Expectations could not be higher for Cooper Flagg as he enters the NBA as an 18-year-old phenom. His one-and-done season at Duke went swimmingly, he capitalized on his brand name by signing a deal with New Balance, and he will be the franchise star of the Dallas Mavericks.
Basketball is the main focus for Flagg. It always has been. He’s been drilled to be an athlete first, and it showed during the NBA Draft Lottery night, when he refused to answer questions about the Mavericks, playing a politically correct role despite knowing he was heading to Dallas. Flagg is fully expected to shine on the court, but he could have a massive impact off the court as well.
New Balance is surely seeing it that way. They splashed the cash on a $13 million NIL deal with Flagg while he was at Duke. Now that Flagg is the talk of the NBA, New Balance is in the conversation as a power player in the league. The shoe and clothing company known more for their lifestyle sneakers has made a big push in recent years to try to splinter the basketball market, which is dominated by Nike and Adidas.
Cooper Flagg has a special connection to New Balance
With Flagg on board, they very well may be able to pull it off. Kawhi Leonard could have been that guy for New Balance, but injuries and a generally reserved personality didn’t make him the superstar for the company they thought he could be. Flagg has something other athletes don’t, too: home ties to the organization. Forbes’ Justin Birnbaum outlined this in a recent article ahead of the 2025 NBA Draft.
But while the Boston-based New Balance, which posted $7.8 billion in revenue last year, could hardly match the resources of Nike ($51 billion in 2024 revenue) or Adidas ($26 billion), it did have one edge over the competition. Flagg grew up in Newport, Maine, about 25 miles east of the privately held New Balance’s manufacturing facility in Skowhegan, and the now-18-year-old phenom tells Forbes he still remembers shopping with his mom at the factory’s annual tent sale for backpacks, clothes and sneakers every school year.
That connection made the relationship an easy one. It also allows Flagg to work extremely closely with the company when he’s back home. Having a special place in his heart for New Balance, it could lead to some incredible collaborations in the future, including his first signature shoe.
With big-time players in other sports on board with New Balance, including Shohei Ohtani and Coco Gauff, the company has bet big on specific athletes. Flagg could be the one to take them to a whole new level in a space that’s crowded.
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