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Kris Jenkins will forever be a hero at Villanova University. His insane game-winning buzzer beater that won the Wildcats the national title in 2016 is the stuff of legends.
Jim Nantz’s call of the game-winner is one of the greatest in the history of college basketball.
And now the 31-year-old Jenkins, who never made it to the NBA, wants to get paid.
In what could just be a heck of a coincidence, but probably not, Kris Jenkins filed a lawsuit on Saturday, the morning of this year’s Final Four and a day after the nine-year anniversary of his game-winner, against the NCAA, the ACC, Big 12, Big East, Big Ten, Pac-12, and SEC.
The Philadelphia Inquirer reports that the lawsuit, filed in the Southern District of New York, seeks damages for the name, image, and likeness (NIL) compensation he was unable to receive and a judgment to void NCAA rules that limit payments athletes can receive for their NIL rights and services.
It also claims the defendants “have committed violations of the federal antitrust laws and common law by engaging in an overarching conspiracy to: (a) fix the amount that student-athletes may be paid for the licensing, use, and sale of their names, images, and likenesses at zero; (b) foreclose student-athletes from the market for licensing, use, and sale of their names, images, and likenesses entirely; (c) fix the amount that student-athletes may be paid for their athletic services at no more than the value of a scholarship; and (d) limit the quantity of athletic scholarships available in the market for student-athletes’ labor services.”
The lawsuit claims that “in addition to violating the antitrust laws, Defendants have also unjustly enriched themselves and their for-profit business partners while causing extensive damage to the student-athletes.”
Of note, Kris Jenkins opted out of the $2.8 billion House settlement agreed to by the NCAA for all Division I athletes from 2016 to 2024.
The settlement appears to leave Jenkins out of any back pay anyway. The House settlement will give back pay to Power Five men’s and women’s basketball players, as well as football players, dating to 2016. The Big East is not included in that segment. If Jenkins’ suit is successful, elements of the House settlement, like salary-cap restrictions and limits on outside NIL collectives, could potentially be deemed invalid.
Jenkins, who played one more year at Villanova after making “The Shot,” told The Athletic in 2021, “Man, if I could have used name, image, and likeness, I’d not only have a lot of money in my bank account, I’d probably be living in a penthouse right about now. I would have really lived a bachelor life. I definitely deserved it.”