PUMA making a strong push in the race to sign Zion Williamson.
Zion Williamson is going to sign a massive sneaker endorsement deal at some point this Summer, it just remains to be seen which brand the No. 1 overall pick will side with.
In college, and during his brief Summer League debut, Zion rocked Nikes, specifically the Nike Kyrie 4 and the PG 2.5, better known as the sneaker that exploded on national television. However, Williamson has recently been spotted on the sidelines rocking PUMAs and TMZ reports that the revived brand “has come out nowhere to become a major contender” in the race to sign Zion.
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PUMA shocked the sneaker world last summer, when they inked a number lottery selections including the top two draft picks, DeAndre Ayton and Marvin Bagley III, as well as Kevin Knox and Michael Porter Jr, in addition to established veterans such as DeMarcus Cousins, Danny Green and Terry Rozier.
TMZ reports that Nike is well aware the threat that PUMA poses, and that Nike is “making a hard push to get a deal done with Williamson.” As one source describes, according to TMZ, “He’s the #1 priority.”
According to a report by ESPN’s Nick DePaula, the man who signed Michael Jordan to Nike in 1984, Sonny Vaccaro, believes this could be the biggest bidding war in sneaker history.
“In my lifetime, I think it’s going to be the biggest bidding war ever done,” former sneaker executive Sonny Vaccaro said, per ESPN. “I would put them all on go.”
Worth noting, LeBron James ultimately inked a seven-year, $87 million deal out high school, while Kevin Durant‘s rookie deal was for 7-years, $60 million. Whenever Zion makes his decision, it is expected that his deal will be similar, astronomical proportions.
