{"id":836111,"date":"2026-09-15T21:33:15","date_gmt":"2026-09-15T21:33:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/836111\/"},"modified":"2026-09-15T21:33:15","modified_gmt":"2026-09-15T21:33:15","slug":"chad-baker-mazara-sues-usc-alleging-missed-nil-payments-eric-musselman-racist-tirade","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/836111\/","title":{"rendered":"Chad Baker-Mazara sues USC alleging missed NIL payments, Eric Musselman racist tirade"},"content":{"rendered":"

Chad Baker-Mazara has filed a lawsuit against USC<\/a>, alleging head coach Eric Musselman “launched into a profanity-laced, racially charged post-game locker room tirade” and that his NIL contract was terminated prematurely and unfairly.<\/p>\n

The suit was filed in Los Angeles on Monday and was first reported by the California<\/a> Post.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Baker-Mazara led USC in scoring this past season but was kicked off the team following an 82-67 loss to Nebraska<\/a> on Feb. 28. Baker-Mazara’s lawsuit alleges that Musselman “lost his mind” in the locker room following the loss that all but crushed USC’s hopes for an at-large bid.<\/p>\n

The suit claims Musselman interrupted Baker-Mazara’s attempts to talk to his teammates following the defeat.<\/p>\n

Musselman: “You shut the f— up! You are one of the worst teammates anyone can ever have!”Baker-Mazara: “Wow, Coach, do you need me to leave, because I don’t understand this animosity.”Musselman: “Yes, leave! Go back to the f—ing Dominican Republic! Nobody wants you here!! F\u2014k you!”<\/p>\n

“The words ‘Go back to the f\u2014-ing Dominican Republic’ are generally understood by persons of color in the United States originating from the Dominican Republic \u2014 and were in fact taken by Baker-Mazara \u2014 to be racist and discriminatory, akin to telling an African American<\/a> to ‘go back to Africa,'” the lawsuit states. “Coach Musselman’s outburst was a direct attack on Baker-Mazara’s national origin and Dominican heritage, made from a position of authority and power by the Head Coach of the team, in front of all of Baker-Mazara’s teammates. The tirade was unprovoked, vicious, and discriminatory.”<\/p>\n

Baker-Mazara alleged that USC terminated his NIL agreement because he had violated a “morals clause” and that his NBA Draft<\/a> stock was damaged. Baker-Mazara, now 26, was not invited to the 2026 NBA Draft Combine, despite being one of the Big Ten’s top scorers. He was not regarded as a top-100 prospect for the 2026 NBA Draft.<\/p>\n

“I gave everything I had to USC. I played through injuries, showed up for my teammates every day, and honored my commitments,” Baker-Mazara said in a statement. “Filing 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.”<\/p>\n

USC is expected to fight back against Baker-Mazara’s suit.<\/p>\n

“The decision to remove the student-athlete from the men’s basketball roster was based on a number of considerations, none having to do with race,” a USC spokesperson said. “We look forward to defeating this action in court.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Chad Baker-Mazara has filed a lawsuit against USC, alleging head coach Eric Musselman “launched into a profanity-laced, racially…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":836112,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3723],"tags":[7,217,231,772,1544,849],"class_list":["post-836111","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ncaa-basketball","tag-basketball","tag-college-basketball","tag-ncaa","tag-ncaa-basketball","tag-ncaab","tag-usc-trojans"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/117277203066122735","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/836111","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=836111"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/836111\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/836112"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=836111"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=836111"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=836111"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}