Jane Walker completed the operation, thinking he had dealt with Raja and focused on signing Brian Shaw and Reggie Lewis.
However, the Celtics made a mistake; when they acquired the signing rights for Raja, he had an existing contract with the Lakers.
After negotiating with KK-split, they amended the contract, setting the first year's salary at $370,000 and the following two years at $450,000 each.
This fatal mistake was seized by Mark Fleisher, who took over as Raja's agent from Gas Rich in April 1990 and began scrutinizing the contract issues between Raja and the Celtics.
According to the 1988 labor agreement, once a rookie player signs with a team, the terms of his contract are set, and cannot be altered until the contract ends.
The main purpose of this is to prevent some rookies from demanding more money or longer terms after signing, to protect the interests of the teams.
