NBA, Players Union Dodge Antitrust Lawsuit by Would-Be Agent

The NBA and its players association dodged federal antitrust claims in Cleveland on Wednesday over the union’s decision to reject a suspended attorney’s application to be a player agent because of his past felony conviction and legal ethics violations.

Judge Donald C. Nugent dismissed the case from the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio, saying Rosel C. Hurley III “failed to plead the essential elements” of an antitrust claim, including the “threshold requirement” of showing harm to the competitive landscape.

The lawsuit didn’t “allege injury to competition, but rather individualized injury,” Nugent wrote. Nor did it show ...