As Florida State basketball tries to get its feet underneath it in ACC play this season, the program now has the cloud of an NIL lawsuit hanging over it. On Monday, six former Seminoles filed a lawsuit alleging that they were promised NIL money by head coach Leonard Hamilton and then were never paid, according to Ross Dellenger of Yahoo Sports.

“The six plaintiffs — Darin Green Jr., Josh Nickelberry, Primo Spears, Cam’Ron Fletcher, De’Ante Green and Jalen Warley — allege that Hamilton promised each of them $250,000 in NIL payments from the coach’s ‘business partners,’” Dellenger wrote.

In the lawsuit, the players state that they were promised the money on multiple occasions, both as a group and individually, but were never paid. As a result of the dispute, the six players walked out of a Florida State practice last season and had planned to boycott a conference game against Duke before Hamilton re-affirmed the plan to get them the money. The players played in the game and allegedly were still never paid.

The former players allege Hamilton promised them the money from his “business partners.” The lawsuit says they walked out of a practice last season over the missed payments and intended to boycott a Feb. 17 game against Duke. They ended up playing — the Seminoles lost 76-67 — amid a guarantee from Hamilton that they would be paid but never were, according to the suit.

“Upon learning recently of the allegations made by former men’s basketball athletes, the university has worked diligently to determine what transpired last season,” Florida State said in a statement. “Though our inquiry is not yet complete, at this point we know of no unfulfilled commitments by FSU in terms of scholarships or other appropriate benefits or the Rising Spear Collective relative to NIL payments owed to the athletes.

“We support Coach Hamilton’s right to defend himself against these allegations and look forward to an expeditious resolution of this matter.”

The complaint includes multiple text-message exchanges between players and some between players and Hamilton.

FSU finished 17-16 last season, including 10-10 in the Atlantic Coast Conference. The 76-year-old Hamilton is in the final year of his contract. The Seminoles are 9-4, including 0-2 in league play, and host Syracuse on Saturday.

None of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit remain with the team. Green and Nickelberry exhausted their college eligibility last spring, and the four others transferred. Spears is now at UTSA, Fletcher is at Xavier, De’Ante Green is at USF and Warley is at Gonzaga.

The lawsuit is the latest in a growing number of NIL legal fights.

Matthew Sluka, a starting quarterback for the UNLV football team, left the program after three games in September because he was never paid a $100,000 NIL deal. Former Florida quarterback signee Jaden Rashada, now playing at Georgia, sued Gators coach Billy Napier last year over an unpaid $13 million NIL deal. And several Tulsa players claim they were never paid thousands in NIL commitments made by former coach Kevin Wilson.