MIAMI — Miami Hurricanes guard Isaiah Wong said he will not enter the transfer portal, a day after his representative threatened that he would do so if he didn’t snag a more lucrative NIL deal.
But Wong’s decision doesn’t ensure a return to UM. He will maintain his eligibility for the June 23 NBA draft and still might turn pro.
Wong’s NIL agent, Adam Papas, told ESPN on Thursday that Wong would enter the portal Friday if “Isaiah and his family don’t feel that the NIL number” for him “meets their expectations.”
Wong already had a non-exclusive NIL contract with billionaire Hurricanes fan John Ruiz, who has struck NIL deals with 111 Hurricanes players to promote either or both of his companies, LifeWallet and Cigarette Racing.
But Ruiz declined to renegotiate Wong’s deal in discussions with Wong’s agent earlier this week and in conversations with Wong on Friday. Neither Ruiz nor Wong has disclosed the value of Wong’s deal with LifeWallet, but Canesport.com reported it to be $100,000.
Papas told the Miami Herald on Thursday that Wong was hoping “anyone in Miami” would step forward and give him an additional NIL deal. That apparently did not happen.
Papas negotiated new UM point guard Nijel Pack’s deal with Ruiz. In exchange for promoting LifeWallet, Pack will receive $800,000 during the next two seasons, as well as use of a luxury vehicle while he’s a student at UM.
“We feel the value of Isaiah Wong should meet or exceed the value of an incoming transfer,” Papas told ESPN on Thursday.
But Wong backed off that threat on Friday.
“Glad Wong didn’t enter the portal,” Ruiz tweeted Friday afternoon. “This is a great youngster and his mom is amazing. The deal remains the same, however. As I said day one I will help him get other NIL Deals.”
If Wong opts to return to UM, he must withdraw from the NBA draft by June 13 to maintain his draft eligibility for a future year. He would be a fourth-year junior if he returns to UM.
Wong averaged 15.3 points, 4.3 rebounds and 2.0 assists while shooting 45.2% from the field and 30.2% on 3pointers. He was voted third team All-ACC.
Reached on campus Friday, UM athletic director Dan Radakovich declined to comment on the Wong NIL situation.
“By state law, we can’t really discuss NIL as an athletic department,” he said. “We have to be hands off. The University of Miami has a lot of great benefactors in and around the community. Obviously, Mr. Ruiz is one of those. That’s a great thing for our student athletes. But I couldn’t tell you who he has deals with, who he doesn’t or what they’re for, other than maybe what’s out in the media. It’s important for us to keep that arm’s length related to that.”
But Radavokich said “on the subject of payment of players in general, someone said a long time ago, 'Adapt or die.' And I think that’s where college athletics is right now. People who have been in the business as long as I have really think that for student-athletes, the ability to get an education for free is an incredible payment, as well as dollars that come through various court cases and the ability to get cost of attendance.”
He said at Clemson, if you got a Pell Grant, lived off campus, got money for cost of attendance “you were actually holding onto cash in the neighborhood of $30,000, and I would imagine that’s probably the same here, but I haven’t done that study here. But everyone’s around that same number. There are interns and other folks not making that kind of money working inside the athletic department.”
“Even if you don’t think from a moral or ethical standpoint that student athletes should have NIL money because they’re getting an education, which is incredibly valuable and has been relegated to the back of the bus as people talk about these things, it’s still important.
“This is your business now and your job as the athletic director is to put your student-athletes, your coaches, your university to be in the best position possible to be successful. So, with that, we need to, as much as we can, embrace the idea of name, image and likeness and view it as a positive for our student athletes.”
Radakovich mentioned the Cavinder twins, basketball social media stars who recently transferred to UM and have NIL deals in place with Ruiz.
Last July, when the NIL light went on, “they were in Times Square in New York with a [Boost] Mobile advertisement,” Radakovich said. “I’m watching ‘Good Morning America,’ and boom, there they are. They’re learning a lot about business and as a business major when I was in school, we did a lot of book learning, a lot of theory. These two young ladies are living it. They run their own business and that is phenomenal.
“The athletes involved in NIL are learning about how to run their own businesses, and that will be real positive for them as they finish maybe whatever professional career they have in their sport, or like the 98 percent that don’t play professionally, they’ll move into the business world with a leg up because they ran their own business.”
