Tom Brady and Mark Davis now have something else in common. They’ve both been connected to conduct that result in a sports team losing a first-round draft pick.
For Brady, it happened twice. The Patriots lost their 2016 first-round pick over the #Deflategate fiasco, and the Dolphins lost their 2023 first-round pick for tampering with Brady and Broncos coach Sean Payton.
Now, the WNBA team owned by Raiders owner Mark Davis has lost a first-round pick, too.
Following an investigation regarding impermissible player benefits, the Las Vegas Aces lost their 2025 first-round draft pick. News of the investigation first surfaced in February, with an allegation that the Aces were “making under-the-table payment offers” to players.
The WNBA announced that the Aces lost the 2025 first-round pick due to “promises of impermissible benefits in connection with negotiations for an extension of then Aces player Dearica Hamby’s player contract.”
The original report explained that a high-level employee of the Aces allegedly instructed agents for certain players that, upon conclusion of the phone call during which a contract was being negotiated, the agent would receive another call offering a specific amount of money from another company, for a job that entailed “negligible” work.
The WNBA also suspended Aces coach Becky Hammon for two games without pay for violating league and team Respect in the Workplace policies. Hammon made comments to Hamby regarding her recent pregnancy.
Brady became a minority owner of the Aces earlier this year. He’s reportedly in the process of becoming a minority owner of the Raiders.
