Aaliyah Chavez reportedly looking for $1 million in NIL

[southie]

I get that this seems to be unchartered territory, and posters/fans are having a difficult time understanding the changes happening with NIL prior to a player entering college. Perhaps this is the first time there have been rumors of an actual NIL dollar amount for a girls' basketball high school senior recruit.

I remember being stunned when top 2023 recruit Juju Watkins chose to play at Southern Cal over South Carolina and several over the programs who had been having so much recent success. Let's face it, Southern Cal hadn't had any national success pretty much all of Juju's entire life; and, it's not like Coach Gotlieb is considered an elite head coach based on her prior collegiate stops.

So, why did Watkins choose to stay home? My guess would be NIL. This past April we read the rumors that Southern Cal found $800k in NIL for Stanford transfer, Kiki Iriafen. If that is true, it would make sense that Watkins received at least that much.

Then you look at UCLA attracting all these elite recruits from coast to coast, and a bunch of elite transfers. Again, it's not like Coach Close has even made it to one Final Four while in Westwood. I can only assume NIL is playing a huge factor there.

LSU was able to keep 2023 Mikayla Williams in-state. Prior year the brought in Flau'jae Johnson who even had a shoe deal with Puma (I think) prior to playing her first collegiate game.

Texas Tech found over $1 million for Stanford softball transfer NiJaree Canady who hails from the state of Kansas. Texas Tech has had zero success or history in the sport of softball; that didn't stop a deal from being worked out. If they paid an out-of-state player that much for a sport that is not as well-supported in Lubbock, TX as women's basketball, they most likely will break the bank for an in-city girls basketball recruit who could instantly become the face of the program and help elevate it above its recent mediocrity.

 

[Charliebball]

Creating new powerhouse teams where none existed can have good ramifications for the game as new fans well be grown in a new area that can last for a lifetime.
And there can be a spillover effect for the WNBA and March Madness too.
We've already seen the WNBA pros complain about their pay scale & the lack of profitability of the WNBA & how they're 2nd class athletes.
Just becuuse Caitlin Clark went to Iowa & patiently waited for her huge NIL shoe deal doesn't mean that every WCBB player has to wait their turn to cash in.
Major League Baseball drafts kids right of high school and pays the top dratees big bucks in lump sum slot money to not go to college & to play minor league baseball instead.
These young women sometimes need multiple surgeries before they graduate college from all of the wear & tear that's require to hone their BB skills.
I don't see anything negative when the result will be that NIL money helps to grow the game. & to incentivize & support athletes to develop their skills.
Once these players reach their prime then they eventually end up playing in the Olympics for national pride for a pittance.
And US pro WBB players are some of the lesser paid players in the world.
This all becomes part of growing the gane in the US.
The more that we can understand it then the more that we can all accept it.

It's the impact on the 95% of the college programs that don't have the money that I'm worried about.......instead of building a program over years by hiring a great coach and then recruiting the kind of players that fit the coach's system, the wealthiest schools will simply buy the talent they need to compete at the highest level.........I don't think that's going to lead to the best quality of basketball for anybody as evidenced by the all-star laden LSU team last year.....

 

[CajunHusk94]

It's the impact on the 95% of the college programs that don't have the money that I'm worried about.......instead of building a program over years by hiring a great coach and then recruiting the kind of players that fit the coach's system, the wealthiest schools will simply buy the talent they need to compete at the highest level.........I don't think that's going to lead to the best quality of basketball for anybody as evidenced by the all-star laden LSU team last year.....

LSU's issues IMO was the fact that they forced a player out of position (Hailey Van Lith) which impacted both their offense and defense, unlike their 2023 title team which actually all complimented each other. If they added a legit PG instead of Mulkey trying to force a square peg into a round hole, I think last years season goes very differently for them.

Buying talent/players is one thing, how they integrate/fit well with the other players/team chemistry is another thing. Granted NIL can be a touchy subject at times, when one player is getting all the attentional/deals/etc its interesting to see how that impacts team dynamics.

 

[jdote33]

For me, I think I still don't have a full understanding of NIL so it's hard to judge. I thought it wasn't supposed to be pay for play. I just thought the school can kinda help get deals or sponsorships.
Can Newton recently talked about Shedeur Sanders and said once the NCAA accepted/launched NIL, college athletes were open to criticism, almost suggesting that it ended it being amateur sports. But I thought that was incorrect. The criticism that pros get especially the ones who are paid high amounts from an organization, is due to them not living up to what the organization pays them. It's the same in any organization. If u find out someone with the same title is making triple the money but underperforming it makes sense to want to correct or reevaluate. NIL is different. If the Cavinder twins get an under armor deal cuz they are marketable, its silly to criticize them if they have bad games. Sorry for the side rant but there's a bit of a distinction for me.
Because I thought it's not supposed to be pay for play, I don't like stuff like this. However I do hope she makes a lot of money, more than the 1 million. I kinda hope she goes to a program like Texas Tech. If she brings national attention to that program and takes them to the second weekend and beyond she would be worth far more than the 1 million over 4 years. Like how much was Caitlin Clark worth to Iowa and the NCAA? She probably was/is underpaid in terms of her market value.

 

[southie]

It's the impact on the 95% of the college programs that don't have the money that I'm worried about.......instead of building a program over years by hiring a great coach and then recruiting the kind of players that fit the coach's system, the wealthiest schools will simply buy the talent they need to compete at the highest level.........I don't think that's going to lead to the best quality of basketball for anybody as evidenced by the all-star laden LSU team last year.....

There are only so many "great" coaches to go around. So, that's not gonna happen at let's say Texas Tech whose head coach is already in her fifth and final season of her first contract. Schools lose money (regardless of sport) when they don't win and don't put fans in the seats.

Talent is what wins; maybe not the ultimate championship, but helps win games. Even "great" head coaches can't win at a high level without talented players. We have arrived at that point where some elite players are getting paid more than the head coaches (such as Texas Tech softball). You would think the head coaches would be upset about that, but do they really have a choice?

 

[Bone Dog]

Just a reminder: Paige and Caitlin ended up at UConn and Iowa without any collective interference. No promise of any particular money. Paige earns upwards of $1m/year independently of any such intrusion.

I have to admire Chavez’s chutzpah, and I hope she lives up to the bluster it implies. If she doesn’t make all-American and maybe even NPOY as a freshman, she’s gonna catch some heat. And I have to suspect she won’t get either award.