As compelling as your argument is and the example of Iriafen, I'm glad to see you agree with the only point I was making in response to what's in the OP, namely the suggestion that most transfers are out for the NIL money.
It's important to understand that there are two kinds of NIL money available.
1- A legitimate marketing contract given to players by a third party company to help that company sell product. These are the type of deals Paige and Azzi Sign with say Nike and Under Armour/Curry. There is big money here for the top national stars, but not much for role players on the NET rank #68 team.
2- The infamous 'bag of cash' given to an athlete from the alumni booster collective simply to come play at the new school. This is the reported $800,000 for Iriafen, or $1,500,000 requested by Chavez. This cash is tied to a dummy NIL contract (10 autograph sessions for $800,000), that gets paid, but the services never actually happen. That's what makes the former covert 'bag of cash', now legitimate as a fake NIL agreement. It's even tax deductible.
In football and men's basketball the bag of cash NIL is pretty common now. For example it was the $20 million that Ohio State used to buy their '24 players. Or the funding that Coach Pitino used to transform the St John's '25 roster.
The biggest example out there is Duke recently signed sophomore transfer QB Darian Mensah from Tulane to a 2 year deal of $8million, or $4 million per year!
Among top 30 football and mens basketball schools, most transfers now involve these payments. Even schools like Indiana and Vanderbilt are paying to remain competitive, and a school like SMU was able to get good real quick.
How much of this has trickled over to women's basketball is a mystery? LSU, USC, TCU and UCLA surely funded their recent transfers, but who knows how much.
The question is if a $25-$100,000 payment on top of scholarship is enough to induce a female hoopster to switch schools.
Coach Neighbors at Arkansas apparently lost his players last year to paid transfers. Upon resigning at Arkansas, he said he is looking to coach again at a school that will 'support' women's basketball.
Will be interesting to see where Chavez signs, and to watch the '25 transfer market.
