John Wall, does he have a shoe contract?

by formula0 on Jun 2, 2010 1:39 PM EDT

I Googled it today and couldn'f find a definitive answer. I believe the answer is he doesn't yet have a deal, but that there have been reports that Reebok might be pursuing John Wall.

I'm not into basketball shoes, so why do I ask?

I ask because I think historically speaking it seems to be important for franchise players to be part of the Nike fraternity because they'll be able to get access to a star studded support system with their peers.

Generally speaking, the players who endorse Addidas or Reebok are odd ball type of players and these kind of players seem to be on an island by themselves with few peer support, and so these players have to overcome a lot to get themselves and their teams into the limelight. I'm talking about guys like KG, Iverson, Chauncey, and obviously Gilbert.

The Nike guys seem to fraternize more and have a more robust support system so they are not on an island by themselves. LeBron, Kevin Durant, CP3, the list goes on and on for Nike players who have their marketing personality and their work ethic impacted by Nike and Nike's system.

Now, someone like KG you don't really worry about but guys like Iverson and Gilbert could have used a better support system throughout their careers. Even KG...if he had more support from his peers (I'm talking current & former MVP caliber players), they would have talked him out of being so stubbornly tied to a sorry Minnesota franchise for as long as he was.

You could even argue (as Agent Zero once did) that Olympic team selections are largely influenced by your shoe deals.

Honestly, this wouldn't even be an issue for me if we didn't have the #1 pick and the chance to bring in a game changer like John Wall. So when we do have an opportunity like this, I believe it is worth exploring every potential angle, including this one with shoe contracts.

So, let's please hope that Nike wants Wall and the feeling is mutual from Wall's side.

This represents the view of the user who wrote the FanPost, and not the entire Bullets Forever community. We're a place of many opinions, not just one.

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No definitive link but...

looks like John Wall is going with Reebok. Kinda disappointing to me too, considering he’s worn nike his whole career but i’m sure they’d be willing to make the biggest investment ( contract wise) in Wall. Show contracts aren’t as big of a revenue stream as they once were so a lot of companies are shying away from throwing 100$ dollar deals at every prospect coming into the league.

by Spanky731 on Jun 2, 2010 2:33 PM EDT reply actions

Agreed

From a fan perspective, I’m not so interested in the amount of money Nike and Reebok are willing to throw at John Wall, but of course I certainly understand that Wall should take the better deal. Nike has very little motivation to give Wall a deal considering that Nike basically has the monopoly on athletes and market share in the basketball shoe market. If Reebok is willing to invest a lot more in John Wall, then that would be the better option financially.

If this happens, then I’d be slightly concerned down the road because Wall would be somewhat isolated from his peers because of his shoe contract.

by formula0 on Jun 2, 2010 2:41 PM EDT up reply actions