Eric Musselman explains how NIL can help make NBA Draft decisions easier

Name, image, and likeness has officially been engrained into the fabric of collegiate sports, but across each and every sport the impact NIL has on student-athletes differs in a multitude of new ways.

The top athletes in each respective sport will reap benefits similarly, but for the top basketball players specifically, NIL can play a major role in their decision to take their talents to the NBA or remain in school. Which new USC head basketball coach Eric Musselman recently discussed on The Herd with Colin Cowherd.

“I think it can help the sport with certain players,” Musselman said. “A year ago we had Anthony Black, who was a lottery pick, and there was never a discussion with Anthony, or his mother Jennifer, about hey, let’s have Anthony come back and he can make name, image, and likeness. Because he’s a lottery pick after one year, you’re a one-and done- you gotta go.”

The one-and-done culture of basketball is extremely popular and common as many of the NBA’s best players spent just one season in college before becoming lottery picks in the draft. But for players who fall outside of that cusp, making money at the college level through NIL can definitely make the decision more interesting.

“But I do think for certain players that are maybe marginal guys. Because if you’re talking about a player who’s late second round draft pick, he’s a star in college,” Musselman explained. “So I do think some guys that are borderline, maybe 45 to 60 picks, maybe those guys can participate in college for one more year, and have a little bit more patience. And then when they’re ready to go pro, maybe they go from 60 to now 38 (overall) in the following draft.”

Only a small percentage of athletes in any sport will be able to play professionally, but now in the NIL era the top college athletes are able to strike up life-changing deals and build up their personal brands in ways that basketball players of the past weren’t able to.

“So if you can have those conversations that make sense and a player can make more money over time based on his draft value, and then it also elevates a player when you look at marketing opportunities once he does get to the NBA,” Musselman said. “Because let’s face the facts, somebody like Carmelo Anthony, when he plays the one year at Syracuse that elevates his marketing as well. Same thing with Kevin Durant at Texas. So I think college can be really really good from a marketing standpoint, so I think there’s some great things with it.”

Musselman joins the Trojans following five seasons at Arkansas, and it will definitely be fascinating to see how himself and the program as a whole capitalize on NIL in the entertainment capital of the world.