Charles Barkley predicts what his NIL value would have been at Auburn

Charles Barkley didn’t have to think about the NIL coming out of high school. The future NBA legend played his freshman season at Auburn in 1981, decades before student athletes gained the right to profit from their name, image and likeness.

In a recent appearance on Don’t @ Me with Dan Dakich, Barkley gave a surprising take on what his NIL value would have been as a high school senior.

“I wouldn’t have got anything,” he said bluntly. “When people go back and look at my history, I came out of nowhere. I grew from 5’10” to 6’5″ in one year. I had never gotten a college letter from a single school before my senior year. Most of the guys who are going to get that money, they’ve been on the radar. Guys start getting scholarship offers now in like the ninth or 10th grade, so I wouldn’t have been on anybody’s radar. But after my freshman year when I led the SEC in rebounds — I led the SEC in rebounds all three years of college — I would have been able to make some good money.”

Barkley would go on to become one of the most decorated players in the history of Auburn basketball. He is one of just two Tigers players who didn’t play four seasons to rank in the top 10 in school history in career rebounds. The burly forward was selected fifth overall by the Philadelphia 76ers in the 1984 NBA draft, two picks after Michael Jordan.

Although Charles Barkley could have benefitted from the NIL after his rise at Auburn, he isn’t sure it would have been best for the Tigers. Barkley told Dakich that if there is one star making significantly more money, it could lead to jealousy from the rest of the team.

“What concerns me is that everybody on my team ain’t gonna make a lot of money,” he said. “If Charles Barkley has a car deal and is making some money from other avenues, there’s gonna be some serious resentment from my teammates. I think it’s gonna be worse in football because everybody will pay the quarterback, running back, wide receivers. If I’m a big offensive lineman who’s doing all the work, I’m like, ‘Wait a minute. This dude is making all this money. He’s got a nice car. I’m actually doing all the work. Where’s my money at?’ So that’s what concerns me about this whole NIL thing. There’s gonna be a couple guys making money, but the majority of players are not gonna make money. That’s gonna cause some serious resentment in the locker room.”

The first year of the NIL was already full of massive deals for young stars. Ohio State freshman quarterback Quinn Ewers was one such player, agreeing to a three-year $1.4 million autograph signing deal with GT Sports Marketing. Ewers appeared in just one game for the Buckeyes in 2021 before transferring to Texas this offseason.

Alabama quarterback Bryce Young was also reported to be nearing $1 million in sponsorships before the season began. Although the NIL as a whole has been regarded as a positive change in college sports, teams will now have to figure out how to manage egos and jealousy as Barkley said.