New Balance bets its basketball future on Cooper Flagg
New Balance needs a strong basketball business to achieve that goal and plans to invest more in the sport, said Naveen Lokesh, the brand's director of global basketball and football sports marketing.
Advertisement
'He'll be the only player that we have in this year's draft,' said Lokesh. 'That was on purpose. We didn't find anybody that aligned as much as Cooper.'
The Dallas Mavericks have the top pick and need help after a disastrous season in which the franchise traded away star player Luka Doncic and also sustained multiple injuries.
Flagg will enter the league after an electric freshman season. He won multiple player-of-the-year awards and led Duke to the Final Four of the NCAA Tournament. He has a much higher profile than recent top picks, who either played overseas or didn't have the same on-court success. (New Balance declined to make Flagg available for an interview for this story.)
Advertisement
NBA superstar LeBron James recently praised Flagg on his podcast, touting his athleticism and versatility. 'I think he's going to be amazing,' said James.
New Balance emerged as an unlikely winner in the courtship of Flagg. Nike, Adidas and at least one Chinese sportswear brand pitched Flagg and his family, according to a person familiar with the matter. Nike and Adidas didn't respond to requests for comment. Financial terms of his deal haven't been disclosed.
The company's executives began considering Flagg in late 2023, after the top high school star in the country announced on the cover of Slam magazine that he would play for Duke. Flagg, who's from a small town in Maine close to a New Balance factory, was immediately appealing to the Boston-based brand.
Flagg joined a roster led by two-time NBA champion Kawhi Leonard, who has a line of signature basketball shoes. Other endorsers include Jamal Murray, Darius Garland and Tyrese Maxey. The brand may one day develop a signature shoe for Flagg as well, said Lokesh.
It's been a complicated road for Flagg's New Balance deal so far. Flagg wore Nike sneakers throughout his college career because the brand has an agreement with Duke, and only started wearing New Balance on the court at the NBA Draft Combine in May.
Executives aren't discouraged by those complications. As part of the brand's basketball push, they plan to bring on more top young college basketball stars through name, image and likeness deals and try to identify future top picks.
Advertisement
'Cooper had his picking of all the major brands,' said Lokesh. 'We want to be known as the definitive choice for landing and having the best youth athletes in the world.'
Sign up for Bloomberg's Business of Sports newsletter for the context you need on the collision of power, money and sports, from the latest deals to the newest stakeholders.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Business Insider
an hour ago
- Business Insider
TikTok employees brace for more 'organizational and personnel changes'
TikTok employees are preparing for possible layoffs on Wednesday morning. The company told global e-commerce staff it would announce "organizational and personnel changes." The TikTok Shop team has had several rounds of layoffs this year. The changes would impact workers in the company's global e-commerce business, TikTok Shop, which has had several rounds of layoffs this year. "Over the past month, we have assessed how we can best support our evolving Global E-commerce business in alignment with our mission and evolving goals in the market," the company wrote in the memo. These changes come from "careful analysis of how to create more efficient operating models for the team's long-term growth," the company wrote. TikTok did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider. TikTok's US e-commerce team has been under scrutiny from leadership at its parent company, ByteDance, this year. The division's top executive told staff in a February all-hands call that the country failed to meet its performance goals in 2024. The division has faced new obstacles in 2025 after Trump hiked tariffs on China, where many of TikTok's global sellers are based. Weekly US order volume fell in mid-May compared to mid-April after tariffs went into effect, BI previously reported. The company has trimmed staff this year through a mix of layoffs and performance reviews, during which TikTok hasoffered some people a choice between performance-improvement plans or exits with severance. As US team members have left the company, leaders from China and Singapore with experience on TikTok's Chinese sister app, Douyin, have taken their place, staffers previously told BI. The organizational changes come amid broader uncertainty for TikTok's US team members. The company is negotiating with the Trump administration over a 2024 law that required ByteDance to divest from TikTok's US assets or face a potential ban. The uncertainty is taking its toll on one staffer who received the message Tuesday evening that their team would be impacted by the organizational changes. They spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not permitted to speak about the company, and their identity is known to BI.
Hamilton Spectator
an hour ago
- Hamilton Spectator
Guirassy scores twice and Dortmund advances at Club World Cup with 2-1 win over feisty Monterrey
ATLANTA (AP) — Serhou Guirassy scored a pair of first-half goals, both assisted by Karim Adeyemi, and Borussia Dortmund held off Monterrey 2-1 Tuesday night in the final round of 16 game at the Club World Cup. Guirassy drove a shot just inside the left post in the 14th minute, then sent another past keeper Esteban Andrada in the 24th when left unmarked from 15 yards at the top of the penalty area. Both times, it was Adeyemi delivering the pass that set up Guirassy, a native of France who plays for Guinea's national team. The 29-year-old striker has three goals in four tournament games and 37 across all competitions in his first season with Dortmund. Dortmund will face Real Madrid on Saturday at East Rutherford, New Jersey. The Spanish power advanced with a 1-0 victory over Italy's Juventus in an afternoon match. Jobe Bellingham received a yellow card in the 28th minute and will miss the match against Real – and his brother, former Dortmund star Jude Bellingham — because of yellow card accumulation. Rayados, cheered by a large contingent of flag-waving supporters in Atlanta, bounced back from the sluggish start to make a game of it. Less than three minutes into second half, a cross to the far post deflected off the head of a Dortmund defender before Érick Aguirre headed it back across the net to Germán Berterame, who headed it in to cut the deficit to a single goal. Using their speed to attack Dortmund vertically, Monterrey dominated the second half and had several chances to level the score. But the German team held on, despite the Mexican squad holding a 59% edge in possession and a 7-3 advantage in shots on goal. The late game drew a crowd of 31,442 at cavernous Mercedes-Benz Stadium, where the upper deck wasn't needed. But the sweltering U.S. heat wasn't an issue with the roof closed in Atlanta. American Gio Reyna did not play for the third time in four games at the Club World Cup, another sign that his tenure with Dortmund could be winding down. Key moment Dortmund started strongly, thanks to a nifty flick from Adeyemi at the top of the area that set up Guirassy's opening goal. Takeaways Dortmund's victory means five of the eight clubs in the quarterfinals are from Europe. Monterrey was the last club left from North America. They said it 'I think I could have scored three goals at least. But I'm happy I helped the team. The most important thing was to win the game.' — Guirassy. 'We played a fantastic game from the first minute to the last one. ... All the players who have been involved in the Premier League and the Spanish competition know the quality of the Mexican teams. We don't need to sell it.' — Monterrey captain Sergio Ramos through an interpreter. ___ AP soccer:
Business Insider
an hour ago
- Business Insider
TikTok employees brace for more 'organizational and personnel changes'
TikTok and ByteDance employees are bracing for possible layoffs after the company informed staff it would announce "organizational and personnel changes" early Wednesday morning, according to a memo viewed by Business Insider. The changes would impact workers in the company's global e-commerce business, TikTok Shop, which has had several rounds of layoffs this year. "Over the past month, we have assessed how we can best support our evolving Global E-commerce business in alignment with our mission and evolving goals in the market," the company wrote in the memo. These changes come from "careful analysis of how to create more efficient operating models for the team's long-term growth," the company wrote. TikTok did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider. TikTok's US e-commerce team has been under scrutiny from leadership at its parent company, ByteDance, this year. The division's top executive told staff in a February all-hands call that the country failed to meet its performance goals in 2024. The division has faced new obstacles in 2025 after Trump hiked tariffs on China, where many of TikTok's global sellers are based. Weekly US order volume fell in mid-May compared to mid-April after tariffs went into effect, BI previously reported. The company has trimmed staff this year through a mix of layoffs and performance reviews, during which TikTok hasoffered some people a choice between performance-improvement plans or exits with severance. As US team members have left the company, leaders from China and Singapore with experience on TikTok's Chinese sister app, Douyin, have taken their place, staffers previously told BI. The organizational changes come amid broader uncertainty for TikTok's US team members. The company is negotiating with the Trump administration over a 2024 law that required ByteDance to divest from TikTok's US assets or face a potential ban. The uncertainty is taking its toll on one staffer who received the message Tuesday evening that their team would be impacted by the organizational changes. They spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not permitted to speak about the company, and their identity is known to BI. "I think for many of us, we just want clarity," the employee said. "These eternal extensions make no sense for anyone who works here. How can we plan our jobs and lives if every 90 days we might get banned or sold?"
