Kentucky Wildcat John Wall is a lock for the #1 overall pick in the 2010 NBA Draft. As things currently stand, the Washington Wizards hold that pick. Given the debacles and underachieving that has plagued the Wizards franchise the last couple of seasons, there is no way they would trade the pick. Although Gilbert Arenas will be suiting back up soon, make no mistake, the Wizards are rebuilding, and they desperately want John Wall to be their ‘Franchise Guy’ in the Capital.
With all that said, it is no surprise that the major shoe companies in North America and the recent big players from China would be clamoring to sign an endorsement deal with Wall. But what may be a bit surprising is the terms of the deal that are being reported for a player that has yet to even play one minute of professional basketball. According to Yahoo! Sports, Reebok is the big winner of the John Wall sweepstakes, at a whopping $25 Million over 5 years.
The deal exceeds what most industry insiders believed even Wall, a spectacular talent, could get in this marketplace. In the declining economy, shoe companies have become more judicious about handing out such big guaranteed deals to rookies. The No. 1 pick in the 2009 NBA draft, the Los Angeles Clippers’ Blake Griffin(notes), was reported to have signed for $400,000 annually with Nike. Milwaukee Bucks guard Brandon Jennings(notes) had a more lucrative deal with Under Armour that he signed out of high school, worth approximately $2 million over four years. {Via Yahoo! Sports}
Reebok is clearly trying to use the signing of John Wall to replace the massive marketing hole left in their basketball line by the retiring of Allen Iverson. The company’s basketball line strategy has long been built around endorsements for a select number of players rather than the signing of multiple players. Now that they are heavily invested in John Wall, you can be sure that every last person at Reebok has their fingers crossed that Wall’s flashy game translates to the NBA level.
