At 19 years old, NBA rookie Dylan Harper’s professional basketball career is just beginning. He’s also starting to save for his retirement.
Harper, the second pick in the 2025 NBA Draft, is investing at least some of his reported $56.1 million four-year rookie contract with the San Antonio Spurs as part of a paid campaign with financial services company Prudential, he tells CNBC Make It.
The decision to take the deal was a “no brainer,” he says. “The importance of investing in your life and all your hard work was the biggest thing for me.”
Before the Prudential partnership, Harper — who has inked name, image and likeness deals with companies including Nike, Red Bull and Fanatics — says he had never actually put any of his money away for retirement.
As a high schooler, he remembers spending “a little too much” of his first couple NIL paychecks on basketball video game NBA 2K. Now, he says his priorities have changed, and he wants other young adults to follow suit.
