It’s rare that we see star basketball players become free agents in the sneaker market. It’s even more rare for those star players to be just 20 years old.
That’s what we had in Luka Doncic this season. After his deal with Nike expired earlier in the year, Doncic was in the open market and fully testing the waters with different companies, including Nike, Under Armour, Jordan Brand and more.
Now, the chase is over — the young phenom has made his choice. Jordan Brand officially announced on Thursday that they’ve locked the Mavericks guard down to a deal via a video on Twitter.
Doncic will join the likes of Zion Williamson, Jayson Tatum, Jimmy Butler, Kemba Walker and Russell Westbrook on the Jordan roster.
Doncic, more than any other star in the Jordan lineup, is poised to make major waves for the brand immediately. The company is most known for its retros and the shoes Michael Jordan actually wore. Most of those are being turned into designer collaborations these days — basketball almost feels secondary.
They’ve had notable active athletes over the years like Carmelo Anthony and Chris Paul, but they haven’t made the same lasting imprint on the NBA some of their Nike counterparts have.
Jordan Brand hasn’t had a player with the kind of ceiling Doncic has had in quite some time. That’s a credit to how good Doncic already is and how good he could be.
Now, at just 20 years old, Doncic is one of the best players in the league. He’s already an MVP candidate in just his second season as an NBA player and looks like he could be an All-NBA player for a majority of his career. He still has to go out and prove he is that, but the foundation is there.
All of a sudden, the future of Jordan Brand’s roster of athletes is looking quite bright. Doncic is only one part of the equation — we can’t forget about Williamson. If these two are as good as people think they can be, Jordan Brand will be in some pretty good hands going forward.
