Baker-Mazara had been dismissed from the team<\/a> and was barred from accessing the team facility. The suit alleges that USC never conducted an investigation prior to his dismissal. No one interviewed Baker-Mazara or any of his teammates and never provided Baker-Mazara with a reason for his dismissal.<\/p>\nThe lawsuit also alleges that USC\u2019s NIL Collective House of Victory Foundation missed a February payment to Baker-Mazara, and that on Feb. 13, weeks before the Nebraska game, Baker-Mazara\u2019s representatives were advised that the payment would be forthcoming. Over the next two weeks, USC, which began the season 12-1, would lose its next three games, stretching its losing streak to four as it sat on the NCAA Tournament bubble. Baker-Mazara missed the first two games of that losing streak because of an MCL injury. He returned on Feb. 21 against Oregon, scoring 21 points in a one-point loss.<\/p>\n
By the next game against UCLA on Feb. 24, the lawsuit states, Baker-Mazara\u2019s representatives were told that the cutoff to make the February payment had been missed, and both the February and March payments would be made in March. In the lawsuit, Baker-Mazara\u2019s lawyers write that \u201cBaker-Mazara\u2019s representatives pushed back, advising that they had provided all information and signatures needed, and there was no reason payment could not be processed before the end of February.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hours before the Nebraska game on Feb. 28, Baker-Mazara\u2019s representatives were advised, \u201cUSC cannot provide a date but they know (you) need it (payment) asap \u2026 \u201d<\/p>\n
Baker-Mazara left the Nebraska game early in the second half after taking a hard fall while sprinting back to contest a shot, aggravating his knee injury. He alleges that after working through the injury in the locker room and tunnel area, he returned to the bench and signaled that he was available to return, but Musselman did not reinsert him into the game. USC lost 82-67, and following his dismissal, Baker-Mazara has not received the past payments he was owed. The suit states that he has also not been paid the remainder of his contract.<\/p>\n
\u201cI gave everything I had to USC. I played through injuries, showed up for my teammates every day, and honored my commitments,\u201d Baker-Mazara said in a statement provided to The Athletic. \u201cFiling this lawsuit was not an easy decision, but I believe it is important to stand up for what you were promised and what you are owed. I am proud of what I accomplished throughout my college career, and I remain focused on my professional basketball career, my family, and the opportunities ahead. I look forward to letting the facts speak for themselves through the legal process.\u201d<\/p>\n
On March 13, the lawsuit states, USC\u2019s NIL collective \u201cpurported to terminate the Agreements pursuant to the purported morals clause contained in the respective Agreements.\u201d The morals clause allows termination of a contract if an athlete commits acts that are \u201cimmoral, deceptive, scandalous or obscene,\u201d or acts that \u201ccould adversely affect USC, HOV, the USC athletic department, the USC men\u2019s basketball program, or any related parties or entities.\u201d<\/p>\n
The lawsuit alleges that Baker-Mazara has never received an explanation as to how he allegedly violated the morals clause.<\/p>\n
In addition to the money left in his contract, Baker-Mazara is also seeking damages for hurting his NBA Draft stock. Baker-Mazara had been invited to the 2025 NBA Draft Combine following the 2024-25 season when he was a starter on Auburn\u2019s Final Four team. At USC last season, Baker-Mazara had the best statistical season of his career \u2014 averaging 18.5 points per game \u2014 but did not receive an invite to the combine. He was invited to the NBA\u2019s Portsmouth Invitational, an event for college seniors trying to get drafted. His invitation was eventually rescinded, according to the lawsuit.<\/p>\n
The lawsuit alleges that \u201cDefendant was fully aware of Baker-Mazara\u2019s prospective economic relationships, including his invitation to the P.I.T., and NBA draft potential. Defendant engaged in independently wrongful conduct designed to disrupt Baker-Mazara\u2019s economic relationships and professional prospects through the conduct of its employee, Coach Musselman.\u201d<\/p>\n
Baker-Mazara went undrafted and has since signed with a professional team in Puerto Rico. USC missed the 2026 NCAA Tournament and has gone just 14-26 in the Big Ten in two years under Musselman.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former USC forward Chad Baker-Mazara has filed a lawsuit against the school, alleging that head coach Eric Musselman…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":835653,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3723],"tags":[7,217,354,231,772,1544,849],"class_list":["post-835652","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ncaa-basketball","tag-basketball","tag-college-basketball","tag-mens-college-basketball","tag-ncaa","tag-ncaa-basketball","tag-ncaab","tag-usc-trojans"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/117273758525112276","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/835652","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=835652"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/835652\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/835653"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=835652"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=835652"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=835652"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}