July 1, 2021. That was the date when the NIL laws were implemented. They helped athletes cash on their brand value and bear their training expenses while still in high school or college. However, the laws differed from state to state and some states didn’t allow the athletes to take advantage of the NIL deals. And Cooper Flagg was one of the athletes deprived of such earnings from a potential NIL deal.

But, it was not long before the hooping enthusiasts came to compare his valuation with that of LeBron James‘ son Bryce James who took complete benefit of NIL and displayed a lucrative valuation as a high schooler. Let’s take a look into why Flagg was deprived of his earnings.

Why was Cooper Flagg deprived of NIL?

Flagg was born in Newport, Maine, and chose Nokomis Regional as his high school. Despite being a freshman he was able to get a worthy NIL valuation. He averaged 20.5 points per game with 10 rebounds per game. He reached a milestone as he was the first freshman to win the Maine Gatorade Player of the Year award. All this helped, Flagg make a major earning and be a popular name in the balling circles.

At the end of his freshman year, Flagg decided to change schools. He transferred to the Montverde Academy in Florida. But the biggest disadvantage in Florida was that they didn’t allow high school athletes to use their NIL. The law changed recently in early June when the Florida High School Athletic Association ended its prohibitions against high school athletes. Thus, athletes could now enjoy their NIL from the start of the 2024-25 season.

But now Flagg has passed out of high school and will be plying his trade for the Duke Blue Devils where he can make use of his NIL as he is in college. But as mentioned that wasn’t the case earlier and Flagg who has an NIL valuation of $1.4 million would have had a difficult time since he wasn’t able to utilize the money he had gained through sweat blood and tears, unlike Bryce James.

How does Cooper Flagg’s NIL compare to that of Bryce James?

Flagg currently holds an NIL valuation of $1.4 million, as per On3. He is ranked at the top among college basketball athletes. Plus, he occupies the seventh spot in the NIL 100. Flagg has close to 774K on Instagram whereas on TikTok he has 39K fans. Meanwhile, on X, he has a cumulative 21.3K fans.

On the other hand, Bryce James studied at Sierra Canyon and Notre Dame both of which are situated in California. The California government had already enacted the NIL law and hence Bryce has been able to cash in on his potential. Bryce has an NIL valuation of $1.2 million and is ranked atop the high school basketball athletes. Meanwhile, he is placed at the fifteenth position in the NIL 100 with 1.9 M followers.

Now that Flagg has progressed to college, he would happily use his NIL. Hopefully, he will continue his on-song performances and also market himself well. This could lead to Flagg cashing in on more money and maybe someday he will be able to compete against the record NIL valuation of Bryce’s elder brother Bronny James.

Stay tuned for more such updates, and to follow what Shaq’s ex-agent, Leonard Armato, has to say about the infamous Shaq-Kobe feud, Caitlin Clark’s Olympic snub, and more, watch this video.