The No. 1 prospect in the nation for the class of 2021 officially joined the global talent agency Thursday.
Chet Holmgren, a top college basketball prospect projected to be one of the top picks in the 2022 NBA draft, has signed an exclusive name, image, and likeness deal with WME, the company announced Thursday.
Holmgren, a 7-foot-1 center from Minneapolis, was the consensus No. 1-ranked recruit in the high school class of 2021 and received a much-coveted perfect rating from 247Sports. He’s entering his freshman year with the Gonzaga Bulldogs, last year’s NCAA Tournament runners-up and the No. 1 team in the preseason AP poll.
Get on our list for weekly sports business, industry trends, interviews, and more.
Holmgren won numerous awards and distinctions over a decorated high school career, including:
- 2021 Gatorade National Player of the Year
2021 Gatorade Minnesota Player of the Year - 2021 McDonald’s All-American
- 2021 McDonald’s Morgan Wootten Boys Basketball Player of the Year
- 2021 Naismith Prep Player of the Year
- 2021 MaxPreps National Player of the Year
- 2021 MaxPreps Minnesota Player of the Year
- 2021 Mr. Basketball USA
- 2021 Sports Illustrated All-American Player of the Year.
“We are proud to be aligned with such a unique young man at this exciting moment in time,” said WME Sports agent Carlos Fleming, who will be representing Holmgren.
Holmgren won four state championships at Minneapolis’ Minnehaha Academy — the same program that produced Gonzaga star and Orlando Magic lottery pick Jalen Suggs — going 128-15 and finishing with 1,567 points, 964 rebounds, and 456 blocked shots for his prep career. Over the summer, he won a gold medal representing Team USA at the FIBA U-19 World Cup in Latvia, taking home tournament MVP honors.
As he plans to study business at Gonzaga, Holmgren will now join a huge agency that represents hoop stars like Luka Doncic and Sabrina Ionescu and musical talent from Adele and Anderson.Paak to Eddie Murphy and Gunna. In the growing world of NIL representation, Holmgren will now have a bevy of opportunities to benefit off his growing stature and popularity in sports.
