Cooper Flagg, the highly touted freshman on the Duke men’s basketball team, has signed a NIL contract with New Balance. The 2024 Gatorade National Player of the Year from Newport, Maine, is the latest addition to the footwear brand’s growing basketball division, which includes prominent NBA talents such as Kawhi Leonard and Tyrese Maxey.
Flagg, the nation’s top high school prospect, averaged 16.5 points, 7.5 rebounds, 3.8 assists, 3.7 steals and 3.7 blocks per game last year for Montverde Academy (Maine). Like Zion Williamson, another standout prep phenom turned Blue Devil, Flagg is also considered a potential top pick in the 2025 NBA Draft.
Flagg grew up 25 miles from the company’s manufacturing facility in Skowhegan, Maine, which connects the commitment to a childhood connection. “I grew up with New Balance and appreciate their authentic connection to my community,” Flagg said in a press release. “I was drawn to the brand’s focus and growth in basketball, as well as our shared values and history. From day one, it was clear that this would be a family-like partnership. I’m thrilled to join this family and help them grow the category with young athletes.”
New Balance has also branched out beyond its running and cross-training shoes in recent years. Leonard signed with the brand in 2018 and the company has since built a solid roster of NBA talent with Maxey, Zach Lavine, Jamal Murray, Darius Garland and Dejounte Murray.
“It’s a testament to the strength of the brand over the past few years and a symbol of where the basketball category is headed at New Balance,” said Naveen Lokesh, the company’s head of sports marketing for basketball, when asked what the signing of Flagg means for the basketball group. “Cooper joins an existing roster of basketball athletes that will drive New Balance’s continued growth in the basketball category and across the footwear industry.”
Duke, which did not immediately respond to Sportico’s request for comment, has a contract with Nike to be the exclusive supplier of uniforms, shoes, equipment and merchandise through 2027. Because of this, Flagg’s new marketing deal will not allow him to wear New Balance sneakers while playing for Duke.
Flagg is not the Boston-based company’s only major signing this summer. In July, New Balance signed a multi-year deal with the WNBA while also extending its collaboration with Los Angeles Sparks rookie Cameron Brink, who the brand signed to a NIL contract in 2023 while shining at Stanford.
The NIL contract is another accomplishment for 17-year-old Flagg, who was selected to train with the U.S. national basketball team as it prepared for the Paris Olympics, becoming the first college player (and first teenager) to be named to the team since 2013.
