Fact check: AJ Dybantsa was paid $7 million-plus at BYU

Fact check: AJ Dybantsa was paid $7 million-plus at BYU originally appeared on The Sporting News . Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here . With BYU's one-and-done result in the NCAA Tournament, one of the hottest topics on social media after the Cougars 79-71 loss to Texas was AJ Dybantsa's NIL deal.

Last year, there was a report the former five-star secured a $7 million offer to be at BYU for the 2025-26 season. While this is true in its entirety, not all the money came from the university. The Cougars’ NIL package to Dybantsa was significant, but was also supplemented by Nike, Red Bull, and to other top-tier companies and made the total around $7 million, according to Front Office Sports.

This would make a majority of those commenting about whether he was "worth a first-round loss" sound pretty foolish. Yes, BYU was bounced unexpectedly from the tourney. However, Kevin Young's team came into the matchup down six players due to season-ending injuries.

Nothing Dybantsa did hurt the team, and in fact, quite the opposite. The soon-to-be NBA Lottery pick put the Cougars on his back after All-America Richie Sanders was lost. More : Percy 'Master P' Miller reportedly interested in Arizona State job Dybantsa's 35 points against Texas was only the second time in tournament history a freshman had 30+ in a game.