On the most consequential morning of AJ Dybantsa\u2019s life, hours before the NBA draft, he pulled out a laptop and let his thoughts wander. <\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m typing in the hotel,\u201d he started in a diary-style entry. \u201cThis\u2019ll probably be the last time I\u2019m in my room today. Definitely the last time on my computer. The last time doing a lot of things before \u2026 before becoming an NBA player.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dybantsa ticked off a few more observations before signing off. He gave it a once-over and hit publish on his latest LinkedIn post. <\/p>\n
Then the comments came flooding in. <\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019ve shown the draft isn\u2019t just a sports ceremony, but a professional milestone \u2014 almost like a job interview,\u201d one user wrote. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe draft isn\u2019t just selection. It\u2019s organization alignment at scale,\u201d another said.<\/p>\n
A more lighthearted commenter added: \u201cWe ballers are different animals on the job market.\u201d<\/p>\n
One by one, hundreds more followed. They treated it as if Dybantsa had announced a summer internship at Goldman Sachs. Never mind that he was about to become the face of the Washington Wizards. <\/p>\n
Using LinkedIn has become a quasi-status symbol for top athletes. New York Knicks star Jalen Brunson, first-overall NFL draft pick Fernando Mendoza, two-time NBA MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and now Dybantsa have made it a hotbed of headliners. Your quirky, sometimes-nerdy, always-eccentric resume app for the 9-to-5 set is now shared by NBA champions and NFL quarterbacks. And, predictably, it\u2019s created quite the awkward dynamic. <\/p>\n
But one thing is clear: If you\u2019re a sports star, you connect on LinkedIn. <\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a higher barrier of access to connect with people on LinkedIn. I think it gives a little bit more cachet,\u201d said Nicky Lewis, a professor of media at Indiana University. \u201cIt gives it a little bit more leverage in a social media environment.\u201d<\/p>\n
The seeds for this unexpected LinkedIn revolution came just over a decade ago in Florida. Back in 2015, the University of Miami launched a pilot program for a business degree for professional athletes. <\/p>\n
At the time, ESPN released the documentary \u201cBroke,\u201d which focused on athletes mismanaging their millions. The statistics on how many former players ended up in financial distress were just hitting the mainstream. <\/p>\n
And as part of the program, Miami asked athletes to create LinkedIn profiles.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere was a need for athletes to professionalize themselves and their personas,\u201d Lewis said. <\/p>\n
The program was successful, but the LinkedIn portion never caught on. Twitter and Instagram were still the dominant forces of the day. The most cutting-edge athletes used Snapchat, then a relatively new platform. But LinkedIn was still seen as the fringe home of your finance friend or law partner. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe president of your local Red Cross,\u201d Indiana media professor Galen Clavio lovingly described LinkedIn\u2019s clientele. <\/p>\n
But around the onset of name, image and likeness compensation, the landscape changed. College athletes could cash in on brand deals, and LinkedIn became a valuable space to connect with businesses and attract specific partnerships. Dybantsa, for instance, has had a deal with Nike since high school<\/a> and signed an eight-figure deal with sports retailer Fanatics<\/a> during his freshman year at Brigham Young University. <\/p>\n At the same time, the other social media platforms lost some of their sway. Twitter rebranded to X and Instagram became less ubiquitous among young people. <\/p>\n \u201cI wrote a textbook [in 2020] about social media and sports, and I didn\u2019t pay a lot of attention to LinkedIn as a communications platform for athletes when I wrote it,\u201d Clavio said.<\/p>\n