KJ Adams Jr. to take NIL ‘a little more seriously’ in year 2 of Kansas basketball career

LAWRENCE — KJ Adams Jr. is eager for his sophomore season with Kansas basketball to start.

Adams has been spending recent months working with the Jayhawks’ newcomers as they acclimate to a new system. He believes they’re ahead of schedule when it comes to what they’re supposed to be doing at this point. In his mind, it looks as if they’ll be capable of a lot in the months ahead.

Adams looks forward to a more significant role for himself in his second year at Kansas, although he’s not driving himself crazy in August trying to predict what it may be in November. He senses energy among his fellow students on campus, that they’re eager for the next chapter of this program’s legacy. He pointed out there’s no other men’s basketball team at the Division I level that can say they’re defending a national championship.

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That all plays into why, earlier this month, a sports agency named Next Page Sports announced it would be working with Adams as he looks to benefit monetarily from his name, image and likeness (NIL). Because, as Adams’ stature grows, there’s an opportunity to take advantage of the developing NIL landscape. At this point, it appears to be a matter of how much, not if.

“I feel like, just calculating that this might be, definitely, a bigger role this year, I was taking NIL a little more seriously,” Adams said. “And I don’t think I would be able to, if I’m really focused, be able to be on my phone and check all that stuff just myself. If I have somebody like (Next Page Sports’) Aaron (Lockett), it will definitely limit my distractions and still make me a good amount of money with having Aaron running my stuff.”

How Adams signed with Next Page Sports for NIL work

The connection with Lockett began through mutual friends with Adams’ dad. Conversations progressed between Lockett, the founder and owner of Next Page Sports, and members of Adams’ family. Eventually, Lockett said he went to meet with Adams and his family in Austin, Texas, where Adams is from, and that helped lead to the decision they’d work together.

Adams appreciated being able to get to know Lockett further. He heard a lot of great things about Lockett, about how Lockett cares for his athletes and doesn’t try to take advantage of them. It mattered to Adams that he saw Lockett as a family man, and in total, the process to reach their agreement took about a month.

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Lockett wants to garner more exposure for Adams. He’s aiming for people outside of the states of Kansas and Texas to know who Adams is. In addition to what Adams might be capable of during the 2022-23 season, Lockett pointed to the social media following Adams already has — including nearly 16,000 followers on Instagram as of Thursday morning.

“I liked (Adams’) thought process around not just signing with anybody, but looking for an opportunity to get more exposure where it makes sense, being able to capitalize,” said Lockett, who doesn’t intend for this to take away from anything Adams might do with the NIL collective Mass Strategies. “If that moment already happens, now you have a foundation put in place.”

Building Adams' brand is not just about basketball

Exactly what Adams will look to get involved with through Lockett has yet to be determined. Lockett explained they want to find things that naturally fit into what Adams is about, with Adams adding he's open to a lot of things as he looks to build his own brand. Lockett said there’ll be avenues they take that make sense with basketball and areas outside of that sport, like Adams’ connection to lacrosse.

Adams has been playing lacrosse since he was in fifth grade. He actually viewed that as his primary sport before he started developing as a basketball player. Being involved with lacrosse through NIL would be about promoting multi-sport athletes that are open to exploring different opportunities.

“You might have not been able to try something like lacrosse, which is getting more popular day by day and year by year, and you might really fall in love with it,” Adams said. “So, just get people to not really fall in love with the standard sports like basketball and football so quickly. Just open their eyes to stuff like lacrosse, field hockey, stuff like that.”

'I never came here to make money'

There may be attention and pressure that follows Adams as his career progresses, but that doesn’t worry Lockett. He sees a young man who’s built for situations like this, who grew up in a basketball landscape that garners exposure at a young age. It goes back to the impression Adams made on Lockett when the two first met.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, sir,” Lockett recalled Adams saying.

“How’re you doing, sir?” Lockett said Adams asked, while also maintaining eye contact and giving a firm handshake.

To Lockett, that all matters because it shows Adams has confidence in himself and respect for others.

And as Adams moves forward, he’ll continue to rely on his parents for guidance to ensure he doesn’t become overwhelmed.

“I think that’s really a big role that my parents have already been filling in for me, so I really just trusted them with helping me keep my mind straight and not worrying about, like, the NIL stuff,” Adams said. “Because … the fact of the matter is I came here to play basketball. I never came here to make money while playing here. That was just an extra thing that I got blessed with last year.”

Jordan Guskey covers University of Kansas Athletics at The Topeka Capital-Journal. Contact him at jmguskey@gannett.com or on Twitter at @JordanGuskey.

This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Kansas basketball's KJ Adams Jr. to take NIL more seriously this year