (global), the NBPA (NBA), or WNBA. Agents can also be certified by a specific country that only allows them to work within that 1 country. Some agents do not have any certifications but still operate. What’s the difference and why does it matter?

FIBA, NBA, WNBA Certified: This is what you want to go for. These people have gone through all the proper channels to attain a license to represent players. There can be agents that are certified that are both good and bad at their jobs, but these are the people that generally have their stuff together. Pros: They can do business in any country, escalate contract disputes to the highest ruler, and has full support/communication with FIBA.

How can you check if a agent is FIBA Certified? Go to FIBA.COM/Agents and search the name you are checking. Click Here is an screenshot of my page and license # on the FIBA Website

Why is it important that an agent have support and communication with FIBA? They let us know whenever one of those fake contracts or imposters are discovered. Click Here for an example of an email I receive from FIBA every time a scam is discovered.

Specific Country Certified: These people are typically locals in certain regions of whatever country they operate in. They typically do not have a lot of connections outside of their region but can be good within there area since they are actively on the ground there. If you decide to go with one of these agents understand they are not getting support from FIBA and legally cannot help you outside that country (unless using a intermediary). I would choose this option if you are dead set on a specific country and understand your options are limited to the country you choose. There is no database as shown above on FIBA to validate these kinds of agents.

No Certification: These are the people you have to watch out for as they are the most likely to be scams. I always think there is a reason why they are not certified.

• They are a scam and do not want to be held accountable
• They failed the certification test
• There background check didn’t pass
• They are cutting corners and don’t want to pay (there is a yearly fee to be a certified agent)
• It isnt their full time job

Whatever the reason. Are these the kind of people you want to put in control of your career? Can these people get you a job? Does a blind squirrel sometimes find a nut? There have been plenty of stories where players have come away successful using a non certified agent. I guess the question you would have to ask yourself is if you feel lucky or not. If it was me, I would not waste my time with someone who is not fully engaged into the job that I am hiring them to do.

Deceptive Advertising

This is one where you need to use your head and think. We just went over fake contracts and imposters. We went over the different classifications of agents. With this knowledge can you adequately distinguish what is real and what is not? What gives you the best chances of success and what doesnt?

• • Let’s start with an easy one.
    • Click Here for a message that you can receive via social media.  This is from a supposed team in Qatar. You can just tell by reading it that something is off.
  • This one is a bit harder.
    • This is a non certified agent and agency. The claim is you pay us 350 euro ($425) for representation and if we dont get you a job in a specific time frame, we give you full refund. Click Here for the Screenshot.
    • You do a quick search on instagram or facebook and you find this group has 1000s of followers and has got a few players jobs. Sounds like a no lose situation right?
    • Not necessarily. 1) No legit agent/agency (especially a non certified agent) will charge an upfront fee for representation. Certified Agents get paid once a contract is SECURED. 2) This particular example you are sending the money to a foreign country. What laws or regulations do they have to return it after the allotted time? None, once you send the money overseas via Western Union you likely will never see it again no matter what happens good or bad.
  • Ok this last one is by far the hardest and requires you have a lot of critical context thinking.
    • • This one was a new company in 2020 that started called OBC, Overseas Connection, Overseas Combine, Praia League, Cape Verde Basketball League, Spain Showcase, Euro Summer League. YES. They have changed their name 7 times. They are extremely good at marketing their own product and creating hype. They run approximately 20 camps a year in the USA, one in Spain or Portugal, and created their own small league in Cape Verde, Africa. They have no standards for players to come. They try to fill the camps as full as possible without anyone attempting to get signed.
      • They once advertised 30 players were signed from their first 45 camps. That’s less than 1 per camp.
      • When people tell you to watch out for money grabs that have limited results, this is the type of camp they describe. Camp rosters contains 80+ players with only 5-10% of the players being over 6’4.
      • They have created their own app and while having impressive video/social media marketing and a lot of camps/tours how can I detect they are deceptively marketing?

    This is why I have them included (see notes below)

    Is there a way for players to verify jobs on the app are real?	No
    Do their camps have an agent on staff that helps players?	No
    Are the social media posts of signings a result of their app/camps?***	No***
    How many players from there camps have gotten get jobs?^^^	Unsure^^^
    Are the specific players from their camp they report signing real?++	Yes and No++

    ***They take the exact transaction articles we post on Eurobasket (view here) of random players to their social media accounts (view here) and website (view here). Its deceptive as they do not clarify this person is not part of their program while copying our news articles.***
    ^^^ If you click on this screenshot you will see they report that 10+ players (very low) out of 30 camps have signed without giving exact details of those players^^^
    +++ This is the one that upset me the most that first alerted me to their deceptive advertising. If you click on this screenshot you will see them reporting on their homepage two of their players signing contracts. I dont know Ashford Golden, but Kyler Stork is one of my players (view here) and played on our Armenia Tour called the “US Supersonics”. They are advertising it as a signing and even changed the spelling of our tour name to sound more foreign.+++

    I will reiterate, They do great at social media. However, the end game is getting players jobs and opportunities. No agent, agency, camp is going to have a 100% sign rate. Its impossible. But the opportunities need to be real and the players need to have a chance to get signed. So far they havent figured out how to do that, so I would not recommend them until they do.

    You as a player can use this info to sniff out imposters, determine an agent’s authenticity, and detect deceptive advertising to protect your opportunities.