Cooper Flagg broke the tradition of Duke Blue Devils athletes inking deals with Nike. He recently signed a shoe endorsement deal with New Balance. Both nostalgia and familiarity played a huge role in his decision because the brand has one of its manufacturing units close to where Flagg grew up in Maine. However, Gilbert Arenas doesn’t think he made the right choice.
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During a segment on Gil’s Arena, the crew dissected the 17-year-old’s move to New Balance.
Panelists Rashad McCants and Brandon Jennings gave their seal of approval for the move. But Arenas explained that he isn’t a fan of the deal because athletes affiliated with Nike end up becoming the global face of the NBA. Therefore, chances are that the Duke-bound forward may never receive such exposure as a New Balance athlete.
Arenas said, “Unfortunately, your shoe company matters. There’s only been a few players in the history of the game that’s outplayed and still became a superstar worldwide in something other than a Nike.”
The three-time All-Star was unconvinced that Nike tried their best to recruit Cooper Flagg. He pointed out that the brand doesn’t lose out to other companies if they really want an athlete under their banner. If they were serious about Flagg then they would have ensured that he doesn’t fall in the hands of New Balance.
Arenas extrapolated from this that the 6’9” forward missed out on a Nike contract because of his size. He cited the examples of Joel Embiid and Nikole Jokic, who never landed a Nike deal because of their size, to prove his point.
“If they wanted Cooper Flagg, there was nothing New Balance was going to do to keep Cooper Flagg from signing. They will throw a bag at you that’s unreal if they think you are going to be a part of their future.”
“Unfortunately, he [Flagg] falls under the same category that Jokic fell under, that Embiid fell under, that any big man falls under. Nike doesn’t touch those big guys like that,” added Arenas.
Then McCants claimed that Nike usually stays away from signing white athletes when it comes to basketball. The former Minnesota Timberwolves guard believes that New Balance is the perfect brand for Flagg because it caters to white people more than Nike.
There has been accusations against Nike recently that they have influenced Team USA roster selections in favor of their own athletes. So Arenas’ point definitely has some merit to it. But Flagg is well aware of the pros and cons.
At the end of the day, he was determined to sign with New Balance because he remembers his mom buying NB shoes for going-back-to-school shopping back in the day. For Flagg, his shared roots with the company and the childhood memories associated with it took precedence over anything else.
