Young basketball players can earn millions in the USA and wait to move to the NBA – this promotes chaos at the colleges

There are only a few athletes from this remote region in the northeastern United States who can work their way into the world's best basketball league. And their names are known, at best, only in their home country. Maine may be three times the size of Switzerland, but it has only one-seventh of its population and lacks the infrastructure to develop promising talent.

Even the best young player the state has ever produced would likely have been unlikely to make it. But in 2022, Cooper Flagg's ambitious parents put everything on the line and moved from the 3,000-person town of Newport to Orlando, Florida, home to one of the best boarding schools for young basketball players.

Two years later, after winning the US school championship, a guest appearance on the American junior national team, passing his high school diploma and transferring to the basketball-mad Duke University in North Carolina, it was clear that the effort had been worth it for the family.

Although just 17 years old, Cooper Flagg was a made man thanks to his talents. The endorsement deals his agent had arranged, including with a renowned athletic shoe manufacturer, earned the teenager a gross annual income of nearly $5 million as a college player—enough to comfortably support the entire family.

Flagg isn't the first to monetize his skills in college sports in recent years. But he is the first basketball player who could comfortably afford to give the NBA the cold shoulder. Otherwise, he probably wouldn't have announced in February that he wanted to return next season, back to Duke, the team with whom he lost in the semifinals of the college championship shortly thereafter.

However, he recently changed his mind and declared himself eligible for the NBA's junior draft, which gives teams the opportunity to fill their rosters with up-and-coming talent. Few doubt that Flagg will be the first player selected and soon have his chance in the NBA. The versatile white basketball player is predicted to have a career similar to that of exceptional Black players like LeBron James or Michael Jordan.

Flagg leaves behind a world in which, until not so long ago, even the best players could be forced to play solely for the honor of their educational institution. There were scholarships, but no honorarium. Nor was there the opportunity to earn extra income. Although the popular college sports of football and basketball generate billions through ticket sales, television licenses, and merchandising, the athletes had to accept an age-old amateur rule.

The regulations were overturned by the highest court ten years ago as an illegal cartel, which opened the way for the target group of around 100,000 students at more than 250 universities to present themselves and any advertising partners using platforms on social networks such as Instagram, YouTube or Tiktok.

Due to current regulations, educational institutions still do not pay so-called "student athletes" any compensation. Financial compensation is provided behind the scenes by wealthy and influential fans – usually graduates of the respective university – who lure the athletes with lavish offers.

But that's not the only reason the situation resembles a madhouse. "It seems chaotic," says Victor Matheson, an economist and professor at Holy Cross University in Worcester, Massachusetts, and an expert on sports. Because anyone who wants to make more money elsewhere can leave the educational institution once a year and find somewhere else to live.

In contrast to the American professional leagues, it's an operation without any regulatory authority and without transparency – something that may soon change. "Starting next year, universities will be able to pay students directly," says Matheson. "In ten years at the latest, this will look like a completely normal job market."

But until then, uncertainty will grow. Especially among the coaches. They enjoyed enormous authority under the old rules and used this to boost their salaries to as much as ten million dollars a year.

Today, men like Dan Hurley must realize how powerless they are. The University of Connecticut coach had led his team to the championship in 2023 and 2024, but after this year's relatively early exit, he lost half his roster in one fell swoop. The defectors knew how much they could earn by transferring universities after talking to their new team's coaches.

The situation seems even more confusing when you consider the situation for women. While they also benefit from the new conditions. Top female athletes, for example, earn up to $1.5 million annually from endorsement contracts, they lack attractive prospects in the professional field, unlike figures like Cooper Flagg, who will earn $16 million in his first year in the NBA.

The WNBA is no paradise. It strictly caps wages and doesn't give even crowd-pleasers like Caitlin Clark more than a handout. According to reports, Clark earned just one percent of her income in her first professional season with the Indiana Fever in 2024. Whether a new collective bargaining agreement, which is scheduled to be negotiated at the end of the year, will significantly change these circumstances is currently unclear.

At least America's professional women's basketball players now have a bargaining chip in their pocket. This spring, they launched a 3-on-3 league called "Unrivaled," secured a multi-year television contract, and an attractive financial injection from investors. This gives the players, who previously had to play in Europe or Asia in the winter to make ends meet, an alternative for the first time. Salaries for the eight-week season are $220,000 gross each.