Paige Bueckers Has Signed An NIL Deal That Will Make Her The First College Athlete To Have Equity In A Professional Sports League

So I blogged about a month ago that Breanna Stewart and Napheesa Collier are starting their own 3-on-3 league to play in the off-season of the WNBA schedule. The draw of the league is that it's supposed to be exclusive to the best players and will pay a higher average salary than any professional women's sport ever has. My points at the time as to why this may not be a great idea included:

- If the main WNBA isn't paying players well enough, why would an off-season league have the ratings to pay better?

- This league will be run in January, meaning it will be competing with the NBA, Men's College Basketball, Women's College Basketball......and a small market organization called the NFL, who will be having their playoffs at that time.

- 3 on 3 fucking sucks. Do people actually watch The Big 3?

- Who is paying for this?

Well, Paige Bueckers, the most notable player in college women's basketball now that Caitlin Clark has moved on, must not have read the blog. She is IN on the league, signing an NIL deal that is giving her ownership equity.

While I'm not sold on the longevity of the league, this is great for Paige. She's 22 years old and it's no skin off her back whether the league succeeds or fails. If I were her, I'd sign as many NIL deals as I could that gave equity. Even if 1 or 2 blows up, she's making a whole hell of a lot more money than she'd get for playing in the WNBA (for now).

But as a new owner of the league, I will give her some advice: call your friend Caitlin Clark and get her to play. That's what I'd be telling Breanna Stewart and Napheesa Collier, too. Because as we've seen from the rise of the WNBA and now the initial reports from the Olympics ratings, there's only one girl that matters to get people to buy in.