BYU incoming freshman AJ Dybantsa has signed with Fanatics, adding trading cards and memorabilia distribution to an NIL portfolio that now sits at $4.1 million before he plays a college game. The deal places Dybantsa alongside Nike, Red Bull, and Celsius in a sponsorship stack typically reserved for lottery-pick professionals. He enrolled in January. His first game is mid-February.
The Fanatics agreement marks the first time the card and collectibles operator has built a pre-collegiate program around a single player rather than a team cohort. Terms were not disclosed, but comparable Fanatics rookie deals for projected top-ten NBA picks have ranged from $300,000 to $500,000 over two years. Dybantsa's On3 NIL valuation jumped 11% in the past thirty days, driven by brand signings that began before his high school graduation. His Nike deal alone is believed to exceed $1.5 million, per two agents familiar with equipment contracts in the Provo market.
The portfolio creates a pricing problem for the rest of college basketball. Dybantsa's $4.1 million figure is higher than the reported NIL value of any current men's basketball player at Duke, Kentucky, or Kansas. It approximates the rookie-scale salary of a late second-round NBA pick. For brands, the bet is not on college performance but on professional inevitability—Fanatics is purchasing the right to print cards and ship autographed memorabilia of a player projected to go first overall in the 2026 NBA Draft. If he stays healthy and projected, the collectibles secondary market will price in two years of scarcity before he signs a rookie deal worth $50 million over four years.
For BYU, the calculus is different. The school does not participate in traditional NIL collectives and instead relies on individual sponsor deals brokered through the player's own representation. Dybantsa's agent, Bill Duffy of BDA Sports, has built the portfolio independently of university infrastructure. BYU benefits from the enrollment and the attention, but collects no revenue share and has no contractual claim if Dybantsa leaves early. The arrangement mirrors the NFL's Trevor Lawrence model at Clemson—brand deals stacked before the player exhausts eligibility, with the school acting as a temporary stage rather than a business partner.
The Fanatics deal also introduces a new NIL archetype: pre-revenue monetization of draft position. Traditional NIL centered on social followers, local appearances, and merchandise tied to current performance. Dybantsa's portfolio prices future scarcity. Fanatics is not paying for Instagram engagement or autograph sessions in Provo. It is paying for the exclusive right to sell memorabilia of a player whose professional cards will command four-figure prices within three years. The model works only if the player is consensus top-five in a loaded draft class. Dybantsa is. The 2026 class is.
What to watch: Dybantsa's first game is scheduled for mid-February against a West Coast Conference opponent not yet announced. Fanatics will release a limited autograph series within two weeks of his debut, priced between $200 and $400 per signed card. Nike will begin shipping his PE colorway in March. The next comparable deal will likely come from Cooper Flagg at Duke, whose current NIL valuation sits at $3.8 million and who is expected to sign with Panini or Fanatics before the NCAA Tournament.
The Fanatics deal does not include trading card exclusivity beyond Dybantsa's college career. If he declares for the 2026 NBA Draft, Panini holds the rookie card rights through its league partnership. Fanatics' value is the two-year window of college scarcity, when signed memorabilia and limited releases can command premium prices without NBA competition. The bet is that $4.1 million in college NIL will look modest when his rookie autograph cards open at $1,500 on release day.
The takeaway
Fanatics priced Dybantsa's NIL on draft scarcity, not college performance—a model that works only for consensus top-five picks in loaded classes.
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