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Arguably the biggest headline of Indiana's offseason came last week when it was announced that Trayce Jackson-Davis would be withdrawing from the NBA Draft and be returning to school.

Many questions and thoughts were raised as to why Jackson-Davis opted to return to Indiana for one final year. One of the main topics that has often been discussed since last week was how much of a factor did NIL have on his decision to return to school rather than opting to play at the professional level.

It is no secret anymore, NIL has become one of the hottest trends in the world of college athletics as of late. However in Jackson-Davis' case, NIL did not play as big of a factor as some might of thought when he decided to come back and play one final year for the Hoosiers.

"So I wouldn't consider the NIL to be a big reason why I stayed even though I know there's probably going to be money there and opportunity there, which I'm blessed to be in that situation," said Jackson-Davis.

"Obviously I'm going to use it to my advantage, but I'm here to play basketball, and I'll finish my degree."

When Jackson-Davis had originally declared for the NBA Draft, he had the full intentions of going through the entire process, which included the combine. However, those intentions were quickly thrown out the window when he tested positive for COVID and was forced to miss out on that opportunity to showcase himself at the professional level.

Although his decision pretty much became an easier one than most originally thought it would be, there were still options that could have been weighed. As we have seen in multiple situations recently, the transfer portal has been a great tool for players who want to negotiate better NIL deals.

The idea of Jackson-Davis withdrawing from the draft only to put his name in the transfer portal to get more leverage in negotiating NIL deals was something that had zero impact on his decision.

"Obviously, the NIL with all the -- like free agency is basically what it is," said Jackson-Davis. "But with the transfer portal and all of that stuff, it didn't impact my decision."

"I was never looking at another school or seeing who was going to reach out and give me the most money to go there. So it was never anything like that."

"I was either going to the draft or staying at IU."

Until further notice, NIL is almost certainly going to be brought up in conversations whether that be with players, coaches, parents, media, or whomever. However, during workouts leading up to the NBA Draft, Jackson-Davis was not even having those types of discussions with other guys that were in the same scenario as him.

What other players had done or were thinking of doing had no impact on Jackson-Davis. It was clear that he had a much bigger picture in mind than worrying about negotiating NIL deals.

"Not really," Jackson-Davis said. "I saw as much as you guys did. I just saw things on Twitter, guys getting deals, stuff of that nature. I really didn't think much of it."

"I mean, if they do want to go play for those places and make that money, that's on them. I'm thinking more big picture with my university and program."

Another possible scenario that could have taken place if Jackson-Davis opted to stay in the NBA Draft was him possibly playing his first pro year in the G-League. The only way that Jackson-Davis was going to consider that option was if he was going to be guaranteed a contract.

"Yeah, so even with the G-League, the only way -- there's players in the G-League now that are still on guaranteed contracts," said Jackson-Davis. "So if I had to go develop in the G-League, I wouldn't mind doing that as long as I was guaranteed a contract."

"So that was my big thing. If I was guaranteed a contract in the second round, then I would have stayed in the Draft, but that's not what happened. I didn't think that's what was going to happen."

"So I felt like coming back to school was the best option. We didn't really talk about NIL or any of those types of deals. I know the money's out there, but we're just going to play it by ear and see what happens."

What is nice about Jackson-Davis returning to school is he, along with teammate Race Thompson, already have an NIL deal set in place with Hoosiers For Good representing Turnstone and Stop the Violence Indianapolis. They were announced as part of the first class of fourteen Indiana student athletes to sign with Hoosiers For Good back in early April.

Like most college basketball players, Jackson-Davis has the ultimate goal of making it to the NBA. While that goal was attempted to be achieved this year, he realized he had some unfinished business as an Indiana Hoosier, regardless of the impact NIL or money had on his decision.

"The NBA has a lot of money there, so that's going to be there when it's time, but I felt like coming back to school was the right thing for me."

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