Sam Thomas is meticulous.
It doesn’t matter if it’s tidying up her room at home or on the road, sharing with Wildcats fans that she is returning for one more season or launching her long arms into space for a big block.
It’s only fitting that Thomas is taking her time to line everything up before jumping into the name, image and likeness (NIL) fray.
“I’ve been mostly prepping and taking a minute because this is all very new,” the Wildcats’ senior forward said. “I want to see the mistakes and the benefits that people have been showing. … I want to do stuff that I really care about and that means something to me. I don’t want to grab every deal that comes to me. … I’ve just been slowing it down.”
When an opportunity presented itself last month, the deliberate Thomas pounced. Sam’s Club is offering six $10,000 sponsorships to a roster of six NCAA athletes named Sam. The athletes were asked to create TikToks to share why they deserve to be included.
“I woke up one morning and I was tagged in so many things on Twitter and I was like, ‘What’s going on right now? I didn’t have practice yet, no one posted videos of us, so what’s going on?’ Then I saw it was the Sam’s Club thing,” Thomas said. “I was like, ‘Oh, I better get on this.’ Everyone was like, ‘Sam, you have to do it.’ That was actually our off day.”
Thomas sent Sam’s Club a video of her hitting a halfcourt, behind-the-back shot inside in the Richard Jefferson Gymnasium.
She said she “stole” the trick shot from teammate Cate Reese.
“Every day after practice, she tries to make it,” Thomas said. “She does just one attempt. I was like, ‘Might as well do that because you know I could do a half-court shot, but that’s boring.’ I just tried to throw behind my back.”
Thomas missed her first attempt. And her second. And her third …
“Twenty shots later,” Thomas said with a laugh, “but it worked.”
Sam’s Club is expected to announce its crew any day now.
Most of the opportunities for Thomas and her teammates won’t present themselves until the women’s basketball season starts in November. The Wildcats open their season Nov. 9 against Cal State Northridge at McKale Center.
Sam Thomas' basketball skills, bubbly personality and social-media savvy make her one of the most popular athletes at the UA.
Thomas has also been learning all about the new NIL process through the Arizona EDGE program, which helps student-athletes navigate everything from branding and networking to financial literacy. An in-house marketplace matches up student-athletes with sponsorships.
She’s also learned about contracts, how they work — and what to look out for.
“It’s nice to feel like you’re protected a little bit, like you have the resources to be protected,” she said.
Some UA athletes, like guard Taylor Chavez, have hired agents to represent them during the NIL process. Thomas will not.
“I can’t afford an agent, so I am just going to have my parents help me, my friends help me,” Thomas said. “The EDGE program works with lawyers to read your contracts. That’s the most important thing for me is for someone to read my contracts and make sure I’m not getting scammed. They have people that are open to just coming in if you bring in a contract — they’ll read it for free. I’m just taking as much help as I can get. I will not hire an agent…
“Now, if someone wants to do that for free, be my guest. But, I will not be hiring an agent.”
Fans have asked Thomas to make and sell replica UA jerseys, but it’s a tricky given the Wildcats’ licensing requirements. While that’s on hold for now, Thomas is excited about NIL.
“It’s a great opportunity,” Thomas said. “The university and the coaches have supported it and haven’t been like, ‘Don’t do any deals.’ They have all been supportive, trying to help us make sure we’re putting ourselves out there. Obviously, it comes down on the court, we’re still athletes and we have to get the job done on the court, so that will probably lead to more deals.”
Rim shots
Expect Thomas to be front and center during her final season as a Wildcat. She’s writing a column for AllSportsTucson.com and is an unpaid intern with the UA’s athletic communications office.
Thomas was the lone student representative on an Arizona panel that focused on NIL in Washington, D.C. Others on the panel included UA men’s basketball coach Tommy Lloyd, former Wildcats players Jason Ranne (executive VP of the Wasserman talent agency) and Matt Muehlebach (senior VP and general counsel for 5Lights) and Jim Cavale, CEO of INFLCR. To prepare, Thomas sought other athletes’ perspectives. “I talked to my teammates about some of the deals that they have or they’ve been thinking about and their feelings towards NIL,” Thomas said.
Bendu Yeaney and Semaj Smith already have NIL deals. Yeaney signed with C4 energy drink and PSDs underwear as an influencer. Family friend Bryon Sheng, who also works with ex-NFL star Marshawn Lynch, is guiding Yeaney through brands and deals. Smith is endorsing an underwear brand called Naked and a natural hair company, ORGANIGROWHAIRCO. Smith has used the haircare product since her freshman year of college. She said she liked the message behind Naked, which donates underwear to a women’s homeless shelter in Connecticut. Both athletes receive free products in exchange for promoting the items.
