There were a handful of professional athletes who wished the new NIL rules were around during their time as amateurs. 16-year NBA veteran JR Smith is about have the best of both worlds.

The former Sixth Man of the Year famously went back to college this past year and enrolled at North Carolina A&T where he joined their golf team. According to an ESPN report from Adrian Wojnarowski, Smith has made a move to capitalize on the NIL opportunity, signing with Excel Sports to represent him – and for good reason.

There's significant NIL interest among golfing equipment and clothing manufacturers and video game companies, Young told ESPN.

It's no surprise that teams want a piece of Smith. After all, he's already a world-famous NBA athlete with two championship rings and a rather large social media presence. Smith meanwhile wants the attention he's garnering to serve as a medium for minorities to take up an interest in the sport of golf.

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Smith has expressed a desire to become a bridge to the sport of golf for underrepresented minority groups, and his matriculation as a full-time undergraduate at N.C. A&T — an HBCU in Greensboro, North Carolina — has captured significant attention. Smith has a considerable social media following, too, including 6 million followers on Instagram.

Watch out for the JR Smith-sponsored golf merch soon to hit the shelves in the near future.