Late in the first half of Duke’s recent game against Georgia Tech, Blue Devils star Cooper Flagg suffered an ankle sprain so gruesome that he had to be helped off the court in a wheelchair. Five years ago, losing college basketball’s biggest draw to a heart-stopping injury on the eve of the NCAA Tournament would have had Duke fans death-spiraling along with the game’s corporate stakeholders. So why do those fans seem so relieved?
For one thing, it looks as if the freshman will be fit for Duke’s first-round game on Friday. For another, he could be at Duke for a while yet: a scary injury is no longer a spur for talented college players to turn professional and make money while they still can. That all changed in July 2021, when the NCAA allowed college athletes to profit from their name, image and likeness (NIL), and make money while they’re still students. By letting go of one of its foundational tenets (the notion that “amateurs” should not be paid), the NCAA now has its member schools scrambling to build sponsorship war chests to lure top talent. The athletes, for so long the biggest losers in the NCAA’s billion-dollar amateur system, are finally making gains, meaning they are less inclined to turn professional as soon as possible.
