Having LeBron James as your father won’t always help you. Bryce James can confirm this. Now NIL has really transformed things for high school and college athletes, and Cooper Flagg is one such person. The Blue Devil, who once trailed behind Bryce in NIL, saw massive growth after he signed with the ‘Creative Artists Agency’. He slowly took over Bryce, who was stationed at $1.2 million.

As Flagg’s NIL gathered pace, he saw a bump of another $1.1 million on Thursday. While the exact reason for this growth is not known, could the NBA be responsible for this? Projected as the number one pick in the 2025 NBA mock draft, teams would be looking to grab him in the subsequent seasons. He was previously at $1.5 million after he overtook Bryce, but now his NIL valuation sits at $2.6 million.

Considered by many as Zion Williamson’s successor, the chants of his name have amplified in the balling circuits already.

As reported by On3, Flagg’s NIL value reached $1.4 million this year when he signed with the CAA. It was the first time he was eclipsing Bryce, who had an NIL value of $1.2 million. Flagg then signed with New Balance in August, which propelled him to touch the $1.5 million mark. At that time, Bryce could only manage a growth of $125K to inch closer to the $1.3 million mark. From that point onwards, Bryce has been stagnant despite LeBron James indirectly promoting him.

In fact, AJ Dybantsa surpassed him to snatch his crown in the high school circuit, with a NIL valuation of $1.9 million.

Current High School Basketball NIL rankings (top-5):

A major part of Bryce’s NIL stems from the fact that he is LeBron James‘ son. Bryce has one of the highest followings on social media platforms in high school (around 3.4 million), and a lot of basketball fans first noticed him because of his father. In fact, in December 2022, when Bronny and Bryce signed NIL deals with Klutch Sports, people knew that LeBron James’s influence was present. After all, Klutch Sports was founded by James’ friend and agent Rich Paul.

Not only that, in a recent interview when Bryce exclaimed that he could defeat his dad in a 1v1, the Chosen One kept mum, subtly hyping his child. But Flagg seems to be constantly moving forward as compared to his rival, Bryce.

Cooper Flagg made all the right moves!

Back in 2023, we got to know that he was reclassified to the 2024 high school class from the 2025 class. What this meant was it would be his last year at Montverde Academy before enrolling for college and at the college level, he seems to be doing great.

Current College Basketball NIL rankings (top-5):

But when he was in high school, he was Bryce’s rival. In 2023, Cooper Flagg and Bryce James faced each other during the Nike EYBL event. However, it was Flagg who received a lot of attention because of his skills and gave a highlight reel-worthy performance.

Flagg even won MVP at the NBPA Top 100 camp last year and Prolific Prep coach Ryan Bernardi once looked at Flagg’s skills and said, “Cooper is just a very, very tough guy to actually pass.”

At Nike’s Peach Jam last year, LeBron James, who was coaching Bryce and sat courtside, waited for Flagg to give him a hug and a few words of advice. That’s the kind of frenzy he has caused. Flagg, Cameron Boozer, and Dybantsa really stood out during Nike’s Peach Jam. But the only other player who drew comparable attention was Bryce.

Now it might be a while before we can see them face each other again. What do you think?