UConn forward Aaliyah Edwards recently joined her star teammate Paige Bueckers in landing a NIL deal, by signing her own lucrative contract with Adidas Canada.

The $652,000 NIL-valued Bueckers, (as per On3) had a hilarious reaction on her Instagram stories to Edward’s deal:

“Still checks over stripes tho,” she wrote.

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Aaliyah Edwards holds the distinction of becoming the first Canadian to sign a NIL deal with Adidas after a stellar season in which she was named the Big East Most Improved Player last year.

During her homecoming game in Ontario a few months ago, Aaliyah Edwards explained the complexities of NIL deals for international students.

“One of the biggest complications is because we are on student visas as an international student, we’re not able to actively participate in NIL but at the same time going to college it wasn’t really about the money or the business side of things,” Edwards said.

“For me, it was more just about my passion and love for basketball.

“I’m hoping that in the future, we can make some changes, even if I’m not able to participate in it, but for those upcoming, the next generation, because I think it is important to give back into your athletes the amount of time and effort that they give into the sport.”

Paige Bueckers and Aaliyah Edwards give UConn fans hope

Paige Bueckers and Aaliyah Edwards have formed a lethal partnership on the court, leading the UConn Huskies to the Big East regular season title.

College basketball stars Paige Bueckers and Aaliyah Edwards

After UConn’s recent 104-67 win against DePaul, coach Geno Auriemma commented on the pair’s partnership.

“It’s been like this in every game that we played well and won; when Aaliyah Edwards plays the way she played and when Paige Bueckers plays the way she played, it’s comforting to the rest of our players,” Auriemma said.

“They can just relax and play. It’s not easy guarding them, as you can see, they just are wide open. But I thought today our defense was great and our offense just sped off of that.”

Paige Bueckers is now free of injury and averaging 20.5 points, 4.5 rebounds, and 3.9 assists and has committed to staying with the Huskies for an extra year.

Edwards is just behind her in most metrics, averaging 18.2 points, 9.5 rebounds and 2.1 assists.

With the help of Aaliyah Edwards, the Huskies fans can start dreaming of the talented Bueckers leading the team to silverware in the near future.