Thank you for your continued support of this newsletter. Please share with anyone who would be interested in this content.

If you are interested in NIL representation and personal branding coaching, please contact me: [email protected]

Today’s Case

Kentucky’s Justin Edwards becomes first college athlete to join Klutch Athletics by New Balance brand

Justin Edwards is getting a bigtime NIL deal this year ahead of a bigtime NBA contract next year.

Klutch Athletics, the sportswear brand founded by Rich Paul and co-authored with New Balance, announced the addition of University of Kentucky freshman guard Justin Edwards to its athlete roster. Edwards becomes the brand’s first NIL athlete and first basketball player.

The brand supports and serves all athletes throughout their athletic journey including youth, collegiate and professional sports. The launch collection for Klutch Athletics delivers high-quality training apparel meant to uplift and empower all athletes, regardless of gender or sport.

Introductory pieces in the Klutch Athletics apparel line deliver on the need for men’s, women’s and youth training apparel with style and functionality.

Edwards: “It means so much to me to join Klutch Athletics and be the first college athlete and first basketball player on the roster. I love the way the brand is blending performance with style, giving me something equally effective for training or relaxing. Joining Klutch Athletics and New Balance is such a unique opportunity, I can’t wait to get started!”

The Verdict

• Content lacks excitement

  • While the partnership is great, the initial post itself is fairly underwhelming. Hopefully Klutch has more creative content forthcoming to leverage the partnership and help Edwards elevate his brand off the court.

    • Admittedly, this may be shortsightedness on my part and perhaps there will be amazing content to come over the course of the basketball season. Time will tell.

• Love the partnership between agency and brand

  • With Klutch representing LeBron James, Nike would be the obvious brand choice. However, it’s great to see New Balance get the nod and spread their brand to more athletes - and for additional future potential NIL partnerships. (Unique colorways for athletes, limited edition merchandise, shoe drops in select cities, etc.)

    • Additionally, Edwards must wear Nike products for UK games, practices and other team activities, but can represent New Balance off the court.

  • This also takes partnerships to the next level, with the agency and brand creating business together and presenting said NIL deals to athletes. This is opposed to a standard agency-brand relationship, which is oftentimes more transactional than relational.

Video > images for social media content

Although more time consuming, student-athletes should create more video content. Check out this video for more!

Thank You for reading today’s newsletter

<sup>I discuss insights and news related to name, image and likeness in 3 minutes or less every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 12p ET/9a PT.

Please share with anyone who might be interested in this content.</sup>

Follow Sports Court on Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, and YouTube for more NIL content!