It is easy to point to big NIL deals as an excuse for why Kentucky players don’t appear to be fully invested in the effort department as of late. I know I’m certainly guilty of it. Kentucky’s extremely high payroll is low-hanging fruit as to why this team looks like it would rather be doing anything else than playing basketball with each other.
After every embarrassing loss (the likes of which keep piling up), the term “$22 million!” gets thrown around not only from fans of opposing teams mocking Kentucky, but also from within Big Blue Nation, embarrassed that this staff appears to have totally botched their epically large piggy bank.