Duke Basketball Sensation Cooper Flagg Spurns Nike And Adidas For New Balance In Shock Move

Getty Image / Ethan Miller

Duke University freshman Cooper Flagg is as well-known of an American basketball product has been in quite some time. The pride of Maine is the complete package as a small forward, and looks destined for NBA stardom after he spends, presumably, one year at Duke.

With college athletes having NIL rights, they can sign shoe deals before going pro. Flagg was pursued by all the major companies, and his decision to sign with New Balance is coming as a complete shock.

The decision was announced on social media Monday.

Historically, New Balance has not been a player in the basketball shoe market. But, they’re making huge investments to change that recently. They’ve signed Jamal Murray, Zach Lavine, Dejounte Murray, and Tyrese Maxey recently to boost their brand and offerings.

Even though Cooper Flagg has not played a single minute in the NBA so far, he is still by far the most high-profile addition for New Balance. It makes some sense when you consider that New Balance has a manufacturing plant in Maine, and Flagg likely grew up around the company. Even with that connection, it was still considered a surprise by most.

Before even playing a minute of college hoops, Flagg has over 800k followers on Instagram, a pretty impressive tally. And, his play this summer with the Team USA Select Team that helped the gold medal-winning USA Basketball Olympic Team get ready for the Olympics only increased the hype for a player who originally was not supposed to graduate high school until next year.

At 6-foot-9, Flagg can pretty much do it all. He’s got elite athleticism and competitiveness, features excellent basketball IQ instilled by his mom who served as his basketball coach, is a fantastic defender, and has a burgeoning offensive game that can put the ball in the basket in a variety of ways. Right now, his jumper needs improvement, but he has good mechanics and there’s no reason it won’t improve.

Interestingly enough, Duke is famously a Nike school, which is why some thought Nike had the upper hand when it came to signing Cooper Flagg. It remains to be seen how his New Balance deal will tie in with Duke being a Nike school.

All in all, New Balance has signed the player they think can take them to the next level in the sneaker game.