These Cats are making scratch: Even before tipping off, Kentucky players cash in on NIL deals

On the eve of college basketball’s opening night, a perfect encapsulation of the sport’s new name, image and likeness era flashed across a giant digital billboard in New York’s Times Square. Before their first game, Kentucky’s players have already signed 180 NIL deals, ranging from a couple hundred dollars for social media posts all the way up to six-figure blockbusters. “We feel like we’re doing really well — especially considering the season hasn’t even started — but we’re doing it in a way that is not distracting the players from basketball or from school,” says T.J. Beisner, UK’s new director of player development and point person on all things NIL. “It’s really good in terms of volume, but also how it’s split,” Beisner says of Kentucky’s collective NIL haul so far. ‘What’s a college kid gonna do with a Porsche?’ Well, for one, he’s going to take his teammates to do something good in the community.” TyTy Washington has signed several lucrative NIL deals before playing his first official college game.