Former USC ahead Chad Baker-Mazara has filed a lawsuit towards the varsity, alleging that head coach Eric Musselman booted him from the boys’s basketball staff as soon as it was eradicated from NCAA Event rivalry to keep away from paying him the rest of his NIL contract and following a profanity-laced, racially charged tirade directed at Baker-Mazara.
The criticism, filed Monday in Los Angeles County Superior Court docket and first reported by the California Put up, alleges breach of contract and interference with potential financial benefit. Baker-Mazara is in search of damages, together with punitive and to have his lawyer’s charges coated.
In an announcement Monday night time, a USC spokesperson stated, “The choice to take away the student-athlete from the boys’s basketball roster was based mostly on various concerns, none having to do with race. We sit up for defeating this motion in courtroom.” As of publication Monday night time, Musselman had not returned a textual content message from The Athletic asking for remark.
The lawsuit highlights an interplay between Musselman and Baker-Mazara after a Feb. 28 loss to Nebraska, stating that Musselman “misplaced his thoughts” in a “racially-charged” tirade, and that when Baker-Mazara tried to handle his teammates, Musselman erupted at Baker-Mazara, saying, “You shut the f— up! You’re one of many worst teammates anybody can ever have!”
The lawsuit alleges that after Baker-Mazara responded calmly and respectfully, “Wow Coach, do you want me to depart as a result of I don’t perceive this animosity,” Musselman then directed Baker-Mazara to depart and screamed: “Sure, go away! Return to the f—ing Dominican Republic! No one desires you right here!! F— you!”
The go well with states that the phrases “Return to the f—ing Dominican Republic” are typically understood by individuals of coloration in the USA originating from the Dominican Republic to be racist and discriminatory — and have been in actual fact taken by Baker-Mazara that approach — akin to telling an African-American to “return to Africa.”
On the morning after the Nebraska loss, Baker-Mazara’s representatives have been knowledgeable that Baker-Mazara had been dismissed from the staff and was barred from accessing the staff facility. The go well with alleges that USC by no means performed an investigation previous to his dismissal. Nobody interviewed Baker-Mazara or any of his teammates and by no means offered Baker-Mazara with a motive for his dismissal.
The lawsuit additionally alleges that USC’s NIL Collective Home of Victory Basis missed a February fee to Baker-Mazara, and that on Feb. 13, weeks earlier than the Nebraska recreation, Baker-Mazara’s representatives have been suggested that the fee could be forthcoming. Over the following two weeks, USC, which started the season 12-1, would lose its subsequent three video games, stretching its shedding streak to 4 because it sat on the NCAA Event bubble. Baker-Mazara missed the primary two video games of that shedding streak due to an MCL damage. He returned on Feb. 21 towards Oregon, scoring 21 factors in a one-point loss.
By the following recreation towards UCLA on Feb. 24, the lawsuit states, Baker-Mazara’s representatives have been instructed that the cutoff to make the February fee had been missed, and each the February and March funds could be made in March. Within the lawsuit, Baker-Mazara’s attorneys write that “Baker-Mazara’s representatives pushed again, advising that that they had offered all info and signatures wanted, and there was no motive fee couldn’t be processed earlier than the tip of February.”
Hours earlier than the Nebraska recreation on Feb. 28, Baker-Mazara’s representatives have been suggested, “USC can not present a date however they know (you) want it (fee) asap … ”
Baker-Mazara left the Nebraska recreation early within the second half after taking a tough fall whereas sprinting again to contest a shot, aggravating his knee damage. He alleges that after working by means of the damage within the locker room and tunnel space, he returned to the bench and signaled that he was out there to return, however Musselman didn’t reinsert him into the sport. USC misplaced 82-67, and following his dismissal, Baker-Mazara has not acquired the previous funds he was owed. The go well with states that he has additionally not been paid the rest of his contract.
“I gave every thing I needed to USC. I performed by means of accidents, confirmed up for my teammates day by day, and honored my commitments,” Baker-Mazara stated in an announcement offered to The Athletic. “Submitting this lawsuit was not a simple determination, however I imagine you will need to get up for what you have been promised and what you might be owed. I’m happy with what I achieved all through my school profession, and I stay targeted on my skilled basketball profession, my household, and the alternatives forward. I sit up for letting the details communicate for themselves by means of the authorized course of.”
On March 13, the lawsuit states, USC’s NIL collective “presupposed to terminate the Agreements pursuant to the purported morals clause contained within the respective Agreements.” The morals clause permits termination of a contract if an athlete commits acts which are “immoral, misleading, scandalous or obscene,” or acts that “might adversely have an effect on USC, HOV, the USC athletic division, the USC males’s basketball program, or any associated events or entities.”
The lawsuit alleges that Baker-Mazara has by no means acquired a proof as to how he allegedly violated the morals clause.
Along with the cash left in his contract, Baker-Mazara can be in search of damages for hurting his NBA Draft inventory. Baker-Mazara had been invited to the 2025 NBA Draft Mix following the 2024-25 season when he was a starter on Auburn’s Last 4 staff. At USC final season, Baker-Mazara had one of the best statistical season of his profession — averaging 18.5 factors per recreation — however didn’t obtain an invitation to the mix. He was invited to the NBA’s Portsmouth Invitational, an occasion for school seniors making an attempt to get drafted. His invitation was finally rescinded, based on the lawsuit.
The lawsuit alleges that “Defendant was absolutely conscious of Baker-Mazara’s potential financial relationships, together with his invitation to the P.I.T., and NBA draft potential. Defendant engaged in independently wrongful conduct designed to disrupt Baker-Mazara’s financial relationships {and professional} prospects by means of the conduct of its worker, Coach Musselman.”
Baker-Mazara went undrafted and has since signed with an expert staff in Puerto Rico. USC missed the 2026 NCAA Event and has gone simply 14-26 within the Huge Ten in two years beneath Musselman.
