Syracuse Basketball: Buddy Boeheim crushing NIL, doing good along way

Syracuse basketball shooting guard Buddy Boeheim may not make millions of dollars off of NIL deals by the time that his career on the Hill culminates, but the rising senior certainly has emerged as one of the most marketable players across the country in the sport.

NCAA officials recently approved an interim policy that enables college student-athletes to earn money off of their names, images and likenesses, and Boeheim has wasted no time taking advantage of this new era in collegiate athletics.

I’ve always been a strong advocate of student-athletes having the ability to bring in endorsement income from NIL. Yes, these players receive generous scholarships, but especially in college basketball and college football, they also produce an obscene amount of cash for their respective teams, conferences, athletic directors, coaches and many others.

Plus, college students who aren’t athletes can earn NIL money, so I’m glad that the playing field is now more level, even if the system is far from perfect.

Syracuse basketball guard Buddy Boeheim is faring well so far in the NIL era.

Getting back to Boeheim, he has already revealed via Twitter a variety of NIL initiatives for which he’s participating. On top of that, Boeheim is giving back to the community even as he profits off of his own name, image and likeness. A true win-win, if you ask me.

For one, Boeheim has inked an advertisement and marketing deal with Three Wishes Cereal, which is based in Scarsdale, N.Y. Boeheim had some fun with this recently on his Twitter page.

Boeheim also offers video messages via Cameo, and he recently said that he was going to donate his earnings for about a week to the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Central New York. You have to admire that.

It appears that Boeheim has forged a partnership with Enduraphin, a company founded in Binghamton, N.Y., whose “mission is to create revolutionary products to simplify performance nutrition for elite athletes.”

Additionally, Boeheim is working with The Players Trunk to offer his official “BUDDY BUCKETS” merchandise. On The Players Trunk Web site, it is noted that one of the company’s co-founders is Hunter Pomerantz, who is a Syracuse University alum and served as a head manager for the Orange basketball squad.

A recent ESPN article from Alex Scarborough says that Alabama football sophomore quarterback Bryce Young is already nearing $1 million in endorsement deals, according to head coach Nick Saban.

Boeheim may never reach that level of NIL income, but his star is absolutely shining bright in Central New York.