The whistle blows at the NERFBALL exhibition game, and Jada Williams runs behind a barricade in the arena.
She finds a breakaway to the basket, but it’s no good. She was blasted by an opponent’s dart, making her ineligible to score, according to the game’s rulebook.
On the floor in the NERFBALL – Battle in the Bubble were young, premiere-level athletes promoting the sport and competing for a win in its exhibition game, which can be watched online. A combination of basketball and paintball, Williams was a perfect candidate for the game for her athleticism and notoriety.
She made her name and image known years ago, before she was a freshman at the University of Arizona. She was the first high school women’s basketball player to sign a national NIL deal when she inked with Spalding in October 2021, joining the ranks of the NBA’s Damian Lillard and DeMar DeRozan. Soon after, she signed with Gym Shark and Dick’s Sporting Goods, a partnership that was featured on WSLAM.
It all happened only a month after winning gold for Team USA at the FIBA Americas U-16 Championship.
“It’s getting easier to navigate,” Williams told Sporting News in an…
