Why, even in the NIL era, Cooper Flagg shouldn't return to Duke

Duke students who serenaded Cooper Flagg with chants of “one more year” on Monday should prepare to be disappointed.

Even in the NIL era, the celebrated freshman would be sacrificing tens of millions of dollars if he returned to college for his sophomore year.

Flagg is the runaway favorite to be selected No. 1 overall in this year’s NBA Draft. Under the NBA rookie salary scale, he could earn as much as $13.8 million during his debut season in the league, Spotrac NBA salary-cap analyst Keith Smith told Yahoo Sports.

The rest of Flagg’s rookie deal, according to Smith, could pay him as much as $14.5 million in Year 2, $15.2 million in Year 3 and $19.2 million in Year 4. Then he’d be eligible for…