For a few weeks following UNC’s run to the national championship game, [autotag]Armando Bacot[/autotag] and three other starters had decisions to make about their futures. Eventually, all four opted to return as the Tar Heels would ‘run it back’ for another season.
But for Bacot, his decision was a ‘no-brainer’ and a big reason why was the NIL rules.
Bacot wasn’t going to be a first-round pick in the 2022 NBA draft and there was a chance he was going to go undrafted. So instead of taking that risk and attempting to find a roster spot via the Summer League and then the G-League, the UNC star decided to return for another year where he will make a lot more money because of the NIL deals.
In Michael Rosenberg’s latest piece for Sports Illustrated, he takes a look at Bacot’s decision to return and his NIL deals with what he’s making. In there, Bacot says the decision was a ‘no-brainer’ because of NIL:
Without NIL, his mom, a real estate broker, would have encouraged him to turn pro. “He was ready physically and mentally,” she says—and he still would have found time to finish his degree from UNC’s prestigious Kenan-Flagler Business School.
But with NIL? Armando says that staying in school was “a no-brainer. I get a chance to get better, get my degree, be around all my friends and then also make a lot of money.”
The whole piece is fantastic and very well written by Rosenberg, going into detail about business and Bacot. There’s some good tidbits in there as well that I recommend checking out.
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