Two Boston Celtics rookies have been added to the list of NBA players named in a supposed exposé about a pay-for-sex scandal involving the Louisville men’s basketball team.
The book, “Breaking Cardinal Rules: Basketball and the Escort Queen” by former escort Katina Powell, tabs 16th overall pick Terry Rozier and second-rounder Jordan Mickey among the Louisville recruits who paid for sex at dorm room parties reportedly organized by graduate assistant Andre McGee.
In an ESPN “Outside the Lines” report Tuesday, Powell claimed she brought dancers to the parties, and some recruits would choose a dancer to have sex with afterward. McGee paid for all of it, Powell said. One recruit who spoke anonymously to ESPN said, “It was like I was in a strip club.”
Mickey, who eventually chose to attend LSU, was one of three recruits who either could not be reached or declined to comment to ESPN. Rozier, who previously denied knowledge of McGee recruiting players with escorts, wanted to clear the air for Louisville coach Rick Pitino.
“I don’t want to talk about it,” Rozier told ESPN. “… I was already committed before I took my visit. … I will say, though, Coach P, as far as the dorm situations and visits, he’d go out to eat with the recruits and their parents. As far as after that, he wouldn’t know. … I can say his nose is clean.”
Both Louisville and the NCAA are investigating the claims, and McGee, who’s now an assistant at the Missouri-Kansas City, is on paid leave.
Thumbnail photo via Mark L. Baer/USA TODAY Sports Images
