“Trashy Products Designed To Take Advantage Of Young Kids”: Kendrick Perkins’ New Company NILLY Blasted As “Predatory” Loan Sharking Exchanging Cash For NIL Rights
Kendrick Perkins has done well for himself as a talking head for ESPN, gaining more fame and respect than he ever has as an NBA role player. He’s been expanding his portfolio and business endeavors thanks to his burgeoning success as a sports personality, often seen on “First Take” with Stephen A. Smith.
Recently, the former NBA champion has drawn the scrutiny and criticism of the public after founding a new company, Nilly, that offers high school and college athletes cash in exchange for a portion of their future NIL rights.
Some see this as legal loan sharking and next-level predatory business movements at best.
ESPN personality Kendrick Perkins is under fire for a his new company NILLY that advances cash to highschool and college athletes in return for a percentage of their future NIL earnings. Some see this as legal loan sharking and next-level predatory business movements at best. (Photo: NILLY/Terrence Hill Instagram)
Kendrick Perkins’ NILLY Company Exchanges Lump Sums Of Cash For Percentage Of Athletes’ NIL Bag and Rights
Some see this as legal loan sharking and next-level predatory business movements at best.
Utah law professor Chris Peterson blasted Perkins’ company and similar businesses as “trashy products designed to take advantage of young kids.”
According to reports from ESPN’s Dan Murphy, Perkins and his co-founder Chris Ricciardi offer teenage athletes hefty payments ranging between $25,000 to hundreds of thousands of dollars.
“In return, Nilly gets the exclusive rights to use or sell the athlete’s name, image and likeness for up to seven years,” Murphy reveals. “And the company and its investors receive between 10% and 50% of the player’s NIL earnings during that time period.”
Perkins paints this business as a stress reliever and win for young athletes who are in dire financial need.
“You have so many athletes and their parents who are struggling day-to-day,” he said. “Because we’re actually taking a bit of a gamble on what the student-athlete is going to make in the NIL space, the benefit is the kid — the student-athlete — is able to get financial security so they don’t have to rush.”
Perkins is speaking truth as far as the risks his company is taking. They aren’t signing kids who already have NIL deals, but banking on those deals coming in the future.
According to the article, if a player fails to earn any cash over the seven years of the contract, Nilly loses its initial investment. So, for example, that’s $60K out of the window if they invested that much in a player who never pans out.
Social Media, College Administrators and Experts Leery Of Perk’s NIL Company
On the flip side, if the player earns $200,000 in deals during the contract, NILLY could receive anywhere between $20K and $100K when recouping their initial investment. Not bad. It also means they bet on a winner.
But not everybody is buying Perk’s good intentions. Many accuse him of doing the same thing to these impressionable and vulnerable athletes and families that agents and other nefarious movers and shakers used to do illegally, under the table back in the day.
One X user wrote: “The vast majority of NCAA athletes will never make a cent playing their sport. Perk is weaponizing his own upbringing to swindle the most vulnerable kids out of the only money most of them will ever see from athletics. He’s a piece of s–,” one fan wrote of the scheme.
There are keen administrative eyes watching Perkins’ new company closely. Ben Chase, the director of NIL strategy for the Florida Gators, said on X that “our faculty, staff, and athletes have been advised on NILLY since their PR launch in February. Further, it’s been top of mind in conversations between NIL Admin across the country since their launch.”
“To me it feels like you are preying on people who need the capital now and using that to cloud their focus on the future,” Chase added.
Our faculty, staff, and athletes have been advised on NILLY since their PR launch in February.
Further, it’s been a top of mind in conversations between NIL Admin across the country since their launch. https://t.co/NPK9t5E12q
Michael Haddix Jr. runs a company that provides financial education seminars to college athletic departments. He told ESPN that NILLY “feels predatory, and it’s capitalizing on young people who need money and haven’t thought through the long-term implications.”
One of the excerpts says, “In the case of the contract obtained by ESPN, the player could end up giving Nilly the equivalent of a $75,000 fee in exchange for the guarantee of immediate access to $50,000 upfront.”
The game doesn’t change, but the players do, and the way it’s played definitely does. The basic principles of player exploitation don’t disappear because a couple of players are getting paid now. Or because the person entering your home is the same complexion.
There’s new money that companies and people can try to pry from the hands of impressionable young kids and their families who may not be savvy to how the recruiting game works.
It’s loan sharking and potentially legal robbery in the eyes of many. On the other hand, if used correctly, it could be a great financial boost to an athlete’s family and personal life. Players didn’t have the option of getting paid a lump sum of money that can hold them over and help them feed their families while they are generating millions for the coaches and universities.
Rushing to the NBA or making college choices because your mother can’t keep the electricity on won’t be something that derails players’ futures. No more starving and hoarding biscuits from breakfast in fear of violating an NCAA rule.
NIL is still relatively new to the college sports scene and it’s beginning to infiltrate the high school level in states such as California. Perkins has three sons and is always hyping up his 12-year-old Kenxton Perkins, whom he called “Baby Jokic” a few years ago.
I’m raising my Killa different! I call him baby Jokic! The Complete package. Yes he’s only 10. Carry on… https://t.co/spjbSt4xkT
He wants to set his family up for success. With the way NIL is controlling the game right now and Perk’s public profile keeping him locked in on every level and expecting all of his sons to be highly recruited players in the future, NILLY is definitely putting him at the center of the NIL revolution, ready to deal with whatever the future holds and any criticism coming his way.
