How NIL in College Basketball Is Changing the NBA Draft

With more prospects electing to return to school because of NIL, NBA teams may be wondering whether they can do anything to reverse that trend. The answer might involve issuing more draft promises.

Every year, at least one or two prospects abruptly pull out the predraft workout circuit and shut themselves down until draft night. That’s often because a team has promised to pick them if they’re still on the board at that spot, and the prospect is comfortable with the team fit, the draft slot or both.

This year, there’s some suspicion that Illinois guard Kasparas Jakucionis has a promise.

“There hasn’t been a single word out on him,” Hoops HQ’s Krysten Peek recently wrote. “His draft range is anywhere from 6-16, and there’s a feeling that he left the draft combine with a promise.”

Draft promises aren’t binding, so some prospects might not be willing to gamble on keeping their name in the draft unless they get assurances from multiple teams. However, any team that reneges on a promise would risk ruining their reputation with the prospect’s agent, which could affect other moves of theirs down the road. (In other words, that isn’t likely to happen.)

If a prospect has a guaranteed NIL bag awaiting him in college, promising to take him at a draft slot that pays him even more might be the best way to keep him in the draft.