Syracuse Basketball: 5-star guys for Adam Weitsman to call for $1M in NIL

Businessman and top SU booster Adam Weitsman has already reached out to a pair of 2024 five-star players who hold Syracuse basketball scholarship offers about potentially lucrative name, image and likeness opportunities.

We’ll certainly continue to stay in touch with Weitsman about his discussions with 2024 five-star guard Ian Jackson, who received an Orange offer this past April, and 2024 five-star point guard Elliot Cadeau, who landed a Syracuse basketball offer about a year ago and recently put the ‘Cuse in his top six.

Per media reports from not too long ago, Weitsman plans to offer $1 million annually to one five-star football player and one five-star basketball player to represent his companies.

Adam Weitsman is also working to put together NIL opportunities for a high-school women’s basketball player and perhaps other female student-athletes.

In a recent phone interview, Weitsman said that he’d like these recruits, if NIL agreements are signed, to primarily focus on civic and non-profit engagements in the Central New York region, rather than marketing his companies.

There are other five-stars out there, who may or may not have Syracuse basketball offers, whom Adam Weitsman should contact, too.

A lot of 2023 prospects are already committing and signing their national letters of intents with colleges and universities across the country.

While the Orange has yet to secure a commitment in the senior class, my own personal opinion is that Weitsman should focus his discussions with the parents or guardians of five-star basketball players in the 2024 and 2025 classes.

As we’ve noted, Adam Weitsman is not discussing Syracuse basketball or any other college team with these high-school prospects, because his NIL offers cannot be used as a form of inducement (“pay-for-play”) for a recruit to commit to a specific college or university, including SU.

Here are a few top-flight 2024 and 2025 players who Weitsman may want to consider for his NIL deals. We won’t know what the Syracuse basketball roster will look like in the future, but positional needs could entail point guards/combo guards, as well as power forwards/centers.

2024 Cycle

Derik Queen
The big man from Baltimore holds a Syracuse basketball offer, which he picked up in October of 2021. The 6-foot-9 power forward/center is rated as five stars, a top-20 overall player, and a top-three big man, per some recruiting services.

Queen is primed for a monster junior season at the powerhouse Montverde Academy in Montverde, Fla. Per 247Sports, he recently took official visits to both Maryland and Indiana.

Yves Missi
The 6-foot-11 center was offered by Syracuse basketball in December of last year. Like Queen, he is one of the top centers in the 2024 class.

Some recruiting services rank Missi as five stars, and he’s actually in the top 10 nationally, according to On3. In the 2022-23 stanza, Missi is competing with an excellent team, Prolific Prep in Napa Valley, Calif.

Per reports, he has taken an official visit to Baylor as well as made unofficial trips to Stanford and UConn.

Tahaad Pettiford
Over the summer, we noted that the Orange was reportedly showing interest in the 6-foot Pettiford, who at the time of this writing was ranked as five stars and the No. 2 point guard across the country in the 2024 class, per the industry-generated 247Sports Composite.

Pettiford is a junior at Hudson Catholic Regional High School in Jersey City, N.J. He took an official visit to Auburn not too long ago. I’m not aware of Syracuse basketball having offered a scholarship to Pettiford at this juncture.

Vyctorius Miller
This top-flight shooting guard, according to several recruiting Web sites, already has an offer from the ‘Cuse. The 247Sports Composite, when I penned this column, placed the 6-foot-5 Miller as five stars, No. 16 nationwide and No. 4 at his position in the 2024 cycle.

Miller is a junior at the juggernaut AZ Compass Prep School in Chandler, Ariz. Per some reports, a few suitors that may be in line to land official visits from Miller include Kansas, Gonzaga and Texas.

2025 Cycle

The 2025 recruiting class is pretty far down the line, as prospects in this cycle are only sophomores in high school. However, if Adam Weitsman is going to offer out $1 million in NIL income, I say that he should go big – figuratively and literally.

Per 247Sports, at present, the No. 1 player in 2025 is five-star power forward Cameron Boozer. The 6-foot-9 Boozer, who doesn’t have a Syracuse basketball offer, attends Christopher Columbus High School in Miami.

The No. 2 prospect, again via 247Sports, is five-star power forward Cooper Flagg. The 6-foot-8 Flagg goes to the Montverde Academy, after transferring there from Nokomis Regional High in Newport, Maine. I’m not aware of the Orange having offered or shown interest in Flagg at this point in time.

Weitsman can’t go wrong in reaching out to Boozer or Flagg, or both of them. Of course, maybe a fun wildcard here is for Weitsman to contact the son of Syracuse basketball legend Carmelo Anthony, 2025 four-star shooting guard Kiyan Anthony.

Per recent reports, the ‘Cuse is showing interest in the 6-foot-3 Kiyan Anthony, who is a sophomore at the famed Christ the King Regional High School in Middle Village, N.Y.