Bronny James, the son of NBA superstar LeBron James, has committed his basketball future to the University of Southern California, and the 18-year-old has been told he has made a brilliant business decision.
Of course, he hopes committing to the Trojans is the best decision for his basketball career as he looks to prepare himself to make the leap to the NBA in the coming years, and it is a convenient location for his Los Angeles Lakers star father to offer support.
But the guard could hardly have picked a better place to maximise his name, image and likeness (NIL) earnings, according to NIL expert Pete Nakos of On3.
Bronny has already penned big-money deals with Nike and Beats by Dre, and more deals are likely to follow as his profile continues to grow, with LA the perfect place to develop his brand.
"The NIL options are endless," Nakos wrote. "As a high schooler in California, James has already been capitalizing on his family’s name and social media following. The 6ft 3in, 190-pound combo guard signed with Nike in October next to the brand’s future class of basketball stars. A week after, he signed with first Beats by Dre and starred in promotional content with his father, who was the brand’s first-ever ambassador.
"That is only a taste of what could be coming. Los Angeles provides all the resources he needs to shoot quality content for brands. Most companies who will want to align with him have offices in the City of Angels. Filming a commercial and zipping back to campus for practice will be an average afternoon."
His marketability is not even affected by his on-court production. James is the most followed high school or college athlete in the nation with 12.8 million combined followers from Instagram and TikTok.
For years, collegiate athletes across the United States were banned from profiting from their exploits, but a lawsuit that started more than a decade ago led to the 2021 decision from the National Collegiate Athletics Association to reduce regulations.
Players can now be paid for their autographs, developing or modelling apparel, promoting products and services and making personal appearances.
According to On3, the 18-year-old has the highest NIL value of any student-athlete in the country thanks to his superstar father and a massive social media following. The annual value of his NIL is projected at $6.1million.
"Nothing will really come as a surprise," Nakos added when considering which companies could look to jump on the Bronny bandwagon. "A well-known Nike school, James will be able to rep the brand at USC. Becoming the first college athlete to drop a shoe deal would almost seem fitting in time for his freshman season.
"Plenty of brands have spent their marketing dollars by leveraging the name, image and likeness of college athletes. Could the USC commit bring new companies into the mix? Say prominent sponsors of his father, State Farm Insurance and Kia?
"Or maybe HBO or Netflix will reach out to SpringHill Company about filming a documentary of Bronny’s time playing college basketball? That would surely come with a lucrative advance and more eyeballs on his brand".
Bronny committed to the Trojans amid stiff competition from Oregon and Ohio State after starring for Sierra Canyon High School in LA and is eligible to enter the NBA draft in 2024.
