Kansas-bound Hunter Dickinson making most of college basketball's NIL norm

College basketball appears to be having its NIL moment.

In January, the college football world was affixed on Jaden Rashada, the Florida quarterback commit who saw his NIL deal with the Gator Collective fall apart weeks before he was scheduled to arrive on campus.

Now Hunter Dickinson has the attention of college basketball. The NIL rumors have been floating around ever since he made the decision to leave Michigan in early April. While the 7-foot-1, 255-pound center has tried to figure out which school will help his maturation into an NBA prospect, the NIL deals have only become more lucrative.

The discourse arguably reached its peak Thursday morning when he committed to Kansas. Whoever missed out on Dickinson was going to blame the loss on NIL, especially after all the talk from earlier in the week.

On Tuesday, Maryland was reportedly making a $2 million offer because a got “energized, motivated and pissed off.”

Stakeholders across college basketball and NIL had a range of reactions.

“I’d be shocked,” an ACC staff member said.

Added a Pac-12 collective operator: “It would be the biggest deal I’ve heard of.”

“Damn! Good for him,” said a mid-major head coach.

Kansas allegedly drew up a contract for a two-year deal. On3’s Matt Jones emphasized Wednesday that Kentucky laid out what star players have been able to make off endorsement deals and how that would come together following a commitment.

Fanbases who lost out on the portal’s top target will clutch to NIL as an excuse. The reality is college athletics has changed. Amateurism is dead. The NCAA is flailing, trying to force Congress to fix its problems. The question is not even when Capitol Hill will get the job done. There’s not even a timeline.

So, this is what we have. One of college basketball’s most talented players ran free agency on his own accord. The NCAA will never revoke an athlete’s eligibility. Dickinson made the most of a broken system during a time when boosters and collectives are having their moment.

Were their bids on his talents? Of course.

Some donors drew up contracts, others made promises.

It’s the same exact pattern that has played out in college football in the transfer portal and high school recruiting. Dickinson has not hid from the idea of profiting from his publicity rights. Chatting with On3’s Andy Wittry back in June, he admitted NIL drove him back to college for another season.

Turns out it helped for a second consecutive year.

“I think NIL played a factor with all of us,” Dickinson said in Atlanta at the inaugural NIL Summit. “Being able to not have to worry about money but also being able to play college basketball, I think, was the best of both worlds for a lot of us.”

The only catch is the cash being spent on basketball has not slowed down. NIL collectives have spent time trying to establish market values in college football. Sources have indicated to On3 that basketball just has not caught up. Donors and boosters from the days of bag drops and shoe deals are still in commanding roles.

It has also made program turnarounds easier at the basketball level, especially because of how different roster construction is.

“Some of the numbers I’m hearing in basketball – they’re really, really high,” an SEC collective operator said. “I don’t think we’ve seen a [market] reset in basketball like we’ve seen in football. I think people realize in basketball it only takes one or two great ones for you to literally become an NCAA tournament team overnight.

“You can literally go become a Kansas State. Not one of those kids started their career at Kansas State. You can rebuild your roster in basketball in a very short timeframe with a couple of great ones. I think that’s why the value has gone up in basketball. People realize you go get one or two program-changing portal kids and combine them with some pretty good role players around them and you can go win your conference.”

NIL has not ruined college sports. Athletes now have the same right as their classmates to profit off their publicity rights while attending college.

At the same time, the underworld of college sports has only become more developed. Collectives have made it simple for top-level donors and the average fan to pool funds together. Seconds after Dickinson announced he was headed to Kansas, a message board poster surely threw their NIL program under the trashed bandwagon.

When will boosters pull back because the return on investment on the field or court isn’t there? It’s starting to happen at some places. Others are not letting up. It’s called a market adjustment.

That’s the world all these players operate in. There’s no such thing as the “Wild, Wild West.” It’s called the norm. Athletes are benefitting from the NCAA’s missteps.

Hunter Dickinson is no different.