"I'm a family guy": BYU signee AJ Dybantsa shares his feelings on how he approaches NIL deals

No. 1 ranked BYU signee AJ Dybantsa featured in the NESN podcast with Travis and Ountae, talking about his basketball journey up to the present moment and moving forward with BYU. In the podcast, which was released on Thursday, he also spoke about his different NIL deals with Red Bull and Nike.

According to Dybantsa, his interactions with these brands are more of a family kind of relationship. When asked what his relationship with Red Bull was, he said:

"I mean it was a family. I mean I don't look for too many deals. I only got Nike and Red Bull right now. I mean I don't just want to get deals and deals and deals just to collect money and I'm trying to build like.. I'm a family guy like I have two sisters, two parents in the household so I mean all about family for me." (17:30-17:41)

Both NIL deals with Red Bull and Nike came in 2024. The first one with Nike, which he signed in January, is reportedly worth over $4 million. It was part of Nike's effort to expand further into high school basketball, and they also signed Jerzy Robinson at the time.

AJ's deal with Red Bull came later in October. With this deal, he became the first male basketball player to sign an NIL deal with Red Bull.

According to ON3, AJ Dybantsa is currently valued at $3.8 million dollars in NIL valuation.

BYU signee AJ Dybantsa attend Cougars' Sweet 16 game against Alabama

The BYU Cougars took on Alabama in the Sweet 16 round of the NCAA tournament on Friday, and No.1 ranked BYU signee AJ Dybantsa was on the seat to witness the game. AJ was accompanied by his parents, his father, Ace Dybantsa, and his mother, Chelse Dybantsa.

The game ended in a 113-88 loss for the Cougars, sending them out of the NCAA tournament. Last season, they crashed out in the first round of the tournament. With this year's run in the tournament, the Cougars have now made it to the Sweet 16 round six times in their history, the previous instance being in 2011.