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NotSure
Joined: 3/09/23 Posts: 1,072
Student Baller
Posted Wed, Mar 26 6:12 pm
Whether a player from another country, like Adem Bona, can get NIL money depends on what type of visa they hold.

The thread below filled up, so I couldn't respond when I saw your post.

But I've always heard that Aday's family has money and that's not the main concern for him. So, who knows what's happening, other than Aday will be back and hopefully his ankle stays healthy and he doesn't get any nasty diseases next season?

He could be one of the top 10 Cs in the country, maybe top 5. So many other guys are leaving one way or another and if you comp SO year to FR year, there's no rule that players don't improve just as much between their SO and JR years.

Tyger as a JR hits 41% of his 3s, Jules becomes an excellent 2-way player almost always making the right decision his JR year, I can list more. Zach Edey springs to mind.

And there are guys who go down, like Dylan. It happens.
StillNotSure
Student Baller
Joined: 7/14/14 Posts: 6,491
I was just intrigued by the suggestion
Posted Wed, Mar 26 6:47 pm
In response to Student Baller (NotSure)
He was up for bids since I understood he can’t take $$. It’s a stupid rule regardless.
NotSure
Joined: 3/09/23 Posts: 1,072
F-1
Posted Wed, Mar 26 8:29 pm
In response to I was just intrigued by the suggestion (Student Baller)
Most (95%?) international students come in on an F-1 visa.

The rules are pretty strict... you can't work unless the work you do is on-campus...

Umm...

If NIKE decides to make him their brand ambassador at UCLA and pays him $5 million to wander around campus in NIKE gear that sells in the student store and Men of Westwood pay him $3 million to walk around campus giving lectures and doing YouTube videos or IG stuff talking to and with all the thousands of foreign students about adjusting to life in the US, that would all be in compliance with an F-1 visa.

If he gets paid for home games, that's on-campus work too, isn't it?

Plus, some students get broader visas that allow for off-campus work. Usually, you have to have a unique skill set where not enough Americans can do something as well as you can for some valid reason and not a made up one...

AJ Dybantsa isn't a US citizen and he's getting a $5 million NIKE deal and $3 million at BYU and he can't go to work at the car dealerships unless the guy opens one on campus... which he might...
NotSure
Joined: 3/09/23 Posts: 1,072
Also, Someone Posted This On Bruinzone
Posted Wed, Mar 26 10:28 pm
In response to F-1 (NotSure)
https://www.bruinzone.com/b12/messages/36531.shtml

This makes sense since UCLA has about 100 X more brand recognition over there than any other US school. I don't know why; maybe someone here does.

And that advantage exists in Asia and Africa as well as Mexico.

When Aday goes back to Spain, he has a deal to do something over there related to UCLA, or, again, if NIKE thought enough of him to give him a deal, there's money tied to UCLA.

I think that's why UCLA and NIKE made that deal: NIKE doesn't have a sponsorship deal with UCLA, but they have an exclusive deal to sell stuff on campus.

Dybantsa is getting $5 million from NIKE, but he's the projected #1 pick in the 2026 NBA Draft.

I haven't looked at a mock draft, but I'd think Aday is projected 15-25 unless he develops a 3-point shot (then again, the one thing the NBA truly believes is: "We can teach anyone how to shoot 3s."

I'll be waiting for Adem to do it, just as I never noticed Rudy Gobert do it.

There are "Eurocenters," the grand prize, with Nikola Jokic the top example (does he lead the NBA in PER this year for the 4th time in a row?). Kevin Love was once one without ever being from Europe: They're great passers, so you can run your offense through them like they're PGs, but they also can hit 3s, score underneath and rebound and play at least solid d. Sengun would've been top 5 f people knew how good he was.

Next are the "Rim Runners" like Gobert, Steve Adams and Adem: Great athletes who can block a shot or grab a rebound at one end and finish the fast break or dunk in the offensive rebound and then get back fast enough to prevent the opponent from starting a fast break on an out of bounds play. That's why Adem got drafted and received the max guarantee for a 2nd round pick.

Aday isn't a Rim Runner. He's also got no shot beyond 5 feet right now, though he seems like he should be a good FT shooter (we'll call that the UCLA Disease until further notice).

But he's clearly a great passer who can score in deep with a variety of surprisingly agile moves and he's a major force on d until he gets too far from the basket and still forgets about rotating since in Europe the opponent would be re-starting its offense 25 feet from the basket, not cutting down the middle on a slip screen for a dunk.

I assume his d becomes dominant next season and he shows more range. Then he goes to the NBA. We'll need a lot of posts if Devin is gone since Tyler is a SR.
Student Baller
Joined: 7/14/14 Posts: 6,491
Is there an international player
Posted Thu, Mar 27 6:09 am
In response to F-1 (NotSure)
With a set up like that?
NotSure
Joined: 3/09/23 Posts: 1,072
We Should Be Able To Find Out
Posted Thu, Mar 27 8:05 am
In response to Is there an international player (Student Baller)
Some websites track the value of deals for college. Some give a number and others break down the details.

My guess is that if someone (hint, hint) was willing to do the work, they'd find publicly-available information.

E.g., Dybantsa isn't a US citizen, but the value of the NIL deal he's getting at BYU, reportedly financed in part by a BYU-alum who owns a lot of care dealerships and partly ($5 million of the $8 million total) by a NIKE sponsorship deal.

This deal might set the marketplace for NIL deals, but maybe it's a situation like Miami, where a wealthy businessperson financed spiraling NIL deals on the football and basketball teams that led to one player publicly threatening to enter the portal unless his NIL deal was raised to match one given to an incoming player and, after the head coach publicly responded with a "No," withdrew his threat. Reportedly, the Miami businessperson has run into financial issues and this source of funds has ended for now.

Someone on Bruinzone used to regularly post a link to a website that gave the dollar numbers of NIL deals for every college player. E.g., Amari Bailey had $1.5 million in deals already in place before he arrived at UCLA based on his high school reputation (so UCLA had nothing to do with this) and this was more than the rest of the entire UCLA team combined. This was before the formation of Men of Westwood and a concerted effort by Martin Jarmond to gear up UCLA's NIL resources with both Cronin and then Foster adding to the chorus.

Cronin in press conferences began referring to the added burden of appearances by himself to raise NIL money; he has at times expressed frustration and fears (like, the next lawsuit will come from a college player who knows he can never make the NBA, but wants to sign a 10-year $10 million deal with college X that will continue until he's 34), while at other times seeming to not only accept but embrace the new world with relish (public relations has always been part of the job, especially at UCLA).

I recall that Bruin Report Online once voiced skepticism that Men of Westwood would ever work and that UCLA fans should resign themselves to UCLA never making the NCAA Tournament again to running ads for Men of Westwood and breathlessly reported the expansion of NIL funding at UCLA by leaps and bounds.

The world changed fast and everyone has been playing catch up and still is. This wild ride is going to get a lot more bumpy.