Former Northwood basketball star Drake Powell joined Creative Artists Agency, a talent and sports agency based in Los Angeles, for NIL representation.
On a holistic scale, CAA represents “thousands” of high-profile individuals including some of basketball’s biggest stars like Devin Booker, Jalen Brunson, Paul George and former Wake Forest star Chris Paul. For just basketball clients, CAA has represented 61 NBA first-round draft picks (24 picks in the top 10) and facilitated 19 max deals. In 2022, Forbes ranked CAA as the most valuable sports agency in the world.
Per NCAA rules, student-athletes can hire agents for NIL activities, but according to NCAA bylaw 12.3.1, they cannot hire agents for the purpose of marketing their athletic ability or reputation in their sport.
In April, CAA signed incoming Duke freshman Cooper Flagg for NIL representation. Other notable college athletes to sign to CAA for NIL purposes include Cameron Brink (formerly Stanford women’s basketball), Walker Kessler (formerly Auburn men’s basketball), Paolo Banchero (formerly Duke men’s basketball) and Bryce Young (formerly Alabama football).
For athletes on Powell’s caliber, NIL deals can be very lucrative.
Powell, who left Northwood to join the UNC men’s basketball team in early June, averaged 16.6 points, 6.8 rebounds and 3.9 assists in four years with the Chargers. In April, ESPN ranked Powell as the 13th best class of 2024 prospect in its final ESPN 100 rankings.
UNC guard Elliot Cadeau, ESPN’s 13th best player in the class of 2023, ranks 34th in On3’s latest men’s college basketball NIL rankings with a NIL valuation of $217,000. RJ Davis, Powell’s other new teammate at UNC, comes in at No. 3 with a NIL valuation of $942,000.
To clarify, On3’s NIL valuation is an index that sets high school and college athletes’ projected annual value by combining roster value (the amount an athlete hopes to receive primarily through a school’s collective) and NIL.
On the July 2 episode of Run Your Race podcast hosted by former UNC basketball standout Theo Pinson and AJ Richardson, former UNC basketball star Armando Bacot revealed he made over $2 million in NIL deals.
“That speaks on the brand of Carolina,” Bacot said. “If I didn’t go to Carolina, doing deals with Turbo Tax and all of those people — they wouldn’t do it with me…If you go to Carolina and you handle business, you go out there and play, somewhat be marketable, it pays…I got life changing money.”