Hearing their names called during the NBA Draft means so much to those who experience it. It’s not just about joining an NBA team, for many it’s also a childhood dream that’s finally fulfilled and the reward that comes from all the hard work and sacrifices made over the years to get to that point.
Up until recently, there was also a financial component as it was when the players were finally able to be legally paid as an athlete.
Before NIL deals, college players were not able to profit off of their name, image, or likeness. But that all changed in 2021. And how much the 2025 presumed No. 1 pick, Cooper Flagg, has made in NIL deals is staggering.
Cooper Flagg made a whopping $28 million during his one year at Duke
Flagg graduated from Montverde Academy in Florida in 2024 and was ranked the top recruit in his class. He then attended Duke University and shined in his freshman year. He helped lead the team to the Final Four in the NCAA Tournament and was named the Associated Press Men’s College Basketball Player of the Year as well as the ACC Player of the Year and the ACC Rookie of the Year.
After one season at Duke, Flagg declared for the 2025 NBA Draft, forgoing his remaining college eligibility. At one point, Flagg’s estimated NIL valuation was $5 million with the Blue Devils. However, during a sitdown with Bob Costas at the 92nd Street Y in New York City, longtime sports journalist Howard Bryant shared that Flagg actually had at least $28 million in NIL deals while he was with Duke.
Bryant noted that “[Flagg] had a $13 million deal with New Balance and $15 million with Fanatics.”
Costas then said, “That’s why, at least, it’s more profitable for a woman … a female college basketball player to stay in college and collect the NIL because, because for the time being, the top salary in the WNBA is like $75,000. Now, it will go up a bit and if you’re Caitlin Clark it doesn’t matter and a few others because their deals carry over, but something that used to always bothered me when this convesation was going on before NIL, people would say, ‘Everybody is profiting off of this except for the athletes.’
“That implicitly says this whole thing is a sham and that the education itself has no value. So, if this student-athlete attends class, he could very well be sitting next to someone whose parents worked multiple jobs to put that boy or girl and their siblings through college. (And) that’s something that might be a present, at some universities worth on a four-year ride, $300.000. Not to mention what it means down the road for your earning power.”
The WNBA’s former No. 1 Caitlyn Clark also made millions off her NIL
Speaking of Caitlin Clark, the former WNBA No. 1 pick did make a few million before going pro, just not nearly as much as Flagg.
Clark was a superstar in college when she played for the Iowa Hawkeyes. She broke numerous women’s basketball records for not only that program, but also the Big Ten and NCAA Division I. She is the all-time leading scorer in both men’s and women’s NCAA Division I basketball and raked in $3.1 million in college for her NIL deals.
Clark was selected by the Indiana Fever with the first pick of the 2024 WNBA Draft. Her salary with the team is $76,535. She has also signed several endorsement deals with some top companies including Nike, State Farm, Gatorade, Bose, and H&R Block. Her Nike deal is reportedly worth $28 million over eight years, the same amount Flagg made in two NIL deals during one year at Duke.
