The Cleveland Cavaliers are in the middle of an age discrimination lawsuit, and the team is firing back at the former assistant coach accusing the team of hiring someone younger to replace him. Jim Boylan filed a lawsuit on Thursday that accused the team of age discrimination after his option was not picked up this summer. Boylan said he was told the team wanted someone younger in the role of assistant coach under Tyronn Lue.
Lue, of course, was fired earlier this week as head coach of the Cavaliers, so Boylan might not even be coaching the team right now if his option were picked up. But that’s conjecture at this point, and the issue here is over workers rights to equal employment. ESPN reported about the suit on Friday, in which Boylan says he was told he was let go in a voicemail by Lue, who admitted that the team wanted a youth movement behind the bench.
In the lawsuit Boylan, 63, provides a transcript of a voicemail left by former head coach Tyronn Lue from last June informing him the team was moving in a different direction. According to the transcription, Cavs general manager Koby Altman informed Lue that “they’re not gonna pay that kind of money for three assistants on the bench. He wants to go younger in that position and, you know, find somebody who’s a grinder and younger in that position.”
The lawsuit also claims that subsequently Altman told Boylan that he and team owner Dan Gilbert wanted a younger coach at the position. After Boylan’s departure, the Cavs hired new assistant coach Terry Nooner, who is 40, and promoted several other younger assistants.
On Friday, the Cavaliers responded with a statement that denied the validity of the age discrimination lawsuit and said the attempt to collect millions of dollars for it was a “cash grab.”
https://twitter.com/highkin/status/1058441372296929281
“The outrageousness of Mr. Boylan’s claim of ‘age discrimination’ due to the Cavaliers not exercising an option in a contract both parties signed cannot be overstated,” the statement said.
It’s a strong rebuke of the lawsuit and reinforces the notion that sports teams are not like regular workplaces, and contracts between teams and coaches can often be as contentious as those between franchises and their players.
