Missouri Basketball's Shaw Uses NIL to Award Scholarships
As some athletes are currently navigating the transfer portal to find the best NIL deals for themselves, one college basketball player is using his own earnings to award multiple scholarships to high school students.
On January 1, Missouri sophomore forward Aiden Shaw announced three "AS23 Scholarships" - two for high school students in the Kansas City area and one for a student as his alma mater, Blue Valley High School (Overland Park, Kan.).
The scholarships will be funded from Shaw's NIL earnings, which include multiple merchandise lines for men, women and kids that he sells on his own website.
"I don't have to wait until I go to the NBA or get that type of money to give back," Shaw told ABC-Kansas City. "I feel like I can just give to the future. Just in general, giving back is incorporated into what I know."
"I'm very proud of him because he doesn't get millions of dollars in NIL," his mom Ivy, a Mizzou alum shared with ABC-Kansas City. "It wasn't about the quantity of money he got, it was just about bringing somebody else up."
A four-star prospect by ESPN, Rivals and 247Sports, Shaw was the highest ranked recruit to sign with Mizzou since 2017. Shaw was the third rated player out of the state of Kansas earned the 2022 DiRenna Award, given to the player of the year in the Kansas City metro area by the Kansas City Coaches Basketball Association.
In 15 games for the Tigers this season, Shaw has averaged 17 minutes, contributing four points and four rebounds.
The Tigers next face Alabama on Tuesday.
