Report: Kyle Kuzma alleged to have received money from agents while at Utah

An explosive report by Yahoo Sports Friday morning named former University of Utah forward Kyle Kuzma among a group of players who received money from a sports agency while in college.

Kuzma, who is now a rookie for the Los Angeles Lakers, is listed in the report as having received $9,500 in what was listed as loans and cash advances from an agency while playing at the UofU. According to the report, Kuzma received the money from Christian Dawkins and Andy Miller from the sports agency ASM Sports. Dawkins was one of ten people arrested by the FBI last September when the Bureau first released its findings.

Athletic officials with the University of Utah seem to have had no knowledge of any improper benefits that Kuzma may have received while at the school, and say they were blindsided by the report.

Utah athletic director Chris Hill released a statement Friday morning saying just that.

”Unethical agents have been an issue in college athletics—particularly men’s basketball and football—for many years despite repeated educational efforts by the schools. Certainly this is a topic that our Pac-12 reform committee on NCAA men’s basketball is addressing. Personally, I welcome the scrutiny on the sport of men’s basketball because the behavior of some agents, along with reports of other illegal recruiting activities, is hurting the sport. Coach Krystkowiak has a great deal of integrity and runs a clean program, but this situation shows there are areas outside a coach’s control that need to be fixed.”

Head coach Larry Krystkowiak also released a statement and said he was not aware of the situation.

“This situation came to my attention this morning and I have absolutely no knowledge about it. At this point, these are allegations. I know we run a clean program and my complete focus will be getting our squad ready for our game against USC.”

Instead of Coach K and the Runnin’ Utes answering questions on Saturday about their matchup with the USC Trojans, set for 2:00 p.m. at The Huntsman Center, you can bet they will be fielding questions from us reporters wanting more information.

At the time of this article, Kyle Kuzma hadn’t publicly responded to the allegations.

Utah Jazz center Tony Bradley was also mentioned in the report for having a meal with an agent while at North Carolina. It’s not clear if there were any NCAA violations committed in that meal.

Some of the other notable schools listed in the report are; Duke, North Carolina, Texas, Kentucky, Michigan State, USC and Alabama.