Cooper Flagg’s summer has been anything but ordinary for a 17-year-old. Then again, he is the nation’s top high school boys basketball recruit who’ll likely play only one season at Duke before becoming the No. 1 overall pick of the 2025 NBA Draft.
The consensus National High School Player of the Year backed up all of the hype rising around him last month, when he torched Team USA in a pre-Olympics scrimmage in Las Vegas. And now, before playing a single second of college basketball, the uber-talented 6-foot-9 forward has his own shoe deal.
On Monday, New Balance announced that it had signed Flagg as one of its signature athletes with a signature shoe likely to follow. He joins NBA stars Kawhi Leonard and Jamal Murray and WNBA rookie Cameron Brink on the company’s hoops roster.
New Balance benefited from a home-court advantage with Flagg. Its manufacturing plant in Skowhegan, Maine, is about 25 miles from where he grew up in Newport. Flagg and his family regularly visited the factory store.
In its promotional video announcing the partnership with Flagg, New Balance shot the ad in Flagg’s hometown.
Cooper Flagg, The Intelligent Choice. pic.twitter.com/JvvvMM9lfm
— New Balance (@newbalance) August 26, 2024
“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,” Flagg said in a statement. “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 is the second college athlete to land a signature shoe deal. Connecticut women’s basketball star Paige Bueckers became the first to do so last year after signing an NIL deal with Nike.