With rumors that potential top-5 NBA Draft pick Marvin Bagley III is set to sign a new endorsement deal with Puma that will pay him more than any other rookie since Kevin Durant, it’s not surprising to hear that Puma is surging back into the basketball game.
Darren Rovell of ESPN reported Monday that Puma is signing NBA Hall of Famer Walt Clyde Frazier to a lifetime deal and will be releasing 73 limited editions pairs in Brooklyn Monday to kick off their new campaign.
The worst kept secret: Puma is back in basketball. Company signing their first endorser Walt Clyde Frazier to a lifetime deal. Releasing 73 limited editions pairs at place on Flatbush Avenue in Brooklyn today. New handle is @PUMAHoops. pic.twitter.com/fmbgi5B0M0
— Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) June 18, 2018
The new Puma Twitter account has posted just one tweet so far, but that one tweet backs up Rovell’s breaking news.
Brooklyn. Clyde Frazier, Logan Real, Chinatown Market all on deck. Let’s get it. pic.twitter.com/Ca4Z9xEDH9
— PUMA Basketball (@PUMAHoops) June 16, 2018
According to Sports & Leisurewear, the German company Puma is the third largest sportswear company in the world behind Nike and Adidas. That said, it’s been heavily invested in Europe, catering to the sports of soccer and running in recent years.
Obviously there’s a shift happening that has the company veering back to the United States, and back to basketball.
A recent Reuters news piece on Puma noted the company hopes to “lift its operating profit margin to about 10 percent of sales by 2022 at the latest, up from the 5.6 percent it reported in 2017.”