Dawn Staley, South Carolina women's basketball sign NIL deal to fight diabetes

Dawn Staley and the South Carolina women’s basketball team have inked NIL deals to combat Type 2 diabetes.

In a press conference on Thursday afternoon, Staley and select members of the team announced their partnership with Rewind. The clinical program combines proven science with coaching and team support to help patients lose weight, keep it off and defeat Type 2 diabetes

Staley helped broker the deal for her athletes. They will be compensated in the company’s equity instead of cash or a product swap.

“This is something that’s near and dear to me,” Staley said at the news conference. “I didn’t know to impact it in a way that it could help other people and then steps in Rewind.”

Rewind has already launched in Michigan with former Wolverine great Desmond Howard signed on as an ambassador. And now it is making the move to South Carolina, using the Gamecocks as a marketing tool and ambassador.

Early access to the Rewind program launched in correspondence with the press conference on Thursday. More than 37 million Americans currently deal with Type 2 diabetes on a day-to-day basis. And another 1.5 million are diagnosed with the disease annually.

More important to note, and the mission behind Rewind, Type 2 is reversible.

“We have players on our team that have family members that deal with things like this, they can always take this information back to their families, and just help them cure their diabetes,” South Carolina senior forward Victaria Saxton said.

While the deal does add another NIL deal to the growing list for South Carolina women’s basketball players, Staley has no plans of making sure her athletes continue to spread the word about Rewind. The ambassadorship will not end with a social media activation and appearance.

“What we want to do is fill Colonial Life Arena with people that have reversed diabetes and that would be the biggest and the most incredible accomplishment that we could ever have done in the sate of South Carolina,” Staley said.

South Carolina women’s basketball growing NIL brand

The Gamecocks won a national championship this past season, and they’re starting to see the win pay off in NIL.

Thanks to former state legislator and current CNN political analyst Bakari Sellers and a group of other prominent donors, each member of the South Carolina women’s basketball team will be provided the opportunity to earn an average of $25,000 or more in NIL deals — roughly $325,000 total. The news was announced at the end of September.

Garnet Trust, the South Carolina-focused NIL collective, will manage the deliverables with NOCAP Sports assisting in contracts and payments. NOCAP plans to continue talks with national brands throughout the year discussing potential NIL opportunities, too.

The announcement was another example of a growing landscape where cash is king and securing deals for athletes is a must. This week’s news of South Carolina’s latest deal only adds to the list.

Football and men’s basketball are not the only NIL sports. Speaking on On3’s LeverUp podcast, INFLCR founder Jim Cavale explained how the average deal for an SEC gymnast on the platform is $17,000. The average SEC football player deal is in the $3,000 range.

South Carolina is positioning its athletes for financial success off the court. Just a reminder of what more and more women’s basketball programs will need to offer.