What is the NIL valuation of Kentucky‘s 2025-26 roster? “It’s close to $200 million,” Mark Pope joked back in May. He wouldn’t touch on the specifics with a 10-foot pole, specifically relating to the alleged $20 million number floating out there since the Wildcats put a bow on the portal and high school additions — plus Otega Oweh‘s return both to the floor and on the payroll, likely with a hefty raise.
Kentucky will never admit publicly what Oweh made to turn down a likely selection in the NBA Draft to return to Lexington, nor will it share details on its expensive portal class. Pope will, however, make it clear that this program deserves the best of the best across the board.
Best roster budget? The winningest tradition in the history of college basketball needs to be in the conversation.
“This is the University of Kentucky. I never forget that. We should be the best at everything,” Pope said. “Put NIL, put the transfer portal on the list. Our job is to go be the best at everything. We’re not shying away from that. It’s important to us.”
If there is an NIL conversation to be had, especially as it relates to this roster, Oweh belongs in it. Again, we don’t know specifics, but he figures to be Kentucky’s top earner — and maybe among the richest in the sport next season.
Things are changing in a hurry with revenue sharing and the new NIL clearinghouse monitoring new deals — it won’t impact him personally, at least when it comes to agreements made up to this point — but as he sees it, he’s a fan of the setup.
“Um — I mean, they paying us, so that’s a great thing, for sure. I don’t really be keeping up with the settlement stuff like that,” Oweh said Tuesday. “As long as we’re getting paid, that’s good for me. Anything extra, that’s cool.”
It’s more of the same, Oweh entering the college ranks with NIL well underway in 2022, starting at Oklahoma before making his way to UK last offseason. That’s the case for everyone on the Kentucky roster, Florida transfer Denzel Aberdeen joining him as the lone seniors this time around. Deals have gotten more lucrative and players are changing schools like clothes, but the money topic isn’t something he’s heard come up often in college locker rooms — especially in Lexington.
It may turn heads for fans, but not necessarily for players. And when it’s talked about, it’s at the dinner table with family members, not teammates inside the basketball facilities.
“Nah (no locker room change), because when I came into college, that’s when NIL started. That’s what I’m used to, really,” he said. “I mean, the guys — I’m a senior now, so the guys after me, it’s gonna be the same with them. This hasn’t really changed anything for me, if I’m being honest. …
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