Michigan basketball could have $10-million roster next season, per report
Michigan coach Dusty May has certainly been busy since his season ended in the Sweet 16 on March 28. Michigan has added four marquee players: North Carolina guard Elliot Cadeau, Illinois forward Morez Johnson Jr., UAB star Yaxel Lendeborg, and UCLA center Aday Mara.
These days, that sort of talent isn’t cheap. “The sport is producing millionaire players on the regular,” Norlander wrote. He reported that multiple mid-major players who averaged fewer than 10 points for non-NCAA Tournament teams will each earn at least $400,000 next season.
“All of these numbers are insane,” an SEC assistant coach said for the story. “Going to have 4-5 guys [on our roster] making way more than me!”
In a radio interview earlier this month, May spoke about NIL in men’s college basketball.
“Our market allows the best players to be competitive with a second-round (NBA) contract,” he said. “Every year the market’s changing. … There might be a market correction next year, but the last couple years there’s been a boom in what the players are able to make and what the market says.”
By this time next year, many programs believe they’ll be dealing with revenue sharing and a government-imposed NIL “cap.”
May was asked how Michigan’s NIL situation had changed since he’d gotten the job a year earlier.
“It’s improved greatly, and there are a lot of reasons,” he said. “First and foremost, the way our players represent Michigan is probably the biggest reason for our NIL improvement. Another area is our staff does a great job of developing relationships. When people want to help, they want to feel good about who they’re helping and what it’s going to.”
He said Michigan’s budget was in a “much healthier place” than it was a year ago, though it’s worth noting the program snagged several transfers last offseason as well, including starters Danny Wolf, Vladislav Goldin, Rubin Jones, and Roddy Gayle Jr.
May cited Michigan’s official NIL collective, Champions Circle, for the group’s hard work. “We’ve embraced that part of it — getting boots on the ground and developing relationships and letting people know that what they’re giving is not just going into a black hole, but it’s going to help in a lot of ways.”
Norlander’s sources indicate 10 programs have (or will have soon) a $10-million budget for the 2025-26 season: established blue bloods like Duke, Indiana, Kentucky, and North Carolina; Arkansas and St. John’s, both led by Hall of Fame coaches; plus BYU, Louisville, Michigan, and Texas Tech. Michigan and Indiana are the only Big Ten teams in that upper tier.
Another group of schools, per the report, including three Big Ten teams, are at $8 million: Auburn, Connecticut, Florida, Houston, Kansas, Kansas State, Miami, Purdue, Tennessee, Texas, UCLA, USC, Villanova, and Virginia.
“If you’re a high-major program and don’t have at least $3 million (some would argue $4 million, at bare minimum) in NIL reserves in 2025,” Norlander wrote, “you’re in trouble.”
Michigan, at the moment, is not in trouble.
“We’re very, very grateful for not only our fans coming to all the games this year, but the ones that have contributed to Champions Circle,” May said. “It’s much needed if we’re going to be successful.”
