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Underdog is refusing to bend after an attorney for Shai Gilgeous-Alexander demanded the company “destroy” copies of a promotional board game poking fun at the NBA MVP’s proclivity for drawing fouls.
The sports prediction market and fantasy-sports company made 100 copies of Unethical Hoops, a promotional item based on the classic board game Operation. The game, which was announced via a social media post featuring Suns forward Dillon Brooks, can be won by Underdog users, with winners set to be announced Friday. (The classic Operation game, which first came out in 1965, is produced by Hasbro and retails for about $20.)
“Shai has made hoops all about foul baiting and now you’re stuck guarding him in Underdog’s new board game,” the company wrote on a website promoting the game. “Don’t get baited. Steal the ball without getting whistled.”
Gilgeous-Alexander’s attorney, Eric Fishman of ArentFox Schiff LLP, sent a cease and desist letter to Underdog on May 22, saying the company is unlawfully using his name, image, likeness, and persona without permission. The letter, a copy of which Front Office Sports obtained, says the Thunder star’s right of publicity has been violated, and he is entitled to “injunctive relief, damages (including actual damages and disgorgement of profits), corrective advertising, attorneys’ fees and costs, and other appropriate remedies at law and in equity, if he must bring an action against you in court.”
The letter demands Underdog “immediately” stop promoting the game, destroy all copies of it, and “permanently agree never to use Mr. Gilgeous-Alexander’s NIL in any and all media without explicit permission from Mr. Gilgeous-Alexander.”
Underdog is undeterred. The company has not taken down the website, and there’s no indication it intends to acquiesce to Gilgeous-Alexander’s demands.
“We’ve poked fun at Knicks and Lakers fans, the Red Sox owners, the Mets, and more,” an Underdog spokesperson tells FOS. “We like to have some fun with whatever is in the sports fan zeitgeist.”
Last month, Underdog orchestrated a stunt that took place before Game 1 of the playoff series between the Knicks and Hawks. There, Knicks fans got to throw eggs and other items at comedian Andrew Weiss, who was enclosed in a plexiglass case, dressed in Hawks gear, and trolling fans. The Knicks and Madison Square Garden had no role in that stunt.
In March, after Bam Adebayo’s 83-point game that eclipsed Kobe Bryant’s career-high 81-point effort, Underdog had a mural painted in Los Angeles of Bryant passing a torch to Adebayo.
And on May 1, Underdog was behind a small plane that flew over Fenway Park that towed a banner urging ownership to sell the team.
A representative for Gilgeous-Alexander did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Thunder are leading the Western Conference finals series 3–2.
