Right from signing deals to releasing her rap songs, Flau’jae Johnson has demonstrated that she is not just another basketball player. And juggling between different passions has surely come in her favor. Earlier in April, Johnson inked a deal with the bubblegum company Bazooka. Post that in May, the 20-year-old joined hands with her former LSU teammate Hailey Van Lith to get a deal with Apple Cash. And now, through her latest venture with Lil Wayne, she has once again increased her NIL valuation, which is now closer to the UConn star — Paige Bueckers.

Bueckers has an NIL value of $1.4 million and is positioned atop the college women’s basketball NIL rankings. Plus, she occupies the 13th position in the NIL 100. Hence, Johnson inching close to Bueckers is certainly a thing to rejoice about.

Flau’jae Johnson’s NIL reaches closer to that of Paige Bueckers

The LSU guard’s NIL bumped on Wednesday this month and rose from $1.1 million to $1.3 million. With this, she has the second-highest NIL valuation among women’s college basketball players, and 17th overall on the NIL 100 list. While the reason for a hike is still not clear, many opine that this could have been due to her collaboration with the popular American rapper, Lil Wayne.

Johnson’s ‘Came Out Like a Beast’ was released in collab with Wayne in June. The song is a part of the EP titled Best of Both Worlds. The exciting part is that it carries an LSU theme which is perhaps connected with the junior stars’ followers. The song was an instant hit and garnered a lot of plays on Spotify. Its music video also got millions of views when it was released on YouTube in August. The lyrical pays tribute to former LSU stars such as Angel Reese, Shaquille O’Neal, and Joe Burrow as per Yahoo Entertainment. Looks like Johnson knows how to express her reverence both on and off the court.

The song was also featured on the NFL 2024 Songs of the Season recently, which highlights new music from both emerging artists and superstars, and has helped popular songs from all genres to garner much attention. The tunes will be played on NFL platforms, stadiums, games, and social media channels. So next time, don’t be surprised when you spot Johnson’s voice while your favorite NFL team battles for supremacy. Meanwhile, Johnson had recently shared her view on her growing NIL.

Flau’jae Johnson attributes growing NIL to hard work

The 2022 McDonald’s All-American decided to ply her trade for the Kim Mulkey-coached team in 2022, and in her first year itself she, along with her teammates, took the Lady Tigers to an NCAA Championship. This instantly got her a lot of praise and attention. As a result of which Johnson signed multiple NIL deals, including Raising Cane’s, PUMA, Meta, TOGETHXR, and TACO Bell among others. However, her haters kept on opining that Johnson was having an easygoing college season since it did not take her much to get into the limelight.

To give an answer to all her critics, Johnson, in an interview with Livvy Dunne at SiriusXM College, clarified that it was her basketball skills that had gotten her this much popularity without which, she wouldn’t have been able to ink so many deals. “If I wasn’t doing somewhat good on the court, that wouldn’t be a thing,” Johnson had enunciated.

And now with her latest NIL increment, according to On3, Johnson has once again shown that she is a dedicated artist. And likes to work hard for her wins. Probably, now her haters will stop criticizing her and hope the best for her future.