What NCAA basketball players make the most money from NIL endorsements?
In 2021, the NCAA changed its rules to allow college athletes to earn money from their NIL. These are the highest-earning basketball players in 2025.
Before 2021, college athletes were not allowed to earn money based on their name, image, and likeness (NIL). Until then, the university they attended would keep any cash made off their athletes instead.
But the NCAA changed its policies after a Super Court decision in 2021, and now, students are allowed to profit off their likeness, and it’s completely shifted the power dynamics. In 2022, high school players were allowed to sign NIL contracts too. Now, there are players demanding minimum NIL deals to their schools.
NIL deals: what exactly are they?
Thanks to NIL deals, student athletes can now profit from their own brand, whether its through business ventures, partnerships, sponsorships, or endorsement deals.
NIL deals come in various formats, but they rarely involve a company working directly with an athlete. Rather, the company will work with a collective which organizes NIL deals on behalf of the athlete.
Sometimes, they’ll pay the athlete up front and take a percentage of future deals. Other times, players will get paid based on appearances, signings, and social media influence.
There are also group licensing deals, which allow a collective to sell the rights of multiple athletes from the same team, with the profits shared among them.
Top earning NCAA basketball players via NIL deals
While there are athletes of all types, from football to gymnastics, earning millions from NIL deals, in the spirit of March Madness, let’s take a look at the top-earning college basketball players by way of NIL.
It probably won’t surprise you to know that Duke’s freshman superstar, 18-year-old Cooper Flagg, is the top earner in NCAA basketball with an estimated NIL valuation of $4.8 million.
In the overall list of top-earning college athletes, he’s second only to Texas quarterback Arch Manning ($6.5 million). Here’s where he stands in comparison to other NCAA basketball players, according to On3’s latest updates.
| Player | School | Position | Estimated NIL Valuation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cooper Flagg | Duke | Forward | $4.8 million |
| AJ Dybantsa | Utah Prep high school - committed to BYU | Forward | $3.8 million |
| Braden Smith | Purdue | Guard | $1.9 million |
| Maxime Raynaud | Stanford | Forward | $1.8 million |
| PJ Haggerty | Memphis | Guard | $1.7 million |
| Dylan Harper | Rutgers | Guard | $1.6 million |
| Ace Bailey | Rutgers | Guard/Forward | $1.6 million |
| Kam Jones | Marquette | Guard | $1.6 million |
| Cameron Boozer | Columbus high school - committed to Duke | Power Forward | $1.6 million |
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