Hours After Nike and Unrivaled League Deals, Paige Bueckers Still Sees No Financial Growth Beyond $1 Million

Though the University of the Connecticut Huskies star Paige Bueckers might still be in college, she is not shying away from taking large steps to etch her name in glory. Nike, on Wednesday, announced a pair of sneakers to honor the Husky star while Breanna Stewart and Napheesa Collier led Unrivaled League joined hands with Bueckers in a Name, Image, and Likeness deal.

However, despite signing two deals, Bueckers’ NIL has not seen any growth financially. Here’s a closer look at her NIL value.

Paige Bueckers’ NIL and the Nike deal

Bueckers’ current NIL valuation, as per ON3, is $1 million. She is second on the list of college women’s basketball players only behind the Louisiana State University Lady Tigers star Flau’jae Johnson who has an NIL valuation of $1.2 million. On the other hand, she occupies the 19th place in the NIL 100. As for her social media, Bueckers has amassed a whopping 2 million followers on the social networking site Instagram. This makes her one of the best college athletes deserving of a sneaker deal.

Bueckers had signed a deal with Nike in September last year. She has since then been a part of the promotion of GT Hustle 2 sneakers and has also featured in many Nike endorsements. Plus, the shoe giant company also released the GT Hustle 3 sneakers in July and Bueckers will get an exclusive design for herself in the pack that will be launched on September 12.

Though the terms of the deal are not yet known, her NIL valuation didn’t see any growth from $1 million. Maybe Bueckers will earn from the sneakers as they sell out or when she signed the Nike deal in 2023, she might have inked an agreement then that wasn’t disclosed. As for her Unrivaled league agreement, there is something for Bueckers to rejoice about.

Paige Bueckers’ Unrivaled League deal

Bueckers has become the first college athlete to have a Nike shoe deal as well as the first NCAA athlete to have an ownership stake in a professional league. For the unversed, the league will start off as an alternative for athletes who go to ply their trade overseas during the WNBA off-season.

Plus, Unrivaled is a three-on-three league that will help the ballers develop more skills in the newest basketball format and be known for their game just like the WNBA and the NBA are famous in the world for being traditional institutes of producing awe-inspiring players. As per Shams Charania (h/t: Yahoo Sports), because will be playing in the Unrivaled after her rookie season in the WNBA.

Considering Bueckers is drafted in the 2025 WNBA season, it gets her entry into the Unrivaled in 2026. And probably that’s the reason why her NIL hasn’t seen any growth due to it. As for now, she must be gearing up for the college basketball season ahead since she decided to not declare for the WNBA draft this year.

Though the exact reason for no change in Bueckers’ NIL is not clear, hopefully, she will start making money out of it when the sneakers are launched. And from Unrivaled hopefully, she will earn lucrative bucks once she gets inducted into it. As for now, she can make peace with the fact that she has another year to materialize her NCAA dreams and establish her authority with her exclusive sneaker line.

Stay tuned for more such updates and join us for the exciting pilot episode of the “Dual Threat Show” as our host BG12 sits down with Georgia Bulldogs star and SEC All-Freshman Team Selection, Silas Demary Jr.