He may be going to a Nike school in Duke, but thanks to the new world of college NIL deals the presumptive No. 1 overall pick in the 2025 NBA Draft has signed with a different shoe brand. He’s signing with New Balance, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
New Balance has been adding to its roster of NBA stars over the past several seasons — a roster which includes former NBA champions Kawhi Leonard and Jamal Murray as well as Tyrese Maxey, Zach Lavine, Dejounte Murray and WNBA star Cameron Brink.
In fact, you might have seen those athletes and more in New Balance’s most recent commercial proclaiming that they’ve got now.
Wojnarowski reports that New Balance’s ties to Flagg’s home state, with a manufacturing plant just 25 miles from his childhood home, played a role for the incoming Duke star.
“The connection with New Balance as a family company and a company with Maine roots means a lot to me,” Flagg told Wojnarowski. “That makes this really different and special. My mom used to go to the tent sale for back-to-school shopping there when we were kids. That really aligns the brand with my roots. It’s a perfect fit.”
While New Balance has become very popular for its silhouettes in the running category — especially 2000s mesh runners like the 1906, which I recently unboxed on the DraftKings Network X account — the brand is still trying to work its way into a basketball space dominated by Nike and Jordan Brand with Adidas attempting to come on strong thanks to the efforts of Anthony Edwards and his popular AE 1 signature model. That being said, the brand has made some good moves, signing Murray in his prime and grabbing ascending stars like Maxey, Brink and Flagg. Nike and Jordan Brand have been accused by some in the sneaker community of becoming complacent and lacking in innovation, so if there ever was an opportunity for other brands to break the Swoosh’s decades-long stranglehold on the basketball market that time is now. It will be interesting to see if Flagg, Brink and other young talent can help New Balance soar.
Meanwhile, on the court, Flagg and Duke currently are tied for the second-best odds on DraftKings Sportsbook to win the national title at +1000, behind only the back-to-back national champion UConn Huskies. UConn currently has +900 odds to earn an historic three-peat and in an added layer of intrigue Flagg chose the Blue Devils over the Huskies.
All odds provided by DraftKings Sportsbook and all odds subject to change.
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All views expressed are my own. I am an employee of DraftKings and am ineligible to play in public DFS or DKSB contests.
