NIL money hasn’t gone to the heads of college basketball’s best players. It’s gone to their feet

Contrary to all the hand-wringing about the NIL era inflating the egos of college athletes, some of the clearest effects of the newly legal brand deals haven’t been athletes getting big heads.

The NIL money has certainly gone to their feet, however.

Access to formal endorsement deals between footwear companies and amateur athletes has created a new landscape in which teenage talent leads brand campaigns and fronts marquee sneaker models.

“NIL changed the world,” sports marketing legend Sonny Vaccaro told Andscape. “The athlete has more freedom today, and their ability is known much quicker.”

Such is the case for the two biggest college stars headed into March’s NCAA basketball tournament and this summer’s NBA draft: BYU forward AJ Dybantsa and Kansas guard Darryn Peterson.

Both are 19-year-old, first-year student-athletes who are projected lottery picks in the draft. Each has had a name, image, and likeness (NIL) deal since age 16, with Peterson joining Adidas in 2023 and Dybantsa signing with Nike in 2024.

Since the inception of NIL in 2021, brands have held the power to endorse amateur athletes, establishing not just informal relationships but contractual partnerships.

Initially, the individual prospect and global sportswear companies often lacked marketing synergy in the world of sneaker NIL. In 2026, that has changed.

When BYU and Kansas met on Jan. 31 at Allen Fieldhouse in Lawrence, Kansas, ESPN cameras were poised, and sportswear giants were on standby.

Nike, the $80 billion backer of Dybantsa, created a player-exclusive edition of its GT Cut basketball shoe, featuring hyper pink accents, cobalt blue branding, and “AJ” tagging. The one-off colorway was made specifically for the BYU forward, who averages 25.3 points per game.

The Spider-Man-inspired sneakers are part of Nike’s novel GT range, a high-tech basketball product line the NIL star helps promote and often debuts. The positioning of the player and the product has already created an aura around each entity.

“You’re not just building shoes, you’re building a mythology around this kid,” sports marketing consultant Anthony DiCosmo told Andscape. 

DiCosmo, who helped Jordan Brand build its modern stable of signature athletes from 2018-25, has seen the evolution and power of NIL firsthand.

“Storytelling is much deeper now,” said DiCosmo. “Kids like AJ are able to carry that on their own.”

While Dybantsa’s bright shoes shined in the loss to the Jayhawks, Adidas demonstrated a different approach with Peterson, its prodigy.

The quiet kid dropped a loud 18 points in only 20 minutes of play. After the win, Adidas Basketball partnered with the Instagram accounts of Kansas Hoops and Peterson to deliver a defiant message: “End of Debate.”

The upload showcased Peterson slamming it on BYU on the first slide, followed by Peterson holding up the number one with an Adidas logo stamped atop him.

In one marketing moment, the brand, the athlete, and the university were aligned. Fans of Adidas, Peterson, and Kansas were all funneled to the same space, showing that a win for one was a win for all.

If this type of alignment between athlete, brand, and university feels new, it’s because it is.

The advent of NIL has allowed brands to pay and promote players in ways even more additive when the athlete and school sponsors align.

While NIL has been around since July 1, 2021, footwear companies have evolved their marketing strategies in ways more youthful and pronounced than ever before.

“NIL has redefined  the landscape,” Cam Mason, head of sports marketing at Adidas Basketball, told Andscape. “Many of our NIL athletes have been with us since high school and that has allowed us to create intentional, long-term planning and impact.”

Adidas has positioned itself as a major player in NIL this March Madness thanks to numerous deals done years prior.

In addition to Peterson at Kansas, St. John’s Ian Jackson and Louisville’s Mikel Brown Jr. both became Adidas NIL athletes in 2024 when ascending at Overtime Elite. The synergy has since paid dividends thanks to said athletes signing on with Adidas-sponsored schools.

“When you think about the younger athlete, they’ve generally been undervalued by most of the world,” Farzeen Ghorashy, president of Overtime, told Andscape. “Adidas has been able to identify those athletes earlier on.”

The ability to sign teenage talent is not merely a bet on future potential, but rather the most direct way to reach today’s youth consumer.

“NIL gives you the chance to tap into talent that influences on a peer-to-peer level,” DiCosmo said. “Which is super valuable to this generation and very different from what Millennials or Gen Xers came up with.”

Because of this, 19-year-old athletes are headlining campaigns for $200 sneakers, often drawing more fanfare on social media promotions than their pro peers do.

“I’ve been in gyms where a top high school athlete has a following and interest you used to only see for NBA All-Stars,” Mason said. “In today’s landscape, high school and college athletes are peer-to-peer creators with a direct line into Gen Z and Gen Alpha audiences.”

This changing of the guard is creating a paradigm in which shoe deals are struck in high school, and college athletes are granted access to apparel and marketing budgets once reserved for All-NBA names.

The evolution may be emboldened on the men’s side, but it’s creating even more stars in the women’s game.

Ladies first

New York Knicks guard Jalen Brunson turned heads at February’s NBA All-Star Weekend in Los Angeles, debuting the “Warning Label” edition of the highly anticipated Nike Kobe 3 Low Protro.

The iridescent purple pair, which was released in limited quantities for $230, now asks for $1,199 to $5,850 on resale platform StockX.

Oklahoma guard Aaliyah Chavez had the same model months ago.

Unveiling a predominantly black prototype pair of the same silhouette in Oklahoma’s season opener against Belmont, Chavez surpassed NBA All-Stars for debut duties on the new Nike Kobes.

“Growing into and being part of the Nike team has been great with the Kobe Brand,” Chavez told Andscape. “I modeled my mentality after him so much.”

Averaging 18.4 points and 4.2 assists per game in her freshman season, Chavez has emerged as an ambassador for Nike’s new Kobe Brand since signing with the Swoosh in 2025, appearing in commercials and debuting exclusives.

Months before her NCAA arrival, the teenage talent flew to New York to film a Nike Kobe commercial with Brunson and Kobe Bryant’s eldest daughter, Natalia.

Since then, she has matched her marketing by elevating her game in her first season in Norman, earning All-SEC second-team honors.

While Chavez is quick to credit her teammates and coaching staff for her successes, her NIL deal introduced her to another mentor with the Mamba mentality.

“To this day, me and Jalen Brunson keep in touch,” Chavez said. “He texts me on Instagram all the time saying, ‘Hey, you’re doing great out there.’ That bond you get is so amazing. You get to meet so many people.”

Since then, Chavez has broken the internet with unreleased Protro player exclusives and broken ankles in a rotation of rare Nike Kobes.

However, there are some Kobe colorways that even Chavez can’t get.

In Los Angeles, the USC women’s basketball team is privy to team-exclusive Protros tied to Bryant, as well as exclusive looks from LeBron James and Sabrina Ionescu.

The center of said influence is JuJu Watkins — the sidelined star for the Trojans who recently released her own titanium take on the Nike LeBron NXXT Gen.

Such an opportunity is not lost on USC freshman Jazzy Davidson, the Trojans’ leader in points, rebounds, and assists per game, who is filling Watkins’ shoes quite literally.

“She’s the first college women’s basketball player to collaborate with an NBA player on a shoe like this,” Davidson told Andscape when speaking on Watkins’ work with Nike and LeBron. 

Davidson, who was recently voted Big Ten Freshman of the Year and First Team All-Big Ten, signed a multiyear NIL deal with Nike in 2024 when she was in high school.

Since arriving at USC, Davidson has had her pick of team-exclusive Kobes, collaborations between Watkins and James, and her own player-exclusive takes on the Nike Sabrina 3.

The 19-year-old phenom from Portland, Oregon, already has dreams of a pink signature shoe, inspired by the recent success of her female peers who have begun making a name for themselves while excelling in college at Nike schools.

“It’s something I can only dream of,” Davidson said. “I’m very blessed and grateful that I could have that opportunity someday.”

Given the growing interest in women’s basketball and the surge of female-led signature shoes, it could happen for Davidson sooner rather than later.

It’s a path NIL has provided the new market of young talent, but not the only route an amateur athlete can now take.

Beyond March

Across the men’s and women’s NCAA tournaments, dozens of college athletes will be competing with NIL sneaker deals.

Stars such as Chavez, Dybantsa, Davidson and Peterson will all adorn shoes tied to their footwear sponsors, while numerous NCAA standouts exist in a grayer space.

LSU senior guard Flau’jae Johnson will play in school-supplied Nikes despite having an NIL deal with Puma since her freshman season.

Arkansas freshman and SEC Player of the Year Darius Acuff Jr. will also lead a Nike-backed school despite being signed to Reebok.

They are among a slew of stars signed to NIL shoe deals that cross party lines regarding school sponsorship rights.

Historically, shoe deals signed between a brand and a university override individual endorsements between an athlete and a footwear company.

As seen, challenger brands still place these early off-court bets to market through an athlete’s social media following. This allows a brand access to an athlete’s online following and the chance to establish a relationship that could coincide with an athlete’s ascent in the pros.

“Brands are understanding that it’s a new day; it’s not the same linear model,” DiCosmo said.

“New Balance was the first aggressive signing, I believe,” said Vaccaro, speaking on the Boston-based brand inking an 18-year-old Cooper Flagg ahead of his freshman season at Nike-sponsored Duke University.

While at Duke, Flagg took home national college player of the year honors, all while wearing Nike sneakers exclusively on court as a Blue Devil despite collecting endorsement checks from New Balance.

Months later, the patience paid off.

Flagg was the No. 1 Pick in the 2025 NBA draft and now exists as a favorite for 2026 Rookie of the Year honors. He’s done it all in New Balance, which was able to wait out a year of college play to plan colorways and campaign for his NBA arrival.

“Cooper Flagg is not a small bet; that’s a big bet,” DiCosmo said.

“That wouldn’t have happened a few years ago,” Vaccaro said, having previously consulted with family members of top talent who generally viewed the school and sneaker brand as somewhat of a package deal.

In today’s market, the influx of talent and NIL opportunities has created a colorful college basketball space where opportunities are plentiful. When school sponsors and athlete deals align, the marketing moments are bigger, bolder, and brighter than ever before.

This spring, Dybantsa and Peterson will look to cut down the nets with new Nike and Adidas advertisements already in tow.

This summer, they will each enter the NBA draft with not just shoe deals but brand-led stories that are years in the making.

Conversely, Chavez and Davidson will continue to carve out college fanfare and footwear favor like Caitlin Clark, Watkins, and Paige Bueckers before them.

The ability to build a personal brand with the backing of Nike and an affiliated university creates ample upside for each athlete on and off the court.

Just the same, the success of Flagg, Johnson, and Acuff at challenger companies will incentivize competition and extended opportunities for the next wave of young athletes who can not just pop as players but connect as personalities.

“More and more brands will come to the realization that there’s value with younger athletes,” Ghorashy said. “Relatability is a huge factor.”

Still, big brands tied to elite programs will aim to align talent and teams for marketing moments that transcend all mediums.

NIL deals in unison with sportswear companies, top-tier schools, and teenage talent are upending the industry and making the recently stagnant basketball performance market more nimble, interesting, and younger.

This March Madness, the faces of not just basketball’s bright future but also sportswear’s biggest brands, will be making noise with their games as well as their six-figure feet.

“The players still sell the shoes,” Vaccaro said. “Now there are so many open venues for a player to get a shoe deal.”

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