Rob Dillingham's NIL value at Kentucky before joining Timberwolves
By Kirsten Cunanan July 16, 2024 09:37
One must be doing a lot of things right to get traded on the night of the NBA Draft. Rob Dillingham turned heads during his stint with the Kentucky basketball program. John Calipari trained him well in heating up on offense and making the right defensive plays. Now, he will be transitioning out of college basketball and proving his worth as a member of the Minnesota Timberwolves. Before that, how much NIL cash was he making throughout his tenure in Lexington?
Rob Dillingham was the eighth pick of the 2024 NBA Draft. While a lot was assuming that he was going to create a deadly duo with Victor Wembanyama in the San Antonio Spurs system, it was just not fate. Instead, the Kentucky basketball alum got traded to a blood-hungry and win-now Timberwolves squad led by Anthony Edwards.
He was elite at Kentucky which justified him being ranked that high in the NBA Draft. After all, he averaged 15.2 points on an insane 47.5% clip from all three levels of scoring. The fact that his outside shot also saw the bottom of the net 44.4% of the time made him look all the more NBA-ready in front of most scouts. Adding in 3.9 assists and a steal per game surely helped his draft stock too.
It was not only getting into the NBA that those numbers mattered. These highlight plays mixed with very consistent performances with the Kentucky basketball program also got him a very high NIL valuation.
In fact, he is the fourth-highest-ranked college basketball player in terms of NIL money. According to On 3 Sports, he also sits 22nd among all NIL-eligible players with only guys like Shedeur Sanders and Jalen Milroe among others ranked above him.
What companies have invested in Rob Dillingham in Kentucky?Well, he got his first deal during the peak of March Madness in his lone season at Lexington. On March 18th, he along with other well-known basketball players joined Skims. Kim Kardashian’s underwear brand suited for athletes gave him an absolute bag to be their endorser.
A day after, NerdWallet also jumped in on the Dillingham bandwagon. He and Juju Watkins signed a deal that was dubbed the smartest NIL move so far. They got the deal and its smart money action function which will help them net financial security despite their college NIL deals expiration after college. He also got a certified financial planner out of this deal.
The last deal that he inked was with Drake and OVO. He, along with Kentucky, was part of their college apparel collection in April of 2024. In total, Dillingham earned an NIL valuation of $1.1 million throughout his stint with the Kentucky Wildcats. Being ranked fourth in college basketball despite only having three deals proves that he can be one of the most marketable players in the NBA while playing for the Timberwolves.
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