Sharpshooter Jake Kyman's foresight sets UCLA wing up for success
In the dog days of summer, with a pandemic shutting people indoors, Jake Kyman decided to spend his time getting ahead.
Not just on the court, though – online and in the marketplace too.
With the help of a family friend, the UCLA men's basketball guard/forward started his own website and affiliated podcast, Feed the Keast, in June 2020. For about a year, the site only hosted a personal bio, one podcast episode and a handful of articles about his performance on the court from other media outlets.
Today, the site serves as a launching off point for Kyman's endorsement deals, taking full advantage of the floodgates that opened when the NCAA started allowing student-athletes to monetize their name, image and likeness on July 1.
"It was kind of a preparation period, knowing this was all going to happen," Kyman said. "We wanted to get it set up and ready so when the NIL did start, it could just be ready to roll out instead of going through the process of building it and making it now."
Kyman has already racked up a handful of sponsors over the past three weeks, including playbook and scorecard company Score It Right, basketball skill assessment app Ballogy and Green Lyzard Consulting. He's also received a BODYARMOR care package and has set up additional revenue streams through Cameo, Yoke and Gopuff.
The list of new partners is extensive, but far from random.
"After they announced it, everyone's like 'Oh let's release t-shirts and merch,' but truly, I've looked at it from the position of I want to get the most I can out of the situation I'm in," Kyman said. "Because I'm in a great position, playing at UCLA, having that high stature."
Kyman said the pressure of that UCLA platform, in addition to his own values and aspirations, has led to him be very particular about which brands he aligns himself with. The NCAA and UCLA aren't directly restricting student-athletes from working with any particular companies at the moment, meaning it's up to Kyman and others to properly vet the sponsors offering them contracts.
The new landscape also complicates the athletic side of things, but Kyman said coach Mick Cronin has been in full support of the players' economic freedom so long as they don't leave basketball and classes by the wayside.
Kyman said there have been times he's reached out to his father Coley Kyman – who has worked in e-commerce and digital media for over 20 years – about how to approach some of these deals. Most of the time, however, he's tried to trust himself and grow on his own.
"It's pretty much just on you, making the smart decisions, reading the dotted lines in the contracts," Kyman said. "It's kind of a process where you can get help and learn, figure out what this part of the business of basketball is like and get that from an earlier position in life than down the line as a professional. So it's been nice to be able to switch the lens and start learning about how the real world works."
Independence and personal growth are certainly important to Kyman, but he said he's still trying to adhere to the goals his parents have outlined for him in the past. That means saving cash, investing and using his skills on and off the court to set him up for a comfortable future.
"The plan was always to make the most money I can off of what I can do right now so that down the line, later in my life, I don't have to work," Kyman said. "My dad's always been about the long-term plan of my life, saving my money, because he doesn't want me being a professional basketball player who's living the life for five to 10 years and then they're broke working at McDonald's or something. He's seen it before so he doesn't want me in that position, which is smart."
Charging $40 for Cameos won't exactly fill up a retirement fund, but Kyman said it's all about a slow build up to the deals that he can ride beyond his UCLA days. Other athletes have already started to capitalize on those bigger sponsorships, with Miami quarterback D'Eriq King getting $20,000 to endorse College HUNKS Hauling and other companies, Alabama quarterback Bryce Young approaching $1 million worth of total deals, Fresno State women's basketball twins Haley and Hanna Cavinder appearing on a Boost Mobile billboard in Times Square and LSU gymnast Olivia Dunn boasting enough TikTok followers to net her the big bucks right away.
Most student-athletes probably dream of shoe deals and sports cars – Jaylen Clark and David Singleton are two of the biggest sneakerheads on the Bruins' roster while Johnny Juzang recently told TMZ Sports he wanted to endorse cars, clothes, shoes and health food. Kyman, on the other hand, had two very different dream sponsorships.
"I'm a huge gamer and I love Marvel movies, so if anything along those lines is achievable, I'd be there in a heartbeat," Kyman said. "I would love any opportunity for both of those."
So if "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3" is casting a new supporting role or Ninja is looking for partners to live-stream "Call of Duty" with, Kyman will be the first one to pounce.
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