Rick Carlisle Settles With Agent Who Says He Was Stiffed on Commission

Pacers coach Rick Carlisle reached a settlement Wednesday with his former agent who was suing him over missed commission payments.

An attorney involved in the suit confirmed to Front Office Sports that the case has been “resolved to the satisfaction of both parties” and will be dismissed from court in the coming days.

Jarinn Akana filed a lawsuit in December that said Carlisle hadn’t fulfilled the agent’s commission for negotiating his contract extension with the Mavericks in 2018. The two sides didn’t reach a settlement during mediation this summer, which led to a trial date set for April 28, 2025—the same time as the first round of the NBA playoffs.

The suit says Carlisle had Akana’s colleague, Dan Fegan, set to renegotiate his contract with Dallas before Fegan was killed in a car crash. Carlisle originally agreed he would pay Akana the same 3% commission that he would’ve given to Fegan, the suit says, but eventually offered a lower percentage, which Akana accepted. But, after cutting one $200,000 check, Carlisle refused to continue the annual payments owed to Akana, the suit says, while also threatening to report Akana for violating players association rules about representing both players and coaches, “despite being complicit with Akana taking such action on his behalf.” Carlisle had said the claims in the case were “not true in whole or in part.”

Carlisle left the Mavericks in 2021 in the middle of his five-year deal and took over the Pacers a week later.

The team reached the Eastern Conference finals last year for the first time in a decade and will begin the regular season next Wednesday.

Akana’s most prominent client was DeMarcus Cousins, who left for Excel Sports Management in 2019. He now represents a small number of international and G League players.