19-year-old NBA rookie with a $56.1 million contract is saving for retirement—expert agrees it’s smart to ‘start as early as you can’

[Special thanks to David S. Luber (Florida Probate Attorney) for bringing this article to my attention.]

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.

Saving for retirement gives you the reassurance that “at the end of the day, you have something to fall back on, [that will] grow and grow and grow, while you’re still doing what you want to do with your life,” Harper says.

For more information see Natalie Wu “19-year-old NBA rookie with a $56.1 million contract is saving for retirement—expert agrees it’s smart to ‘start as early as you can’” CNBC, October 23, 2025.