This calendar year of Kendrick Perkins would make any rapper proud. The amount of beef and issues the ESPN analyst has had are noteworthy. Issues with the Celtics management meant that the former champion with Boston couldn’t attend the championship parade. Then there was the issue with LeBron James as the Lakers star unfollowed him. Not to forget the war of words between Shaquille O’Neal and Charles Barkley on the analysis of the game. And we will add his recent venture to the list.

Kendrick Perkins has co-founded a company named Nilly, which offers college athletes upfront cash. But the catch is that the college athletes would have to give up a portion of their NIL deals. The NIL deals are already at a juncture where many have called for proper regulation from top to bottom. And Perk’s ESPN colleague reported about the new company and the potential issues it could generate.

Dan Murphy, an ESPN Staff Writer, even obtained a contract to highlight the issues. “ESPN obtained a copy of one Nilly contract that lays out a $50,000 payment to a high school senior in exchange for the exclusive rights to sell his name, image and likeness for seven years.” That’s not all, Nilly and the investors will either take 25% of the player’s NIL earnings or until the company obtains a total of $125,000. Which is 2.5x of the initial investment. But Kenrick Perkins had a different opinion of the current crisis about his new venture.

“You have so many athletes and their parents who are struggling day-to-day,” Kendrick Perkins said to ESPN. “Because we’re actually taking a bit of a gamble on what the student-athlete is going to make in the NIL space, the benefit is the kid — the student-athlete — is able to get financial security so they don’t have to rush.”

The tweet from Murphy clearly stated the issue. “Experts say the deals resemble high-interest loans and could be taking advantage of players.” The same thoughts and concerns have been raised by fans, as even they aren’t on board with Nilly.

Fans and experts criticize Kendrick Perkins for putting kids’ future in danger

One of the experts on the ESPN report said, “To me it feels like you are preying on people who need the capital now and using that to cloud their focus on the future.” Michael Haddix Jr. and his company Scout aim to provide financial education seminars to college athletic departments. He questioned the long-term implications of such a contract. And a fan did not question it but shared the issue without any hesitation.

“Kendrick Perkins is doing nothing more than stealing from vulnerable student-athletes.” But the 39-year-old denied any such stealing issues.”It’s not outside the bounds of the way the law thinks about lending.” For the former teammate of LeBron James, any statement won’t probably change any fans’ minds. “Perk straight up robbing children 😭😭😭.”

One ESPN employee reporting on another, the interesting conundrum, even had the fans confused. “Big Perk milking off college NIL earnings? 😭 ESPN not paying him well?” As per reports, Kendrick Perkins earns over $1 million for his analyst duty. Another fan even demanded the company to cut ties with the former champion. “This guy should be the next to get the firing call from ESPN.”

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With NIL deal issues and no proper guidelines, only time will tell if the company works after so many concerns from experts and fans.