Zion Williamson will undoubtedly be the first overall pick this summer no matter how the ping pong balls end up bouncing during the NBA Draft Lottery on Tuesday. But what is less certain is which shoe company Zion will eventually ink an endorsement deal with in the coming weeks. Last month, legendary sneaker executive, Sonny Vaccaro, described the battle to sign Zion as the biggest bidding war ever done in the shoe industry. He expects Williamson to join LeBron James in signing one of the highest-paying rookie sneaker endorsement deals ever.
Vaccaro went on to call Williamson the most marketable person he’s seen, and indicated that he could receive offers from as many as six brands. That list includes Nike, Adidas, Under Armour, New Balance, Puma and Anta. On Monday, Zion may have tipped his hand in terms of which way he might be leaning as the sneaker war wages. That direction may very well be joining LeBron at Nike. While appearing on the cover of the latest SLAM Magazine, Williamson can be seen rocking a pair of Nike’s while sporting a shirt with his SLAM cover on it.
Zion played for a Nike school at Duke during his freshman campaign. But after blowing out his Paul George’s and suffering an injury against North Carolina that sidelined him for several weeks, there was a growing sentiment that maybe that experience would lead him away from the sneaker giant when he turned pro. Following the injury, however, Zion switched to the Kyrie 5’s for the rest of the season and can now be seen wearing them on the SLAM cover.
Before he arrived at Duke, Williamson played for an Adidas AAU program in high school. He was also wearing Adidas gear the last time he appeared on the cover of SLAM as a 16-year-old prodigy. But only one day before the lottery he’s in Nike’s and it certainly seems like they are the leader in the clubhouse for Zion’s services at the moment. It may only be a matter of how much.
