Florida guard Xaivian Lee signs multi-year NIL shoe deal with Serious Player Only

One of Florida‘s newest players has signed a multi-year NIL deal that is one of the first of its kind. Princeton transfer Xaivian Lee has inked a signature shoe deal with Serious Player Only.

The deal was reported by Nick DePaula, a reporter covering the footwear industry and NBA, WNBA and NIL marketing. DePaula reports that the deal makes Lee the first NCAA NIL athlete to sign a shoe deal with an international brand.

With the deal, Lee will get a player edition shoe and apparel. Those will launch this season, with the signature shoe releasing in 2026.

Lee was one of the biggest additions of the offseason for Florida. He will help replace a lot of lost production in the backcourt for the defending national champions.

Coach Todd Golden discussed the commitment of Lee out of the NCAA transfer portal during an interview on ‘The Field of 68’ in late April. He had a lot to say about his offensive numbers, namely his shooting percentages and assist-to-turnover numbers, through three seasons at Princeton.

“Yeah, I, I think Xaivian is just, first of all, he’s an elite offensive player,” Golden said. “You know, I think that’s the best way I would describe him.

“And, just an incredible shooter, has gotten better there every year at Princeton. Where he’s incredibly elite is his ball handling and his playmaking. He had like a 35% assist rate with a 14% turnover rate last year. And, for the stat nerds like us, you know, to have an assist rate like that and a turnover rate that low says a lot about his ball handling and his playmaking ability.”

Lee has averaged 12.7 points (43.5% FG, 33.4% 3PT), 4.5 rebounds, and 3.3 assists per game in his collegiate career so far for the Tigers. He then, over the past two seasons as a starter who was a unanimous selection as First Team All-Ivy League, posted 17.0 points (44.5% FG, 35.2% 3PT on 1.9 threes), 5.9 rebounds, 4.6 assists, and 1.1 steals.

In transferring from the Ivy League to the Southeastern Conference, Golden expects Lee will be just fine playing against the increased level of competition. The guard showed Florida’s staff enough, during conference play and at times in the non-conference, for them to feel confident he can play with the type of teams they’ll come across next season.

“Even at Princeton, you know, in the Ivy League, the one thing that really stood out to us about his performance was he has always performed as well against tier-a and -b competition as he does against everybody else,” said Golden. “To be able to do that? You know, obviously, playing in our league, you’re playing against most all -a and -b teams.”

On3’s Sam Gillenwater also contributed to this report.