Ahead of NBA draft, Purdue's Zach Edey stars in KFC commercial

In nearly a week, Zach Edey will hear his name called in the 2024 NBA draft.

The Purdue product and consensus national player of the year decided to leave college basketball for the NBA this spring after leading the Boilermakers to their first national championship game appearance since 1969.

Edy is the first player to win unanimous National Player of the Year honors since Bill Walton in 1973. The 7-foot-4 Canadian is expected to be a mid-first-round pick.

Ahead of next week’s draft, Purdue’s all-time leading scorer inked an endorsement deal with KFC. He’s filmed a slew of commercials, with the first dropping during Monday night’s Game 5 of the NBA finals.

Repped by Priority Sports, Edey was not able to see the full potential of his NIL value in college because of his student visa. The college basketball star was not allowed to profit through endorsement deals in the United States, however, he could accept dollars if the work was done internationally.

“I hope they change it in the future,” Edey said this spring at the Final Four. “I obviously have lost out on a lot of money this year. At the end of the day, it needs to change, for sure. I understand kind of the legal process. It takes a while.

“It’s not like it’s an NCAA rule. It’s an American law. Anytime you try to go change that, I understand it takes a while. But I do think it needs to change.”

Zach Edey films KFC ads in Toronto

The Purdue center did make some NIL dollars, doing work with Topps, Campus Ink and the Boilermaker Alliance NIL collective. For his KFC commercial, Edey traveled back to his hometown of Toronto, filming his slew of ads in Canada.

In his first marketing spot with KFC, Edey promoted the brand’s “Taste of KFC” deal which is priced at $4.99. The fast-food chain previously launched a social media campaign with Colorado’s Shedeur and Shilo Sanders and Travis Hunter. KFC has also worked with the Sanders family to promote its Fill Up Box, chicken nuggets and hot and spicy wings.

“KFC is something I have really good memories of when I was a kid,” Edey told the Lafayette Journal & Courier. “My family on my mom’s side used to do picnics. One of my aunts would always bring a big bucket of chicken.

“I’ve always had fond memories of that.”

.@zach_edey’s first commercial with @kfc aired last night 👀🍗#PSEmktg | #NBADraft pic.twitter.com/8MRZincmn8

— Priority Sports (@PrioritySports) June 18, 2024

Zach Edey ready for NBA draft

The NBA draft will be held on June 26 and 27th in New York City. The first round will be held at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. Edey received a green room invite to attend the draft, however, the former Purdue star has opted to watch the event with his family and former teammates and coaches in West Lafayette.

In 39 games this past season, Edey averaged 25.2 points per game and 12.2 rebounds while shooting 62.3% from the floor. The former four-star recruit has been mocked to possible landing spots including the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Miami Heat.

“I think it just comes with kind of realizing who I am,” Edey said at last month’s NBA draft combine. “I’m never going to be the wiry seven-foot guy who can – like Kevin Durant, that is never going to be me, guys like that. I’m a 7-foot-4, 300-pound guy. I’m built to be in the paint, to carve out space to protect my area. And that’s what I’m gonna keep doing.

“I think there’s a lot of people in the NBA that do stuff like that. (Jonas) Valančiūnas, (Ivica) Zubac, Steven Adams; guys who had a lot of success in the NBA being those paint presences. I’m going to stick to who I am and I kind of know who I am.”