Maine’s Cooper Flagg signs NIL deal with Gatorade as brand’s first men’s college basketball athlete

College Sports

It’s been a “big year” for the projected No. 1 pick in next year’s NBA Draft.

By Amin Touri, The Boston Globe

October 30, 2024 | 9:18 AM

Duke freshman and Maine native Cooper Flagg is signing an NIL deal with Gatorade, making him the sports drink giant’s first men’s college basketball athlete.

The deal was announced Tuesday as Flagg joins women’s basketball stars JuJu Watkins and Paige Bueckers among Gatorade’s lineup of college athletes.

“This has been a big year for me on and off the court, and Gatorade has been there the whole way,” Flagg said in a statement. “From being named the Gatorade Best Male Player of the Year to now officially joining the team, it’s been surreal to have my name mentioned with some of the biggest names in basketball.”

The endorsement deals have been flowing for Flagg before he’s even played his first competitive collegiate game. Flagg signed a shoe deal in August with Boston-based New Balance, which has a factory near his hometown in Maine.

Flagg had a team-high 22 points in Duke’s exhibition win over Division 2 Lincoln University, but was fairly quiet in a dominant victory over Arizona State.

Flagg, the projected No. 1 pick in next year’s NBA Draft, will make his regular-season debut in Duke’s opener against Maine Nov. 4, a game that was scheduled because of Flagg’s connection.

The consensus top recruit in the Class of 2024, which he reclassified into to enroll at Duke as a 17-year-old, Flagg has looked like a future NBA star since his freshman year at Nokomis Regional High, where he led the Warriors to a Class A state championship and was named Maine’s Gatorade Player of the Year.

Flagg transferred to Montverde Academy in Florida and blossomed into the country’s most sought-after recruit. He spent the summer as the only collegiate player named to the USA Select Team, where he turned plenty of heads going toe-to-toe with the eventual Olympic gold medalists from Team USA.

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