ESPN: Cooper Flagg Staying at Duke Could Cost Him Up to $125M in NBA Contract Earnings

Should Duke superstar freshman Cooper Flagg make the surprising decision to return to school for his sophomore season rather than entering the 2025 NBA draft, it could potentially cost him north of $100 million in future earnings.

According to ESPN's Bobby Marks (h/t ESPN's Jonathan Givony and Jeremy Woo), returning to school for another year would delay the start of his service clock with regard to his second and third NBA contracts.

Since a player becomes eligible for a supermax contract once they reach 10 years of NBA service, it behooves a player to be as young as possible when they enter the league, as it increases their chances of still being in their prime at the 10-year mark.

If Flagg were to enter the 2026 draft rather than 2025, he would be a year older upon reaching the 10-year mark, which conceivably makes it more likely that he suffers a significant injury or experiences a drop-off in play before then.

Taking all of those factors into account, Marks estimated that forgoing the 2025 draft could cost Flagg between $75 million and $125 million in salary later in his career.

Before collegiate athletes were allowed to be paid for the use of their name, image and likeness, entering the draft likely would have been an easy decision for Flagg.

However, since top college athletes make big money these days, Flagg would still do well financially if he decided to return to Duke for the 2025-26 season.

Per On3.com, Flagg has the second-highest NIL valuation of any current college athlete at $4.8 million.

It is easy to see why Flagg is in such high demand, as he more than lived up to his billing as the top recruit in college basketball.

Flagg led the top-ranked Blue Devils to a 31-3 record, and he led the team in almost every major statistical category with 18.9 points, 7.5 rebounds, 4.1 assists, 1.5 steals and 1.2 blocks per game.

He is among the top candidates to win the National College Player of the Year Award, and he is the biggest reason why Duke is favored to win the national championship.

Flagg has missed the Blue Devils' past two games due to an ankle injury, but he is set to return Friday when No. 1-seeded Duke faces No. 16-seeded Mount St. Mary's in the first round of the NCAA tournament.

Regardless of how the rest of the season plays out for Flagg and the Blue Devils, he figures to be the clear-cut No. 1 overall pick in the 2025 NBA draft should he enter it.