🏅Three CBB freshmen poised for a massive payday

Hey there,

The Big Dance officially starts today, which is why we thought it’s only appropriate to talk about some players we’ll see in the tournament. Today we’re running through three freshman — all on tournament contending teams — that are set to make tons in NIL next season… well, if they don’t ball out this March and go straight to the NBA regardless.

Three conferences, three freshman, and a whole lot of NIL money. You ready to see who’s making the big bucks? Keep scrolling.

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— Cole, Justin and Collin

There’s two types of college basketball freshman.

On one hand, there’s your Cooper Flaggs, your Dylan Harpers. Those are the guys that are locked on going to the NBA next season – college basketball was just a steppingstone to the next level. They’re making millions of dollars this season because they proved their value before they even stepped foot on a college campus. 

But then there’s the vast majority of freshman – those guys who thought they’d be a top five pick, but ended up either getting relegated to the bench, or playing a less important role in the offense. These are the guys we’re talking about today.

To be clear, none of the players we’re about to discuss are bad at basketball. On the contrary, in fact – all three of these players are contributing to their teams in very real ways. But perhaps the NBA wants to see more from them. Perhaps they’d be better served returning to college next year. Perhaps, in fact, it’d be the most financially savvy decision they could make. 

Today we’re talking about three underclassmen that are poised to get paid in 2026. They’re like breakout candidates, but we’ll be able to evaluate them from an NIL perspective. Sound good? Great.

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