ESPN signed two high school basketball players to merchandising deals on Tuesday. Kaleena Smith (the No. 1 girls player) and Beckham Black (the No. 2 boys player and brother of Anthony Black) are the first-ever athletes to sign with the company.

via Shams Charania

According to a release, the high school duo is part of a "new content and merchandise initiative celebrating the intersection of high school sports culture, fashion, and an emergent sector of sports fandom."

As part of the collaboration, Smith and Black will serve as the faces of SportsCenter NEXT‘s newest merchandise collection, developed alongside ESPN Creative Studio and available for purchase at merch.espn.com. The project features interviews and behind-the-scenes content with the two athletes captured in collaboration with Paragon Sports Marketing and showcases a blend of sports, culture and style that speaks to ESPN’s commitment to audience expansion.

As with most things these days, the partnership received some backlash over potential conflicts of interest. ESPN produces a ranking of the top high school players and decided to sign two of the players at the top of their list. Would ESPN rank players signed with them higher than others?

In the grand scheme of things, a player's ESPN ranking is insignificant from a basketball perspective. At the brand negotiation table, though? Every dollar counts.

Basket Under Review

In recruiting news, Fordham landed a commitment from St. John's transfer Kelvin Odih.

24-year-old Croatian forward, Boris Tisma, committed to Washington.

Arkansas is hosting 6'11" center Ilia Frolov on an official visit. Frolov is a member of Russia's national team and would help bolster a relatively thin Razorbacks frontcourt. Read Paul Biancardi's scout on Frolov here.

Yesterday was the first official day schools could contact the class of 2028. Check out the several hundred offers handed out at Verbal Commits.

New content at Basket Under Review

On a new episode of STATS by Will & Jim, the guys relive their best and worst takes from the 2025-2026 season.

Joe Jackson's Champions Rewind series continues with the 2010 Duke Blue Devils.

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