Former University of North Carolina (UNC) basketball player Armando Bacot is investing his earnings from name, image, and likeness (NIL) deals.
During an interview on the “Run Your Race” podcast, Bacot said he earned “life-changing” money — more than $2 million — during his time at the university. He even opted to stay for a fifth season to reap the full benefits. Per On3, his deals have included Wingstop, Intuit TurboTax, and Topps.
“That speaks on the brand of Carolina. If I didn’t go to Carolina, doing deals with TurboTax, all those people, they wouldn’t do it with me… If you go to Carolina, you handle business, you go out there and play, somewhat be marketable… it pays,” he explained. “I could never say a bad word about Carolina and everything ’cause I got life-changing money. I’m from Richmond. I got life-changing money in college just off playing basketball.”
Bacot emphasized his gratitude to UNC, crediting his success to the college. He believes he would not have landed certain NIL deals with other universities.
Bacot is also putting his earnings to good use.
On the podcast, he said he’s part-owner of a hotel after investing in a hotel with his roommate, whose dad owns hotels. He said he also invested in Athletes.org (AO), a player association that helps college athletes with NIL deals.
“I’ve been able to [meet] a lot of great, successful people just through Carolina, and that’s what people don’t understand about going to a school like a Carolina, or like a Duke… with huge ties in the business world. It’s opened up so many doors for me outside of basketball,” Bacot said on the podcast. “I’m just so thankful to just be able to be at Carolina. People try to be funny and be like, ‘Oh, he did five years.’ You clowning me, but I got a chance to… make millions and be able to get better at basketball and do those different things.”
