Gone are the days of back-door deals, with the extravagance now out in the open.
No longer is offering college recruits boatloads of cash taboo.
In this era of Name, Image and Likeness (NIL), teams are assembled via cold, hard cash.
Anthony Davis went through the recruiting cycle in the former era when he landed with Kentucky as the No. 1 prospect in the country, according to 247’s rankings.
The Mavericks center said the new format hurts the sports integrity.
“It’s tough, because obviously they didn’t have that when I was in college,” Davis told Sports Illustrated. “It kinda takes away from the game a little bit because of — and I’m not hating — it takes away from the integrity in the sense of players are only going to certain schools because of the money.”
It’s not fair to say the previous era of recruiting didn’t include large amounts of sum being transferred to players and other shady tactics.
There’s a reason certain teams landed on probation for violations.
But the amount of players transferring from schools is up compared to the past, and reporting reveals the amount some players are looking for from their new schools.
There have been varying numbers of what 2025 No. 1 recruit AJ Dybantsa received to head to BYU, which normally is not the mix for top prospects.
Davis noted that how much teams spend may be what ultimately decides teams’ standing in the sport.
“College basketball is still competitive, but the recruitment of it has kinda gotten a little wacky, especially when player can leave and enter the [transfer] portal and go anywhere. It just gets a little tricky,” Davis told Sports Illustrated. “The coaches either a) have to be more strategic with their recruiting, or b) if you don’t have a lot of money for NIL, that kind of takes away your school, your program, as far as being a top recruiter for some of these players.”
Davis spent just one year before leaving for the NBA, but those leave-or-stay decisions are now tougher for some players since they can make more in college than in the pros.
“Because one guy can leave the next year, transfer — it gets tough, when you start talking about culture,” Davis said, per Sports Illustrated. “That kind of goes out the window, in my opinion.”