Kentucky's DJ Wagner Jr., USC's Juju Watkins star in new Nike commercial thanks to NIL deals

When DJ Wagner Jr. and Juju Watkins signed NIL deals with Nike a year ago, many wondered how the sneaker giant would incorporate the future basketball stars into its marketing strategy.

Just highly-touted high school stars, they were too young to launch signature sneakers. Now freshmen in college, repping the swoosh at their respective schools they’re starring in the latest Nike basketball ad.

In a new commercial titled “Only Basketball” released Tuesday, the two appear in the 60-second video with a list of stars including rapper Travis Scott, WNBA two-time MVP A’ja Wilson, Phoenix Suns guard Devin Booker and LeBron James.

Wagner is gearing up for his freshman season at Kentucky, while Watkins is on the West Coast at USC. The Nike ad actually plays up on their preexisting relationship — the two attended prom together this past spring. Wagner made the cross-country trek to attend Sierra Canyon’s prom with Watkins. Later, Watkins did the same, traveling to New Jersey to attend Camden High’s prom.

The commercial shows Wagner and Watkins at a high school dance together.

“Let’s see what you got,” Wagner says on the dance floor. Watkins responds by jumping into her defensive stance.

Nike makes smart move

Nike made a smart move by partnering with Wagner and Watkins as high school seniors, as it sets the company up to be in a strong position to ink long-term deals for the next generation of basketball stars. 

Both enter college with impressive accolades.

Viewed as the No. 1 prospect in the 2023 class, Watkins is the reigning National Gatorade Player of the Year. In her senior year at Sierra Canyon, she led the Trailblazers to a 31-1 record while averaging 27.5 points, 13.7 rebounds and 3.6 assists. She joins Lisa Leslie as the only USC player to win Gatorade National Girls Basketball Player of the Year honors.

The seventh-ranked recruit in the 2023 class, Wagner was named the McDonald’s All-American Game MVP after scoring all 19 points of his points in the second half.

DJ Wagner Jr., Juju Watkins building NIL brands

Before he even stepped foot in Kentucky, Wagner had signed three NIL deals. Along with the Nike agreement, he has partnerships with Drake’s Nike sub-label NOCTA and Lex Exotics. Because New Jersey allows NIL at the high school level, he was able to begin monetizing his publicity rights.

The five-star also brought on WME Sports for NIL representation. Wagner has an On3 NIL Valuation of $558K, which ranks No. 9 in college basketball. The valuation is No. 98 in the On3 NIL 100, the first of its kind and defacto NIL ranking of the top 100 high school and college athletes ranked by their On3 NIL Valuation. His social media following has climbed to 180,000, too.

Watkins was also in a similar situation, as California allowed high school athletes to cash in. The guard entered USC with NIL deals with Lids and the Cash App. She also received a 2023 Mercedes EQS to drive during the 2023-24 season in August through a partnership between the NIL collective House of Victory and Fletcher Jones Motorcars.

The USC freshman has an On3 NIL Valuation of $177,000 with 301,000 social media followers.

The On3 NIL Valuation is the industry’s leading index that sets the standard market NIL value for high school and college athletes. A proprietary algorithm, the On3 NIL Valuation calculates an athlete’s NIL value using dynamic data points targeting three primary categories: performance, influence and exposure.

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