LaMelo Ball was one of the top sneaker free agents on the market, once he made it clear that he was no longer associated with Big Baller Brand. While his deal with Puma was a surprise given the lack of rumors surrounding it beforehand, the reported figures will be even more eye-popping.
While the reports about the figures of Ball’s deal have been sparse so far, the initial numbers from Gerald Flores of Esquire are big, who wrote in his latest piece that the deal is rumored to be around $100 million. On top of that, it also includes access to the company’s private jet.
Puma’s Global Director of Brand and Marketing, Adam Petrick, declined to talk to Flores about the exact figures but did discuss the private jet, which isn’t exclusive to Ball.
“Puma does have a jet that we use for many of our players and, of course, he’ll have access to that jet. The value of our contracts sometimes comes down to agents inflating dollars, and that’s okay. It is what it is and it’s part of the culture.”
Back in late December, reports first surfaced that brands were offering Ball $100 million deals, a number that seemed hard to process despite how popular he was.
For reference, Zion Williamson’s deal with Air Jordan was seven years, $75 million. Considering Williamson’s popularity, it goes to show just how popular Ball is that his number reportedly exceeds that amount by some margin.
