High School Basketball Star Mikey Williams Signs With Excel Sports

Recently, 17-year-old phenom Mikey Williams signed a deal with Excel Sports Management, intent on becoming the first high school athlete to generate earnings off of his name and image.

The NCAA and most states have allowed college athletes to make money off their likeness. Most notably, Gonzaga Head Coach Mark Few and National Collegiate Athletic Association President Mark Emmert testified on federal proposals that would allow college athletes to monetize. 

Teaming up with Excel Sports, Mikey Williams will be joining an agency that works with established superstar athletes such as Tiger Woods, Nikola Jokic, and Clayton Kershaw.

With this deal, Mikey Williams will be able to earn money through endorsements, merchandise, sales advertisements on their social media accounts, and more. He is already extremely popular on social media, with over 3.2 million Instagram followers and over 5 million across all social media platforms.

Excel vice president Matt Davis told ESPN he believes the deal “will generate millions of dollars for this young man.”

“Mikey’s relevance around his peers in the basketball community is off the charts,” Davis explained. “He’s one of the most relevant personalities in the basketball community. His digital and social following speak for themselves.”

The company has high hopes for their up-and-coming star. “Thanks to a combination of hoops, hustle, and swag, Mikey is one of the most engaging elite youth athletes with a reputation and skill set that is off the charts,” Excel wrote in the release. “He represents today’s zeitgeist, with a community of followers he has developed through creative, curated and compelling content.”

“The NIL rules provide a new opportunity for someone like me that has put in so much energy and effort into building a community. I am excited to be the first high school athlete to make this move. I love to hoop and I love engaging with my fans and look forward to continuing to share my journey with everyone,” Mikey Williams told ESPN.

The 6-foot-3 point guard is currently regarded as the No. 5 overall prospect in the Class of 2023 according to 247Sports and the No. 7 overall prospect in ESPN‘s Top 100 for the Class of 2023. As a sophomore, he averaged 21.2 points per game for Lake Norman Christian in North Carolina. This year, he will play basketball at Vertical Academy, a new program located in the Charlotte area.

Mikey Williams has already received scholarship offers from Arizona, Kansas, and USC. According to his father, Mahlon Williams, Mikey is “leaning toward” playing college basketball at an HBCU. If he decides the college route isn’t the one for him, other options after high school include playing with the G League Ignite team or within the PCL. The young star has many options open to him, and with more than enough time to make a decision, it’ll be interesting to see where the household name will turn out.