Hunter Dickinson addresses NIL rumors during transfer portal process

Hunter Dickinson made waves in college basketball this offseason when he decided to hit the transfer portal leaving the Michigan Wolverines to join legendary head coach Bill Self at Kansas. Recently Dickinson had a sit-down interview with Rock Chalk Unplugged and went over his decision to transfer to Kansas. And during his live Q&A, the Jayhawks big man addressed the big rumors that his decision to head to Lawerence was driven by NIL.

“It was super funny. When I was on my visit here, that’s when the rumor came out; it was from a Michigan reporter that there was some contract already laid out for me here. And I remember my mom looked at it, and she just started laughing, and she brought it up to the coaches and was like, ‘Yeah, when is this part of the meeting going to happen?’ I was like, ‘Yeah, this was not discussed at all,'” said Dickinson laughing.

Dickinson is able to sit back and laugh at the entire situation, given how things transpired. And while there may not be a need for more clarity on the situation, the Kansas big man revealed what were the essential things he was looking for when making his decision on where to transfer to.

“I mean, NIL is obviously a thing, but, for me, my main goal is to try to be an NBA player. And that was kind of the driving force of my decision. Whenever any coach asked me, ‘What are you looking for in a school? Like what do you want to see from the school?’ And my main two things are always: I want to win a national championship, and I want that school to develop me to try to be an NBA player. NIL was never in that top-2.

“It got overblown because of some comments I might have made on my own podcast that might have exacerbated what I was trying to say. Just from an NIL standpoint of what I feel like I didn’t get at Michigan.”

In the end, making it to the NBA and winning a national championship at the collegiate level is what drove Dickinson into the open arms of head coach Bill Self. And at Kansas, there is a strong possibility that both of those boxes get checked off. Under Self, the Jayhawks have sent a number of players to the next level, including reigning NBA MVP Joel Embiid and the No. 13 pick in the 2023 NBA Draft wing Gradey Dick. And the program is just two seasons removed from winning it all.