Truth Behind The Meme: Cooper Flagg Rookie Contract

There is a meme circulating across social media explaining how Cooper Flagg may be able to sign a rookie contract worth nearly $80 million per year. Though he is still an amateur, his professional future has people quite excited. His talent was on full display in exhibitions against the USA Olympic basketball team.

The meme in question is misleading. In order to fully understand the truth, and nothing but the truth regarding the meme, it needs to be completely broken down. There are multiple layers to the meme, and they are exposed in their entirety below.

Increase In The Salary Cap

One of the details that accompanies the meme is that the salary is contingent upon a steady increase in the league salary cap. The exact figure is 10% per year until 2028. The cap only went up 3.3% from last season to this season, so the 10% figure appears to be a number pulled out of a hat to fit a narrative.

Not A Rookie Contract

NBA rookies have a salary cap within the salary cap. The number one pick in the 2024 NBA Draft will make $10 million per year, which is up roughly 3% over the 2023 top pick. Even if the rookie cap increases the make-believe number of 10% per year over the next four years, that would put the 2028 first-overall pick in line for a contract worth around $15 million per year. That's a far cry from $80 million.

The number being thrown around is referring to a rookie contract extension. That is the extension a player can sign after his initial 4-year rookie deal. The Detroit Pistons and 2021 top pick Cade Cunningham just agreed to a rookie contract extension of five years and $224 million. If Cunningham makes an All-NBA team this year (the final year of his rookie deal), his max extension becomes a supermax extension worth north of Anthony Edwards's $260 million supermax contract.

Anyone (Not Just Cooper Flagg) Qualifies

Assuming Cooper Flagg makes an All-NBA team in his first four seasons, and assuming the salary cap goes up 10% per year, then he will qualify for a supermax extension worth nearly $80 million per year. That number could be more or less depending on the actual inflation of the cap.

The craziest part of the meme though, is that anybody drafted in 2025 will have the same opportunity to get the supermax extension. That's the most misleading part of the meme. It doesn't say Dylan Harper or Ace Bailey can get that contract. It only mentions Flagg. It is highly likely that he will be the top pick next summer, but he won't be the only pick. Every player selected in the first round is in the same boat as him.

Maybe the thing that's the most frustrating about these sorts of memes is that people read them like headlines in the Wall Street Journal. They are believed to be facts by people too lazy to research the truth. Nobody needs the truth nowadays though. Post a picture with a lie on social media, and anyone can get a million clicks.