How a hoops sensation — and his dad — navigated NIL to land a lucrative deal at UNC | Opinion
Kyan Evans dribbled a basketball through his legs and behind his back. A defender stood in front of the 6-foot, 2-inch point guard from Kansas City. In an instant, the 2023 Staley High School (Kansas City) graduate rose up and let the ball fly from well beyond the 3-point line. The ball went through the rim and touched nothing but the bottom of the net.
Swooosh.
The shot wasn’t the only one Evans made Sunday during an open run — a series of pickup games the young hoops junkie organized at Staley. But the successful three-point field goal was a reminder of why Evans was one of the most sought after transfers in college basketball this past spring.
In today’s landscape of college sports, young players like Evans can now benefit from their name, image and likeness (referred to as NIL) and transfer schools without sitting out for a year. In a multibillion-dollar industry such as college sports, I am a proponent of players getting a piece of the proverbial pie.
Still, as with anything, the transfer portal offered no guarantees, which can be stressful for a young person like Evans, his father Steve Evans said.
Steve described the transfer portal as uncharted territory for the entire family, which includes Steve’s wife Stacey and their oldest son Kaden, 26.+
Sidenote: Years ago, Kaden and my oldest son General Williams were teammates on the Kansas City Keys club team. Steve was one of the coaches.
“We heard from every coach in the country,” Steve said. “It was literally that crazy. We had no idea how much he was worth until it came up. It’s hard to navigate. You really don’t know how to navigate it.”
Kyan’s ability to make shots landed him a seven-figure payday with North Carolina, one of the country’s most renowned basketball programs. The Tar Heels won three national championships under former Kansas coach Roy Williams.
Kyan Evans’ basketball stock skyrockets
Last season, as a sophomore at Colorado State University, Kyan shot an astounding 44.6% from 3-point range, making him one of the top 3-point shooters in the Mountain West Conference, according to the website 24/7 Sports. In March, Evans caught the attention of basketball fans across the country after he scored 23 points and knocked down six 3-point shots during an NCAA tournament game against Memphis.
After that March Madness game against Memphis, Evans’ stock skyrocketed.
One day after CSU lost on a last second shot to Maryland in the second round of the NCAA Tournament, then- head coach Niko Medved left to take the same job at Minnesota. That move opened the door for Kyan to explore his options, Steve said.
On March 29, Kyan officially entered the NCAA transfer portal — essentially college basketball’s version of free agency — and an intense bidding war for his services ensued. The experience was nothing like Kyan had ever gone through, he said. But after the first day in the portal, he learned he could command and receive a substantial amount of money to play college basketball at one of the most storied programs in America.
When Evans committed to play basketball at North Carolina in April, he became an instant millionaire: He reportedly secured a compensation package worth $2 million, according to several media outlets.
The decision to attend North Carolina concluded a 10-day whirlwind journey Kyan described as stressful. He still had to attend classes at CSU and work on his craft while being inundated with call after call. Before he committed, other suitors including Kansas, Missouri and Minnesota and other high profile schools, all clamored for his talent. Representatives from each school called with different sales pitches, Kyan said.
“It’s crazy,” he said. “The first day, you put your name in there but you don’t know what’s going to happen. You don’t know who will hit you up. You just hope for the best.”
Both Kyan and his father Steve agreed that exploring the transfer portal and negotiating NIL packages were not easy tasks. Kyan said he was fortunate to have the help of his agent Reggie Brown of Priority Sports who did most of the bidding on Kyan’s behalf.
On Sunday, in between pickup games at Staley, Kyan offered insight on how the NIL process and the transfer portal operates.
‘Calls from all sorts of coaches’
Once he entered the portal, “the phone just started dinging,” Evans said. “I started getting calls from all sorts of coaches. Luckily, I had an agent. I got with him and he was able to help me out with that process.”
Evans said he fielded too many calls to recount and the process included more than a fair share of virtual meetings. He added he did not take one physical visit to the schools that were interested in him.
“It was just a lot of phone calls and a lot of Zoom meetings trying to figure things out,” he said. “I just rolled with North Carolina and (head coach) Hubert Davis.”
What is the transfer portal?
The NCAA transfer portal is a private database used by college athletes to express their interest in transferring schools. Nearly 2,700 basketball players entered the portal before its April 22 deadline this year, according to ESPN. Not all of them come away with such a sweet deal as Evans.
“Ky didn’t plan on going into the portal,” Steve Evans said. “We went into the NCAA tournament and he played really well against Memphis and everybody saw him. When the head coach left, we were in limbo. For Ky, I told him to try the portal. I said, ‘Hey man, you have to look at your opportunities.’ I had no idea what we were in for.”
As a freshman at CSU, Kyan played in 36 games off the bench. The next year, he started every game for the Rams, a mid-major program that made two NCAA Tournament appearances while Kyan was there.
UNC is considered a college basketball blueblood along the likes of Kansas and Kentucky. Landing in Chapel Hill was a pretty big deal for a quiet, unassuming kid from the Northland that only received interest from schools such as UMKC and CSU coming out of high school.
“We didn’t even visit UNC,” Steve said. “They told us what he was going to make and we were like, OK.”
‘Pied piper of KC’
At Staley, Kyan played on four conference and district championship teams, won a Class 6 state title in 2023 and was named the 2023 Boys Missouri Gatorade Player of the Year. The same year, he won the DiRenna Award as the top boys basketball player in the Kansas City metropolitan area.
His head coach at Staley, Chris Neff, told Inside Carolina, a 24/7 Sports website dedicated to UNC sports, that organizing open runs such as the one I attended weren’t new.
In fact, Kyan has a reputation for bringing together talented basketball players from all over the metropolitan area for pickup games, according to Neff.
“He’s a pied piper of Kansas City high school basketball,” Neff told Inside Carolina. “He’s connected to every single basketball player in Kansas City, both on the Missouri and Kansas side. And everyone wants to be at the runs he’s at because, generally, you’re going to have an unbelievable time. And he’s going to talk the games into being competitive because he’s just got a voice and a presence.”
After older brother Kaden’s team of five sent Kyan’s squad to the sideline with a loss on Sunday, I asked Kyan what advice he would have for basketball players considering entering the transfer portal or negotiating NIL packages. Don’t make the decision solely based on money but know your worth, he said.
“Have a plan with your money,” Kyan said. “My dad actually helps me with mine. He kinda helps me navigate the money and understand that you’re young, you have some wealth but you want to be able to sustain that. I would say that’s probably the most important part.”
Kyan then shared a piece of wisdom we all could learn from.
“I wouldn’t put the money first initially,” he said. “Just wait, keep grinding and the money will come to you.”
Toriano Porter is an opinion writer for McClatchy and the Kansas City Star.
This story was originally published August 10, 2025 at 4:28 AM with the headline "How a hoops sensation — and his dad — navigated NIL to land a lucrative deal at UNC | Opinion."
