Unintended Consequences: NIL And Euroball

European talent is flocking to the NCAA’s deeper pockets

You guys probably recall the surprise when we all learned just how much Cooper Flagg made this past season at Duke, around $28 million.

He’s an outlier of course, but the trend is unmistakable: income is going up across the board.

That’s a bit of problem and not just for the NCAA. Turns out it’s causing a global...well, let’s call it a game drain.

What’s happening, in essence, is that NCAA players are suddenly making a lot more money than international players, and the employers of said international players don't like it one bit.

Philippe Ausseur, the President of France’s National Basketball League, calls it looting, saying this:

“Given the number of players approached, about fifteen of whom have signed up, we can call it looting. The colleges are casting their net wide, even in Pro B, and are dispossessing us of a certain number of our key players without us being able to react.

“What took us by surprise were the amounts. We were expecting big contracts worth $350,000, but it’s $2 million...We were expecting half a dozen players to be approached, but it’s more than triple that...We’ve heard of agents trying to get clubs to sign certificates to demonstrate that their players are still amateurs. The situation remains unclear.”

Well first of all, looting seems like a very Gallic response to competition. Secondly, they didn’t complain when sub-NBA American players left college ball for European paychecks.

All that said, he does have a point: in a very short period of time, the NCAA has emerged as the second-best league in the world, the money keeps getting better and there are some real perks: you can get an education if you want, you get access to first-class coaching, facilities, training, nutrition and equipment. And you’re on TV all the time and thus on the NBA’s radar.

And while this appears to be less of a problem than it was in recent years, at least in Europe, there was a time when players spent way too much time trying to get paid. This has apparently been a problem for American players in China too. It’s less likely to be the case for NCAA players, which could also be a factor.