John Calipari labels NIL as 'tripping over nickels' to get an NBA contract at Kentucky

John Calipari joined the Dan Patrick Show Thursday to discuss the past few seasons at Kentucky, the Wildcats’ approach to NIL and more.

Calipari brought up an interesting argument against NIL, and how he handles it at Kentucky. The tenured head coach called NIL “tripping over nickels to try to get to an NBA max contract.”

And there’s some truths to his assertion. Calipari went on to explain that there are “12-13” guys in the NBA that came from Kentucky and currently are on max contracts, and that the number will likely swell in a few years when Cason Wallace and the host of incoming 2023 5-stars hit the Association.

Listen to Calipari’s full thoughts on the matter below.

“You talk about name, imagine and likeness.. I don’t like to get into that with players because you don’t come to #Kentucky, I call that tripping over nickels to try to get to an #NBA max contract. We probably have 12-13 guys right now that have max deals”

-John Calipari on NIL pic.twitter.com/zrNCl7GQq1

— Dan Patrick Show (@dpshow) May 4, 2023

There were talks of Calipari potentially losing his job after a slow start to the Wildcats’ 2022-23 season, but Kentucky was able to right the ship. Still, the Wildcats were only able to advance to the Round of 32 with a narrow win over providence before falling to Kansas State.