SAN ANTONIO – While a lot of things are accepted as no-go areas in sports, shouting permitted press boxes included. Shouting is permitted at the Alamodome, a slight exception was made.
As Duke Blue Devils went through the last preparatory practice, flairing it up a notch for the Final Four, he was informed that AP National Player of the Year Awards had already been cut for him. Youth really is splendid, for this achievement is pegged as the youngest AP Award winner in history.
In the end, everything goes according to plan which is a bittersweet moment. Wherever it was most convenient for Cooper Flagg to be guided is where he has intended to go to since his childhood days.
This part of his story is something that most of the people would be familiar with by now, including his rise to becoming one of the foremost identified sons of the state Maine, which has not NBA draft since 1984.
It’s already poised to hold the No. 1 overall selection in a few months from now.
Flagg dominated headlines towards the end of the season. He was showcased during the NCAA tournament beacause he’s already the most loved Blue Devil and garners interest even before he touches the ball.
He is featured in a multiyear Gatorade deal during the tournament and shown in ads for AT&T TV with his grandma filming quite a while ago. Family, coaches, and even his teammates showered praise on him for his acting skills.
“I will stand firm that the bingo is the best one. That was great acting bingo. You see his mammy in there. I thought he did a pretty good job there,” Duke coach Jon Scheyer commented. “To be honest, far from the joke, our guys did great. Since the tournament started they hardly did any NIL work. It was done earlier this year. They’ve been centered on this once in a lifetime opportunity we have here.”
Even if that was the case, I highly doubt many brands around Flagg for example wish to be focused on the long term. Most of the average sports fans were only introduced to him recently and everything seems to be getting attention now.
That shows the kind of future he hopes to achieve. His new partnership with AT&T, arranged through Flagg’s agency CAA, illustrates that perfectly. The deal was finalized with CAA’s NBA marketing team, not the department managing the corporate sponsorships with the NCAA.
“While considering NIL, we do want to make that connection with the NCAA to professional basketball with the NBA and WNBA,” remarks Andrea Wilson, Sponsorships and Experiential Marketing Director at AT&T. “From a marketing perspective, we are tremendously excited not only about having Cooper in the campaign, but also being able to grow with him and his journey through at least this next year as he transitions from draft to his first year in the league.”
“He and his family tend to be very selective about the big-name brands they partner with, so I understand why their other associates are extremely influential.”
Flagg signed a deal with New Balance just before starting his studies at Duke, and he is developing a relationship with Fanatics. Moreover, he became the first men’s college basketball player to sign a deal with Gatorade, and with more than a million social media followers, he holds a number of smaller contracts because of his stature.
For instance, you will not catch Flagg at press conferences next to a Powerade cup since they sponsor the tournament as official drink. He like all athletes knows how to steer clear of putting himself in uncomfortable situations in the NIL space concerning the shoes he wears while playing basketball in college.
“As much as I enjoy New Balance and would love to wear their shoe, we’re in a situation where Duke is with Nike, obviously,” Flagg said during the East Regional last week. “So just respecting the rules that are in place and kind of what we have to follow.”
While Flagg’s portfolio of NIL deals may not measure up in scope to JuJu Watkins of USC women’s basketball, in terms of sheer dollar value, he is still likely the highest-paid college athlete in the country, at least when considering what he is paid by Duke’s hoops collective. Sources cited in streameast suggest Flagg will enter the draft after having earned more than LeBron James did coming out of high school, which is a striking claim given that James signed a deal with Nike around the time that averaged $13 million a year.
Negotiating all of that can often feel like a full-time job. However, there are almost a dozen Duke employees associated with the men’s basketball program who help share the responsibility. The team has roughly eight student managers who can serve as buffers, or as program slang puts it, “blocking and tackling.” Occasionally, two or three SID’s become part of the team to handle the vast number of media requests that come in.
Flagg is super chill off the court, fellow freshman Kon Knueppel says. “He’s a pretty one-track mind on hoops. He stays on top of his schoolwork, and he’s a good guy.”
From the moment he picked up a basketball, Flagg has been leveled up against older players. His remarkable career started when he got involved in USA Basketball, and it continues heading into Saturday’s game against a Houston team loaded with veterans in their twenties.
Flagg’s journey in College basketball is about done, but before he fully moves onto the next step in his journey, there’s one final task to check off.
