The women’s basketball boom shows no signs of slowing down any time soon, as the popularity of the WNBA and women’s college hoops is at an all-time high, and the stars at both levels are starting to get the kind of endorsement opportunities off the court that have often been reserved for their male counterparts.
Sneaker deals, in particular, are on the rise in women’s hoops. Breanna Stewart and Sabrina Ionescu have popular signature sneaker lines with Puma and Nike respectively, and Nike is soon to add signature sneakers for A’ja Wilson and Caitlin Clark as they expand their women’s basketball footprint. The competition in the sneaker space and the race to sign stars of the future has given some serious leverage to stars like Clark and Wilson, as other brands like adidas (now led by Candace Parker) and Curry Brand have chased hard to try and get a new face of their brand’s women’s line.
The next stars up are Paige Bueckers and Juju Watkins, who both have Nike deals, with Bueckers getting the first college PEs for any Nike women’s athlete this upcoming season. The question has been whether Nike would be willing to invest enough to keep all of their women’s stars, and on Tuesday we got an early answer when they signed Watkins to a long-term contract extension that, per Shams Charania of ESPN, will give her “one of the richest sneaker deals in women’s basketball.” The details of the deal, in terms of both money and promises for a future signature sneaker, are unknown, but given Caitlin Clark’s deal is worth a reported $28 million over 8 years, to be “one of the richest” it would stand to reason that this is worth seven figures per year.
Watkins is getting set to begin her sophomore season at USC, which means she still has a few years before even reaching the WNBA, but she’s now able to take advantage of NIL rules that allow her to cash in on her status as a star in the sport years before she would have previously. As a freshman, Watkins was sensational and she certainly looks like she is going to be one of the faces of the sport for years to come. Nike recognized that and made sure to lock her in to a sneaker deal early that keeps other brands from trying to poach her away.