2024 No. 1 recruit Cooper Flagg's On3 NIL Valuation rises following Duke commitment
Cooper Flagg ended his recruitment on Monday morning.
The nation’s top-ranked prospect in the class of 2024 announced his commitment to Duke on the cover of SLAM magazine, a smart marketing move to amplify the moment. The Five-Star Plus+ small forward is expected to be a lottery pick in the 2025 NBA draft.
Duke, UConn and Kansas emerged as the three contenders in his recruitment earlier this fall. Flagg visited Storrs in late September, then canceled his trip to visit Bill Self and the Jayhawks. A trip to Duke last weekend for the Blue Devils’ Countdown to Craziness event appeared to seal the deal, delivering a major recruiting win for Jon Scheyer.
“After I got on campus, I really started to envision myself in Durham,” Flagg said in a commitment video with SLAM. “All the love I felt made me really excited, seeing all the Crazies and the atmosphere in Cameron. I’m honored that I have the opportunity to join the brotherhood.”
The media exposure combined with committing to a historic brand like his Duke has increased his On3 NIL Valuation by $21,000. The 6-foot-8 forward now has an $893,000 On3 NIL Valuation, which ranks No. 2 in the high school basketball rankings only trailing Bryce James ($1.2 million).
Flagg saw a noticeable bump in his social media following, too. The nation’s top recruit has added roughly 23,000 followers across Instagram, TikTok and X since Monday. His Instagram post with SLAM has been liked nearly 225,000 times.
The Duke commit’s valuation is also No. 29 in the On3 NIL 100, the first of its kind and defacto NIL ranking of the top 100 high school and college athletes ranked by their On3 NIL Valuation.
Cooper Flagg already using platform for good
While Monday was a day to celebrate his commitment to one of the nation’s top basketball programs, Flagg took the opportunity to give back. Along with limited-edition covers, SLAM and the Five-Star Plus+ prospect dropped a string of T-shirts to celebrate the moment.
A portion of the proceeds from the shirts are going to the Lewiston-Auburn Response Fund, which was created to address current and emerging needs associated with the mass shooting in Maine last week.
While he played at basketball powerhouse Montverde Academy in Florida last season, Flagg is from Newport, Maine, which is about an hour from Lewiston. A product of Maine, his mother, Kelly, played basketball at the University of Maine in the 1990s.
“All of our focus should be on supporting the victims, their families, and law enforcement — everything else can wait,” Cooper Flagg wrote on X on Thursday night. “My heart is with Maine.”
NIL deals won’t be hard to find at Duke
Flagg averaged 9.8 points, 5.2 rebounds, and three assists per game in his first season at Montverde. He also led Nike’s EYBL E16 Circuit in points (26.9) and blocks (4.5) during the regular season with Maine United.
Already tabbed as a lottery pick in the 2025 NBA draft, he’ll likely be a one-and-done. But in the one season he spends at Duke, he’ll have no problem finding business opportunities.
“In recent history, Duke has done arguably the best job of cultivating the brands of high-profile high school athletes before they become lottery picks in the NBA draft,” Jordan Gazdik, a sports business consultant for StonebriarX, told On3 about Flagg’s marketability. “The structure of their organization, professionalism, resources, and on-court success allow for someone like Flagg to become who he wants to be off the court.
“Duke was the first Power 5 basketball program to higher a general manager that will strategically oversee the business development of their athletes, they have classes on social media brand development and a very deep rolodex of alumni.”
About the On3 NIL Valuation
The On3 NIL Valuation is the industry’s leading index that sets the standard market NIL value for high school and college athletes. A proprietary algorithm, the On3 NIL Valuation calculates an athlete’s NIL value using dynamic data points targeting three primary categories: performance, influence and exposure.
About On3 NIL Valuation, Brand Value, Roster Value
While the algorithm includes deal data, it does not act as a tracker of the value of NIL deals athletes have completed to date, nor does it set an athlete’s NIL valuation for their entire career.
The On3 NIL Valuation accounts for an athlete’s roster value and brand value. Roster value is the value an athlete has by being a member of his or her team at his or her school, which factors into the role of NIL collectives. Brand value factors in an athlete’s personal brand and the value it could bring to regional and national brands outside of the scope of NIL collectives.