Duke freshman ahead Cooper Flagg, the projected Refuse. 1 pick out within the 2025 NBA Draft, has signed a trade in with Brandnew Steadiness, the attire corporate introduced Monday.
The trade in — which used to be first reported via ESPN — will form Flagg one among Brandnew Steadiness’s signature athletes, most likely together with a signature shoe. Flagg joins Kawhi Leonard, Jamal Murray and WNBA rookie Cameron Verge of collapse as one among Brandnew Steadiness’s basketball headliners.
“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 stated in a remark. “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.”
Cooper Flagg, The Clever Selection. pic.twitter.com/JvvvMM9lfm
— Brandnew Steadiness (@newbalance) August 26, 2024
Opting for Brandnew Steadiness wasn’t only a skilled choice for Flagg, however a private one, too: the reigning Gatorade Nationwide Participant of the Moment and five-star hire grew up simply 25 miles from Brandnew Steadiness’s production plant in Skowhegan, Maine.
Ahead of each and every brandnew college moment, Flagg’s mom Kelly took him and his dual brother Ace to the manufacturing unit’s annual tent sale, the place they’d purchase a brandnew pair of shoes and backpack. To advertise Monday’s announcement, the corporate even shot promotional content material with Flagg in his fatherland of Newport, Maine.
“Cooper adds so much to our basketball roster, and we’re thrilled to welcome him to the New Balance family,” Naveen Lokesh, Brandnew Steadiness’s head of basketball sports activities advertising and marketing, stated in a remark. “He is a force to be reckoned with on the court, and we look forward to building our relationship as he grows the game and supporting him in all endeavors.”
Ahead of latter season, Connecticut girls’s megastar Paige Bueckers was the primary faculty athlete with their very own signature shoe trade in, upcoming she signed an NIL oath with Nike. Now Flagg is the second one, regardless of no longer having performed a unmarried modest for the Blue Devils.
Past some faculty athletes have partnered with attire corporations within the NIL time — Adidas signed 15 feminine collegians in the summertime of 2022, for instance, together with the fiftieth yearly of Name IX — it’s nonetheless a relative shortage earmarked for sports activities’ summit emerging stars.
Flagg suits that mould, despite the fact that he’s but to seem in faculty. In spite of reclassifying as much as 2024, the 6-foot-9 ahead maintained the Refuse. 1 recruiting score within the magnificence, and is predicted to govern Duke in Jon Scheyer’s 3rd season as head professor. Duke is Refuse. 6 in The Athletic’s preseason top-25 ratings.
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(Photograph: Ethan Miller / Getty Photographs)
