The No. 1 women’s basketball recruit in the country, Aaliyah Chavez, is bringing more than just hype to the court. She’s already signed a major NIL deal with Nike, landed a spot in a Kobe commercial, and is ready to showcase her talent — and culture — in the spotlight at Oklahoma.

TOGETHXR: Congratulations on signing with Nike and being part of their NIL basketball group! What's it feel like to have an NIL deal of this magnitude before you've even played your first game as a Sooner? 

AALIYAH: It's amazing. I mean, I guess you could say there's a little bit of pressure on me, just because it's such a big brand. Nike has great athletes already, and I want to keep that brand growing each and every day.

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TOGETHXR: So what does it mean to you to be a part of that group of Nike athletes? 

AALIYAH: It means the world to me. I don't think I've ever worn any other shoe besides Nike — even when I was a kid. It's bringing out that little girl in me… I'm so excited to be a Nike athlete and that I can continue to wear these [shoes] every day.

TOGETHXR: Fans are super excited to see you take the court for the first time in Oklahoma. It was recently announced that the program is going to be the first women's college team to have a Spanish broadcast of your games. What does that mean to you — to be part of improving representation in college basketball? 

AALIYAH: It’s a big step for Hispanic culture. I want the kids to look up to me, but I think the big thing is that Hispanic culture gets a spotlight. We're gonna have so many Mexican little girls and little boys come to the games (and listen to the games) and know that it's possible to achieve your goals. Like, for me, I'm not just telling you you can be the best in basketball — I want you to be a better person every day, and I want you to grow with what your goal is at the end of the day. So I think just having it available just shows how much Hispanic culture is growing, and it means the world to me — because that's all I've ever wanted. 

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TOGETHXR: What do you think that would have meant to you as a kid — to be able to tune in and listen to your favorite sport and hear it in Spanish? 

AALIYAH: It would’ve meant a lot. Growing up, there weren’t a lot of Hispanic girls out there that played basketball. It was rare to see Hispanic girls out there. Now, I'm that girl, and girls — any Hispanic kids, not just girls, but kids in general — can look up to me and see Hispanic culture.

TOGETHXR: Let’s play a game! We’ll give you some different aspects of basketball and you can pick a player whose skill set you would want in that area. Kind of like your own basketball Frankenstein. So the first one, who are you stealing the handles from?

AALIYAH: My dad says I have no handles. He says I'm slow, so... I'm gonna say AI [Allen Iverson]. 

TOGETHXR: Okay, for the next one, whose shooting skills would you take?

AALIYAH: I'm going to take myself on that one. 

TOGETHXR: How about defensive presence? 

AALIYAH: I'm gonna have to go with Kobe on that one. 

TOGETHXR: What about swag? Like, the level of personality they bring to their game. 

AALIYAH: Swag? Hmm… I've got to go with A’ja [Wilson].

TOGETHXR: Oh, that's a good one, for sure. Last one — whose trash talk skills do you want? 

AALIYAH: Paige [Bueckers]. Paige is low key out there talking sometimes.   

TOGETHXR: I don't know if anybody's gonna beat a player that's built with all those things.

AALIYAH: No, I don't think so.

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TOGETHXR: We saw you posted a recent TikTok about a few different celly options for the season. Have you made up your mind on which one you want to roll with? And TOGETHXR, as a company, we'd like to throw in the X that we have in our name as a possibility to consider. 

AALIYAH: I'm going to hit all three one time, just randomly in the games. I don't know. I think everyone liked number one — it's a pretty good one. But I did that in high school, so I'm trying to do something new. My dad likes the shark, so I might go to the shark. Or my guitar celly is my OG one. That's probably the first celly I ever had. 

TOGETHXR: I feel like we're going to have to make like a bingo card for this season and check them off as your season goes along.

AALIYAH: That would be awesome.

TOGETHXR: Who are some of the players that you look up to or modeled your game after? 

AALIYAH: So... I'm going to be honest here. Growing up, I didn't watch much basketball... I was in the gym too much. I didn't want to watch somebody achieve their goals — I wanted to achieve my own goals. So I stayed in the gym, and by the time I got out of the gym, the games were over, so, I never really had time to watch — but, I love Kobe’s mentality. I watched a lot of his mentality videos… I like how he was always the first one in the gym and the last one to leave the gym.

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TOGETHXR: That must’ve been a full circle moment when you got to be in Nike’s commercial for the new Kobe shoes then, right? 

AALIYAH: It was so awesome — a once in a lifetime opportunity. Just being in that commercial was amazing and it was so surreal. It was like I was living a dream, for real.