K-State forward Coleman Hawkins says record NIL deal ‘never should have been public’
Shortly after he played his final game with the Kansas State men’s basketball team, Coleman Hawkins tearfully admitted that the NIL criticism he received in arenas and on social media got to him this season.
Things might have gone better for him and the Wildcats if nobody knew he was playing on an NIL deal worth an unprecedented $2 million.
That is still on his mind now that he is back in his home state of California and preparing for the start of his professional career.
“Whatever the number was never should have been public,” Hawkins told The Field of 68 on Friday. “That’s not my fault. I won’t say whose fault it is, but when there is a tweet from (NBA insider) Shams (Charania) and people share your information, that is not cool.”
Hawkins began his college basketball career at Illinois and then transferred to K-State for his final year.
He committed to the Wildcats in June, and the value of his lucrative NIL deal was shared openly minutes afterward.
At the time, Hawkins said he could handle the publicity. Opposing fans loved to heckle him when he was in the Big Ten, and he often used their words as fuel during games.
But it was difficult for him to do the same in Manhattan. Turns out, hearing people say “he’s not worth that” wasn’t easy for him to deal with.
“I dealt with all that (at Illinois) and I played fine,” Hawkins told Field of 68. “But this year was at another level.”
Hawkins averaged 10.7 points, 6.9 rebounds and 4.3 assists during his lone season at K-State. He put up solid numbers and played well enough to earn third-team All-Big 12 honors. But the Wildcats finished with an overall record of 16-17 and missed the postseason for the first time under head coach Jerome Tang.
That made it a sour ending for Hawkins. He wanted to play with his K-State teammates in the NCAA Tournament. And he was emotional when it didn’t happen.
“It just hit me and I felt terrible for them, because they haven’t had those experiences,” Hawkins said. “It goes by like that. (The media) caught me at a bad time. It was just a mixture of feeling the pain for them and realizing that I wasn’t at my best for them. ... If I had been at my best and able to block out the noise and the hate we would have been in the NCAA Tournament.”