Nothing benefits a partnership more than authenticity. Today, Cooper Flagg and New Balance have announced a partnership rooted in community and values. Flagg, the projected first-overall pick in the 2025 NBA Draft is fresh off participation on the Team USA Men’s Select team as the first non-NBA athlete to be honored with a selection since Doug McDermott and Marcus Smart in 2013. Unlike McDermot and Smart this honor came before he played one minute for his collegiate program, the home of many great one-and-dones, Duke.
Flagg is a native of Newport Maine, located only 25 miles from New Balance’s Skowhegan manufacturing plant. New Balance was a persistent influence in his Northeastern home and was a foundational part of his childhood. In fact, Flagg’s mother would bring his family to Skowhegan once a year for the New Balance tent sale to buy a pair of shoes and a backpack for the upcoming school year.
In Flaggs words, the partnership is meaningful well beyond the NIL payout: “I grew up wearing New Balance, and I appreciate their authentic connection to my community. The focus and growth of the brand in basketball and our shared values and history drew me in. From day one, it was clear that this would be a family-like partnership. I’m so excited to join this family and help them grow the category with young athletes.”
Flagg will be a centerpiece of New Balance’s storytelling. According to a press release from New Balance, “In addition to featuring in New Balance basketball marketing campaigns, Cooper will also work with the brand across lifestyle extensions and community initiatives, focusing on programs giving back to young athletes.”
The collaboration between Flagg and New Balance is without a doubt genuine, however, one notable element is missing from the partnership, a shoe deal. Unfortunately for Flagg, college athletes are not able to leverage shoe-partnerships in the same way professional athletes have the freedom to pursue. Institutional contracts with exclusive apparel providers cover footwear and athletes are bound to wear the brand chosen by their school.
Duke has partnered with Nike to be the exclusive provider of athletic apparel since 1992 and it appears that there is little chance of the partnership not existing in perpetuity. With the current contract in place until 2027, there is virtual certainty that Flagg will be a Nike athlete, at least when he takes the court for the Blue Devils.
With on-court and on-foot New Balance activations off the table for the 2024-25 season, Flagg’s future apparel partnership decision will be interesting as he enters the NBA. Will he stay with New Balance to be a footwear partner and join the ranks of Kawhi Leonard, Jamal Murray, Tyreese Maxey, and others? Or will another company attempt to poach him prior to his pro debut in 2025. One thing is for certain, Flagg will have no shortage of suitors and no shortage of money being flashed his way.
