Former NBA pro Tristan Thompson is suing a cryptocurrency firm over allegations it fabricated a pretext to get out of a $2 million endorsement deal—and has continued using his name, image, and likeness without authorization.
The lawsuit, filed May 27 in Delaware’s Chancery Court, takes aim at U.K.-based World Mobile Group. Thompson says he was promised up to $2 million worth of the firm’s crypto token WMTX under a deal signed in May 2025.
Thompson was supposed to receive up to $1 million worth of WMTX tokens per year over the course of two years, and in return was to act as a brand ambassador and endorser of the token.
He says he kept up his end of the bargain, including by promoting the company on social media and participating in public appearances, but the company terminated his deal in March of this year.
“To avoid paying the sums owed to Mr. Thompson, defendants purported to terminate the agreement for cause,” the complaint says. “But defendants had no grounds to terminate for cause under the agreement.”
Under the deal, World Mobile was to pay Thompson via its token in quarterly installments. In December 2025, the company informed Thompson it had accidentally provided him with more of the WMTX token than it intended. Thompson says he offered “a reasonable resolution: offsetting any excess tokens against the upcoming quarterly distribution due in approximately sixty days.” The company issued him a notice of “material breach and termination” three months later.
“Defendants’ purported basis for termination—Mr. Thompson’s alleged failure to return tokens that were overpaid due to defendants’ own calculation error and Mr. Thompson’s alleged sale of WMTX tokens—does not constitute a material breach of the agreement,” the complaint says.
The three-count suit, which includes claims of breach of contract and unauthorized NIL use, demands that Thompson receive the payments owed, plus interest and other damages. It also seeks a ruling that the company can no longer use his NIL.
“Monetary damages alone are inadequate to remedy the continuing harm to Mr. Thompson’s reputation, goodwill, and control over the commercial use of his identity,” the suit says.
At its peak in February 2022, the WMTx token traded at about 98 cents. Today, it’s trading below 5 cents per token according to CoinMarketCap, a 95% drop.
Thompson, who played 13 years in the NBA and won the 2016 championship as a member of the Cavaliers, was recently in the news when he revealed he was an early investor in artificial intelligence giant Anthropic.
Representatives for Thompson and World Mobile did not immediately respond to requests for comment Friday.
