Bernie Wilson Associated Press SAN DIEGO — Jada Williams was a social media star and a talented point guard when she moved with her mother from a Kansas City suburb to San Diego, looking to play basketball for a high school powerhouse and parlay her online prowess into endorsement deals.
Three high school stars are at the top of On3.com's NIL valuations, which include both college and high school players. They are Bronny James, the son of Lakers star LeBron James; Arch Manning, the third generation of the first family of quarterbacks; and Mikey Williams, a basketball star at San Ysidro High School in San Diego.
"My social media was already kind of big so I was just doing basically NIL without getting paid because it was illegal," she said. "We're still young, but at the same time we're learning about how to manage money and just learn a lot of life skills that are way bigger than just NIL," said Williams, a two-time gold medalist with the U.S. junior national team who has incorporated as Jada Williams Inc. and plans to start a foundation.
"We've got guys on our team making a heck of a lot more money than I am this year," Los Alamitos head coach Ray Fenton said."All across the country, kids are getting paid a lot of money for deals they sign."