Agent Slavko Duric’s name came up in Zion Williamson’s ongoing lawsuit for loaning the former Duke player’s family money, but Duric has a history of being involved in basketball scandals.

Slavko Duric answered the phone, and away we went. Down memory lane, and down dark alleys to where basketball business gets done.

“We should write a book,” Duric said at one point in a long, winding conversation.

If we did write a book, the title would be this: They Never Go Away.

“They” meaning the hustlers and opportunists who populate the basketball player procurement market. The business of hovering around promising young talent and finding ways to cash in has been robust for decades, and there are always new grifters crawling out of the woodwork—but also a remarkably hardy cast of usual suspects.

The money is there. The deterring rules are widely scoffed at—and when they are enforced, it’s often only a