Mikey Williams of San Diego, an explosive 6-1 junior guard who attends Lake Norman, N.C. Christian Academy and will not be eligible for the NBA draft until 2024, has become the first high school player to sign a deal with a major sports marketing agency to pursue Name Image and Likeness.
Williams has a massive social media following– 5 million followers on multiple platforms– has signed a deal with Excel Sports management that vp Matt Davis said he believes will “generate “millions of dollars for this young man. His relevance around his peers in the basketball community is off the charts.”
The 17-year old Williams is the third- ranked player in the class of 2023, but he may be better known than Lebron James’ son Bronny of Sierra Canyon, Calif. or DJ Wagner of Camden, NJ, the No 1 ranked player in the class; and this could be the first step in him earning a major shoe deal before college
Williams started his career at San Ysidro High. As a freshman, in his second high school game in 2019-2020 season, he scored 50 points during a 85-77 over Mission Bay. He later went off for 77 points, making nine straight three pointers, in a 16 52 win over Kearny High school to break the CIF San Diego scoring record. He averaged 29.9 points, 6.7 rebounds, 4.9 assists and was named national Freshman of the Year before transferring cross country to Lake Norman where he played for a year before opting to attend classes at that private school while playing for Vertical Academy, a new program coached by his father that will have major shoe funding and will play a national schedule.
Williams’ father said his son definitely intends to attend college and Mikey made national headlines when he said he was considering signing with a traditional HBCU school, listing Hampton, NC Central, Tennessee State and Texas Southern among his initial 10 schools.
