Hi there, sports fans! Three years ago, I wrote about a rookie who'd just been the first overall pick in the 2023 NBA draft: Victor Wembanyama. Back then, the story was that he'd signed with a random performance-drink startup called Barcode instead of a giant like Gatorade, and gotten equity in the deal. At the time, it felt like a cool one-off. Now that Wemby's in his third NBA season, it's worth checking in: did that bet actually pay off, and did it change how athletes think about endorsements?

Short answer: yes, and yes.

A photograph of Victor Wembanyama (Source: Wikimedia Commons). 

Wemby, three years later

Wembanyama is no longer just "the most hyped prospect since LeBron." He's averaging roughly 24.4 points, 11.1 rebounds, and 2.8 assists a game on 51% shooting, and he's being talked about as a legitimate future face of the league. He's locked into his rookie extension with the Spurs, reportedly $252 million over five years, but the more interesting story is still happening off the court.

What's wild is that Wemby has barely expanded his endorsement roster. He's added Louis Vuitton and, as of October 2025, Texas grocery chain H-E-B, but he's turned down what his agent, Bouna Medjana, has said would've been millions of dollars from soda companies. His reasoning, paraphrased from Medjana's comments: he doesn't want his image tied to sugary drinks kids might look up to him for. Instead, he's stayed loyal to the health-and-wellness lane,  Nike, Fanatics, NBA 2K, and, still, Barcode.

That last one is the point of this whole post. Barcode wasn't a fluke or a "cute rookie investment." It's become a defining piece of his brand identity. He's not just an ambassador anymore; he's an equity holder in a plant-based sports drink company, and every dollar Barcode makes, he makes alongside it. That's a fundamentally different relationship than a normal check-cashing endorsement deal, and it's part of why he can afford to say no to soda money that would dwarf a typical partnership fee.

The bigger trend: equity over salary

The prediction I made in 2023, that rookies might start valuing equity over guaranteed cash, has basically become the norm at the top of the sports world. Look at Messi.

Back then, Messi's Inter Miami deal was rumored to include a future ownership option. Now it's confirmed and it's massive. Messi is reportedly a 30% shareholder in Inter Miami CF outright, and he's also become a co-owner of Deportivo LSM and the sole owner of Spanish club UE Cornellà. Inter Miami's valuation has more than doubled since he arrived, from about $585 million in 2023 to roughly $1.45 billion in 2026. Messi's total annual compensation, salary plus the value tied to his ownership stake, is now estimated between $70 and $80 million a year, according to Inter Miami co-owner Jorge Mas.

Even Inter Miami as a club has picked up the equity habit. Earlier this year, the team signed a sponsorship deal with the health company Prenetics (parent of the supplement brand IM8) that reportedly includes an equity stake for the club itself, with player NIL rights, including Messi's,  folded into the agreement. The equity model isn't just trickling down to individual athletes anymore; entire franchises are adopting it as the new normal for how sponsorship deals get structured.

A picture of Messi in his Inter Miami kit. Source (Wikimedia Commons). 

Why this matters in 2026

What started as an unusual rookie decision has become a genuine shift in how top-tier athletes think about money. Guaranteed salary is still the floor, but the ceiling now comes from ownership, being a stakeholder in a brand or a club rather than just a spokesperson for one. Wembanyama turning down soda money to protect a health-focused, equity-based brand, and Messi turning a two-and-a-half-year soccer contract into a stake in three different clubs, are both versions of the same idea: athletes are increasingly playing the long game, betting on brand value they can compound over a career (and beyond) instead of cashing bigger checks up front.

If anything, the Barcode deal looks smarter in hindsight than it did in 2023. It wasn't really about the drink. It was about Wemby signaling, from day one of his career, exactly what kind of athlete-businessman he wanted to be.

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