BOSTON -- A pair of Boston Celtics players have been named in a tell-all book involving a pay-for-sex scandal surrounding the Louisville men’s basketball program.
Former escort Katina Powell alleges in the book, “Breaking Cardinal Rules: Basketball and the Escort Queen,” that there were numerous parties on the Louisville campus involving strippers and “side deals” which reportedly was a euphemism for paid sex.
Celtics players Terry Rozier and Jordan Mickey are mentioned by Powell, both in the book and during an episode of ESPN’s Outside the Lines, as having had sex during their recruiting visits.
According to Powell, the parties on campus were from 2010-2014 and were arranged by former Cardinals graduate assistant coach Andre McGee. McGee is now an assistant coach at the University of Missouri-Kansas City and, according to ESPN, is on paid leave.
Mickey, one of the nation’s top high school recruits in 2010, eventually signed with LSU. The Celtics drafted the 6-foot-9 big man in the second round of last June’s NBA draft with the 33rd overall pick.
Rozier, drafted by Boston with the 16th overall pick in last June’s NBA draft, committed to Louisville -- coached by former Celtics coach Rick Pitino -- before taking his official visit.
“I don’t want to talk about it,” Rozier told ESPN. “I will say, though, Coach P (Pitino), as far as the dorm situations and visits, he’d go out to eat with the recruits and their parents. As far as after that, he wouldn’t know. I can say his nose is clean.”
Both Louisville and the NCAA are investigating the matter.