One college basketball insider blasted a rumor of Duke’s NIL deals with future NBA prospect Cooper Flagg on his podcast.
Cooper Flagg’s Alleged Deal Compared to Caitlin Clark’s Nike Deal By Aaron Torres
College basketball star Cooper Flagg’s future appears to be in the NBA as the presumptive number one draft pick. But a recent report about his NIL (Name, Image, and Likeness) deals while at Duke University has caught the attention of insider Aaron Torres, who ridiculed it on the latest episode of his podcast at the 47-minute mark.
Torres cited a post on X, formerly Twitter, from Legion Hoops which claimed that Flagg reportedly made over $28 million in NIL deals. “When I saw that, I was genuinely blown away by A),” he began, “how many people don’t understand context, or two, how many believed it as factually correct. Well I’m here to tell you, it is the dumbest NIL story I’ve ever seen…it’s not factually correct, it sort of is but it isn’t factually correct.”
Torres continued, “Okay, so let’s just pretend that there’s a scenario where this Cooper Flagg thing could be real. So I went and looked it up, to see “Okay, what are realistic NIL numbers for athletes?” He soon came across former Iowa Hawkeyes basketball star guard Caitlin Clark. “Caitlin Clark signed a $28 million, eight-year deal with Nike. This is after she left college. Caitlin Clark signed for $3.5 million a year. Great money…but it ain’t $28 million.
“Zion Williamson…this was after his season at Duke, signed a five-year, $75 million deal. That’s $15 million a year. Again, not $28 million,” Torres said, adding: “Again, this is what annoyed me because nobody understood the context. And the context was very, very, very simple. The context was this…the contracts signed while you’re at Duke, the totality of them don’t mean that you made all that money while you’re at Duke.”
He would go on to illustrate his point, referencing a quote from a conversation between writer Howard Bryant and iconic sports host Bob Costas where Bryant stated that Flagg had a $13 million deal with New Balance and a $15 million deal with Fanatics. Torres asked how no one accounted for Flagg being in an AT&T commercial that ran during the NCAA Men’s Tournament or what he might’ve received from the collective at Duke.
Torres concluded by conceding that Flagg might’ve made some substantial money during his freshman season with the Blue Devils, but not that reported amount. He also stated that we could see a top prospect declare for the NBA Draft and then return back to college for the NIL deal.
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