Not sure why Rockets have to pay him at all.
They're telling him to report somewhere (DLeague) and he is refusing to do so.
He is not performing his end of the contract and is basically being insubordinate.
White's argument could be that he can't perform his contractual obligations because of his disability. Not sure that White's argument holds water. Free will comes in here somewhere, doesn't it?
wrong, he is handicapped and he can sue for discrimination if he isnt paid.
He maybe can sue, but that does not mean he will win. You are not entitled to a job just because you have a disability. Under the ADA, the employer has an affirmative obligation to accomodate the workers disability assuming that workers can perform the essential functions of his job with or without reasonable accomodation.
Obviously this calls for expert medical opinion on what the disability entails and whether or not the employee is capable of performing the essential functions of the job with or without reasonable accomodation. The employer is not required under the ADA to pay an employee that cannot perform essental function of his job.
So what are the essential functions of the job of an NBA player? Does he need accomodations to perform these functions? Are the accomodations reasonable?
He maybe able to claim that his disability if he has one was accomodated at ISU, but this raises a couple of interesting issues. At ISU it was not a job (rolling eyes), the NBA season is quite different from college ball.
Will be interesting if it goes to litigation, but this is not a slam dunk for the disabled worker.