Indiana guard Anthony Leal uses NIL to pay off sister's student loans
Indiana basketball player Anthony Leal had a surprise for his sister Lauren on Christmas morning. She received a card from her younger brother, who told her he paid off all of her student loan debt. Anthony Leal wrote on Twitter that without NIL opportunities, “things like this wouldn’t be possible.”
You can watch a video of the moment that his family shared on Twitter.
“You radiate kindness and bring happiness to so many people, especially me,” Lauren Leal said, reading the card from Anthony. “Hey sis, I wanted to let you know how much I look up to you and admire who you are. Your soul is beautiful and you are the best role model ever. There is no doubt that I have made it to where I am today because of you.”
She was in stunned disbelief when she read what her brother had done.
“Someone like you deserves no burdens or restrictions in life and I feel like the best way to help you with that is by…,” she said, before she stopped reading the card and looked up at her brother. “I don’t even know how much that is.”
“I do,” Anthony Leal, a shooting guard for Indiana, said from across the room. “It’s zero now.”
Their mother Sherry Leal encouraged Lauren Leal to keep reading.
“I feel like the best way to help with that is by paying off your student loan debt,” Lauren Leal said as she continued reading.
“Some folks have negative opinions about NIL,” Anthony Leal wrote on Twitter. “But without it, things like this wouldn’t be possible.”
Anthony Leal is another example of athletes using NIL to give back
The heartwarming moment within the Leal family was another example of athletes using their NIL opportunities and earnings to give back to others. There have been countless examples, many of which have come around the holidays.
Leal’s teammate Jalen Hood-Schifino recently gifted Indiana players and coaches with Bose earbuds. South Carolina guard Zia Cooke did the same with Beats by Dre headphones.
Florida gymnast Trinity Thomas and track runner Talitha Diggs bought Christmas presents for children who are at UF Health Shands Hospital.
“It’s definitely so important just to remember that there are people that aren’t as fortunate as us to be athletes,” Diggs previously told On3. “Just to give back and use our platform that we’ve been blessed with to bless others is really, really important. You know, my mom always says, ‘To whom much is given much is required.’”
Leal’s ability to pay off his sister’s student loan debt also speaks to the NIL opportunities for athletes who aren’t household names nationally, as well as those who play for an athletic program with a large following.
Leal, a former Mr. Basketball at Bloomington South High School in Indiana, is averaging 6.2 points per game in 41 career games at Indiana.