Why hasn't Zion Williamson settled his ongoing lawsuit?

Yahoo Sports’ Dan Wetzel, Pete Thamel and SI’s Pat Forde discuss the lingering litigation involving a former agent claiming the former Duke star received improper benefits while playing for the Blue Devils. Subscribe to the Yahoo Sports College Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Video Transcript

[CHEERING]

DAN WETZEL: What do you make of the latest? Why the hell hasn't Zion settled this lawsuit?

PAT FORDE: That's a surprise to me, is that it's not settled. And I wonder if they just feel like they could keep stalling this woman out, Gina Ford, until she either just loses heart or they can drive down the settlement number. I don't know. But I am surprised that this thing is still going on.

And look, clearly the Gina Ford strategy here from her attorneys is just to make this as absolutely uncomfortable and sensational as they can for Zion. Pete wrote a good story kind of breaking the whole thing down, including-- it is a humongous swing. I don't know, whether it's a hit, but it's a big swing. I mean, throwing that pictures of the house out there, which, we're reasonably certain that's Zion Williamson's house, because I have a picture of the same house when I was [INAUDIBLE] it [? up ?] in 2019.

But we don't know for sure. There's nothing that says in the filings like, who did they get the house from, who is the owner? Who had they said-- it belonged to a Duke grad. Well, who? Who is it? What was the connection? It is, let's throw as much at the wall as we can and see what sticks, or see when Zion gets tired of reading about it and gives us a check for however many tens of millions you can get. So I think that's the whole strategy.

PETE THAMEL: To me, this whole case comes down to the fact that Gina Ford to-- four brands that fancy themselves as pristine, Coach K, Duke basketball, Nike, and Zion himself, So they have a lot to lose. Gina Ford, basically-- I don't want to say she has nothing to lose, but she's put all her cards on the table.

She said, essentially, I am no longer going to be in marketing. I'm no longer going to work with [? that. ?] This is my play, and I am desperate. You always have to be wary of a desperate adversary, because she has gone all in on this. And I really think that-- yeah, I agree with Pat.

The surprising part is, those four brands haven't come up with a way to make this go away. I really think Zion, because of his potential exposure, Duke's potential exposure-- Zion doesn't have exposure. He just has reputation. Kids love Zion. Zion is a. Highlight He's beloved in America right now. He's one of 10 most popular athletes in America.

So there is a compelling argument to make this go away. And most of the people I talked to in the legal community and the NBA are surprised that it's gone on this far.

[MUSIC PLAYING]