"I would've went to four different schools": Former NBA champ Jeff Teague gets 100% real on playing in NIL era

The name, image and likeness (NIL) era has created new opportunities for college athletes, changing the landscape of college sports. Former NBA point guard Jeff Teague shared his thoughts on how he would have taken advantage of NIL deals if they had existed during his college days at Wake Forest.

Teague appeared on the "Club 520 Podcast" on Tuesday and discussed how NIL would have influenced his decisions as a college player.

“I would have gone to four different schools after my freshman year. I averaged 14, 15 points - that’s $2 million,” Teague said. “If I had my sophomore year, that’s $4 million.”

Teague also joked about the financial benefits he could have received from other schools.

“I would have been like, ‘Oh, I ain't top five in the draft? Okay, go take that $6 million from BYU,’” he added.

Teague played for Wake Forest from 2007 to 2009 before being selected in the first round of the 2009 NBA draft as the 19th overall pick by the Atlanta Hawks. The 1x All-Star spent seven years with the Hawks until 2016 before playing for the Indiana Pacers and Minnesota Timberwolves.

In 2020, he returned briefly to the Hawks before joining the Boston Celtics. He won an NBA championship in 2021 with the Milwaukee Bucks and retired from professional basketball.

Following his playing career, Teague worked as a regional scout for the Atlanta Hawks in 2022. In 2023, he became the head coach of Pike High School, where he graduated from.

Top 5 NIL valuations ahead of March Madness

The NIL era has significantly increased the earning potential of college basketball players.

According to On3, a trusted platform for NIL valuations, Duke freshman Cooper Flagg is the most valuable college basketball player, with an estimated NIL valuation of $4.8 million.

Purdue guard Braden Smith ranks a distant second with a $1.9 million valuation, followed by Stanford’s Maxime Raynaud at $1.8 million.

The top five list is completed by Memphis’ PJ Haggerty, valued at $1.7 million, and Rutgers’ Dylan Harper, who has an NIL valuation of $1.6 million.