“I think with the way NIL is working in college, a kid like him is much better off in college than on a two-way. The way college basketball rules are right now helped us a little bit,” said Alabama Head Coach Nate Oats on Mark Sears’ return to Alabama after his withdrawal from the NBA draft. Earlier this year, he announced that he would enter the 2024 NBA draft while maintaining his college eligibility. Simply put, he would go through the draft process before deciding. Indeed a smart move.

Another such step for him was NIL. It is another college basketball season and the NIL rankings are shooting up. Playing his fifth season for the Crimson Tide, Sears will be able to cement himself as an Alabama legend. Besides he is one of the top rankers in the NIL realm. While we are familiar with his on-court trailblazing, let’s explore how the consensus second-team All-American is doing so far off the court.

Mark Sears’ net worth and NIL valuation

Since college, Mark Sears’ primary source of wealth has been basketball, endorsements, and social media presence. When we look at the college basketball rankings, Sears ranks #3, while on the NIL 100 list, he ranks #12.

Having an active social media presence, Mark Sears boasts a following of over 40k. His popularity has paid him well with an NIL valuation of over $2 million. In September, his NIL deal was valued at $795,000. The star has 40k followers spread across social media platforms like Instagram, X, and TikTok with Instagram leading with 30k followers. The $2 million includ a recent drop of $91k, a 4% decline in his NIL valuation.

In the past NCAA season, it was his 23-point and 7 3-pointer Final Four performance that truly showed his caliber as a star. “I think the Final Four run helped. I think there are some guys who feel like there’s unfinished business that were on the team last year, that want to come back and finish it,” Coach Oats praised Sears’ stellar display.

After turning heads in the Mid-American Conference, Sears used his presence in the transfer portal as a push that led him to a bigger stage. As a result, the former Ohio transfer inked several NIL deals with multiple brands like C4 Energy, Daps, and TurboTax. Besides, there are other brands with which Sears has been associated.

NIL deals signed by the Alabama 5th-year guard

Leveraging his brand while being a college basketball student-athlete Mark Sears has signed NIL deals with the Athlete’s Thread and Yea Alabama. Talking about the brand, Athlete’s Thread is a new custom apparel brand that is running within the NIL space and is backed by the same team that has been working behind the Threadly Brand family which includes Greek House, College Thread, and Threadly.

The brand focuses on offering NIL merchandise for every athlete. Moreover, they train athletes and prepare them for careers in business. If we look at the athletes today, most of them consider making a career out of something other than playing basketball on the professional level itself.

As a result, it does become necessary for them to be ready for life after college, if not in the NBA or the WNBA, etc. According to Athlete’s Thread, only 2% of athletes go pro in their respective sport, while the other 98% pursue different career options.

So far, the brand has trained thousands of students, helping them launch their brands today and develop their skills for the future, just like Mark Sears.