Action Alba is back. The former Dark Angel star rose to fame while kicking butt, and Jessica Alba recently showed that she’s still got it while starring in the machismo-free Trigger Warning on Netflix. Following that successful collaboration with the streamer, Alba will now tackle a different genre while starring in and executive producing Confessions On The 7:45, which will be adapted from the same-named Lisa Unger novel into a series by screenwriter and showrunner Charise Castro Smith.
Although Alba did find time to recently bid farewell to “Brat Summer,” she clearly does not pause for long on work that invigorates her. Let’s dig into what we can expect from this series:
Plot
Alba will surely bring a whole new audience to this film after Trigger Warningstood alongside Bridgerton at the top of Netflix’s most-watched weekend charts upon release. Not that Lisa Unger’s existing audience pales in comparison, though. She has penned over 20 crime-based thrillers with her Close Your Eyes And Count To 10 novel debuting in early 2025. We shall see how the reception to that book goes, but early reviews are promising, and back to our current subject, Confessions On The 7:45 fits the very definition of “difficult to put down” as a book that has been ripe for adaptation.
The psychological thriller will follow a working mom, Selena, who misses her usual train home and catches a later ride, where she has a somewhat unsettling conversation with a stranger. Dominoes soon begin to fall in Selena’s life, and Unger’s narrative reads liked the proverbial peeling back of layers on a rotten onion. According to the Netflix series description, “As [Selena’s] life unravels and betrayals are revealed, she questions whether we can ever truly know the people closest to us.”
So many mysteries are buried within this book that it makes sense for a series adaptation to be the chosen medium rather than a film, and via Deadline, Alba explained why this book hit her hard:
“I could not put this book down. The moment I read the line, ‘If you want to keep a secret you must first hide it from yourself. This book is about trying to bury secrets and the shame we carry until the truth exposes us. I can’t think of a more exciting person to partner with on this project. Charise is so ridiculously talented and truly gets every nuance under the skin of these characters and their web of lies.”
Cast
Alba will star in the series with further casting details to come.
Release Date
Netflix is staying mum on a window, but considering Alba’s recent Netflix success, there’s every reason to believe that this project will be fast tracked.
Trailer
While we await more details, have you watched Alba in Trigger Warning?
It’s been an up and down week for The Simpsons fans.
On one (four-fingered) hand, The Simpsons: Tapped Out mobile game is being shut down after an extremely profitable 12-year run. I guess making hundreds of millions of dollars ain’t what it used to be. That’s bad. But on the other (left) hand, another season of The Simpsons premieres soon. That’s good!
Here’s everything we know about The Simpsons season 36, including plot details, guest stars, and the premiere date.
Plot
The Simpsons season 36 kicks off with “Bart’s Birthday,” which co-showrunner Matt Selman described as a format-breaking episode. “The logline is Bart celebrates his birthday, but it’s a little more than that,” he told Animation Scoop. “If you like the more experimental episodes we’ve been doing lately, like ‘Lisa the Boy Scout’ and some of the crazier ones, this would fall into that category.” There will tons of guest stars, too, as seen below.
Beyond the premiere, there will be a spoof of The White Lotus entitled (what else?) “The Yellow Lotus” and two Halloween-focused episodes. The first is the annual “Treehouse of Horror” installment, featuring animation from the Robot Chicken team Stoopid Buddy in a parody of Venom, followed by the Ray Bradbury-inspired “Treehouse of Horror Presents: Simpsons Wicked This Way Comes,” in which “a tattooed man at a mysterious night circus transports Lisa into three strange stories from the innocent 1950s, the chilling retro-present, and a brutalist future where prestige TV rules the world.”
The Simpsons will also do something unprecedented in the show’s long history this season: four new episodes will be made available exclusively on Disney Plus, not Fox (it appears they’re not technically considered part of season 36, but rather standalone episodes). That includes the Christmas-themed double episode “O C’mon All Ye Faithful,” which premieres on December 17, 35 years after the first aired episode of the show, “Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire.” It’s unclear when the other episodes will debut.
Cast
It’s 36 seasons (and counting!) with Dan Castellaneta, Julie Kavner, Nancy Cartwright, Yeardley Smith, Harry Shearer, and Hank Azaria. The voice cast also includes — I’m only going to list their most well-known character or else this list will get very long — Pamela Hayden (Milhouse Van Houten), Tress MacNeille (Agnes Skinner), Maggie Roswell (Helen Lovejoy), Alex Désert (Carl Carlson), Kevin Michael Richardson (Dr. Hibbert), Jenny Yokobori (Kumiko Nakamura), Grey DeLisle (Martin Prince), and Eric Lopez (Bumblebee Man).
The announced guest stars so far for this season are Conan O’Brien (returning for the first time since season 5’s “Bart Gets Famous”), John Cena, Tom Hanks, and Joel McHale, all as themselves in the premiere; Danny DeVito as Homer’s brother Herb Powell; Chloe Fineman; Richard E. Grant; Andy Serkis; and of course, Kelsey Grammer as Sideshow Bob, who will also feature prominently in the next Disney+ short, “The Most Wonderful Time of the Year.”
Release Date
The Simpsons returns for season 35 on September 29. Meanwhile, “Treehouse of Horror XXXV” will supposedly air on November 3. Why not until after Halloween? As always, blame baseball (unless Apu’s favorite squadron makes it to the World Series, then please root for them).
Trailer
You can watch a promo for the season 36 premiere here. Or better yet, watch the first-ever The Simpsons short from The Tracey Ullman Show, “Good Night,” which debuted 37 years ago this year.
As many quickly pointed out, the problem with that trade is that it wouldn’t be legal under the CBA as a two-team deal, because both the Knicks and Timberwolves are above the first apron. That means they had to find a third team to take on some salary to make the financials work, because neither team could take on more money than they were sending out — with the Knicks being the team taking on the bigger contract.
A half-hour after the initial framework of the deal got reported, we learned from Tim Bontemps of ESPN that the Charlotte Hornets would be the third team in the deal. Per Shams Charania, the Hornets will take on some salary from the Knicks, with DaQuan Jeffries among those on the move, along with some draft picks for their trouble. Charlotte is well below the luxury tax, so this is just some good business on their end to hop into the deal, take on a little money, and get some draft assets for their trouble. For the Knicks, they simply needed to find a team willing to take on enough money to make this work, and will be thrilled to part with some future second round picks to get this deal done and get KAT to town by the time camp starts.
The New York Knicks have their eyes on winning an NBA championship, and on Friday night, the team swung for the fences in a big way. According to Shams Charania of The Athletic, the Knicks and the Minnesota Timberwolves came to terms on a deal that will send long-rumored Knicks target Karl-Anthony Towns to the Big Apple.
BREAKING: The Minnesota Timberwolves are nearing a trade to send All-Star Karl-Anthony Towns to the New York Knicks, sources tell me and @JonKrawczynski. pic.twitter.com/cFbrvj1c9l
According to Charania and Bobby Marks of ESPN, the Knicks will send the duo of Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo to the Timberwolves to acquire Towns, a native of New Jersey who has spent his entire career in Minnesota after the team made him the No. 1 overall pick in the 2015 NBA Draft. Marks noted that there are still financial terms that need to be sorted out, but the Knicks won’t send reserve guard Miles McBride to the Wolves to facilitate this deal, while Jon Karwczynski of The Athletic reports that a future first-round pick is going to the Wolves, too.
In what appears to be a sign of how out of left field this deal was, even Towns expressed surprise on his Twitter account.
Much has been made about the fact that the Timberwolves are in a financially difficult place with Towns, Rudy Gobert, and Anthony Edwards all on big-money deals, and this should provide them some financial flexibility, as DiVincenzo doesn’t make a ton of money and Randle is on an expiring deal. As for the Knicks, Towns should help with their hole at center, although it will be interesting to see how he fits into Tom Thibodeau’s system as a big man who is not known for his rim protection.
At just 23 years old, Toronto singer Dylan Sinclair has plenty of experience in the music industry and the success to match it. His debut project Proverb, released in 2020, received a nomination for Traditional R&B/Soul Recording of the Year at the Juno Awards Of 2021. Two years later, his second project No Longer In The Suburbs was longlisted for the 2023 Polaris Music Prize. These two moments, along with others, helped to stamp Sinclair’s talents, which come alive more than ever on his official debut For The Boy In Me.
The 12-track project, complete without guest features, is an ode to being in love and in a stable relationship. “In a world where men are not encouraged to be vulnerable, this album For The Boy In Me disregards that, choosing to tell it like it is,” Sinclair said about the album in a press release. The feel-good spirit Sinclair exudes lives on records like “Lemon Trees,” a song made for driving with the windows down and soaking in a warm breeze. “Slo Mo” wades into intimate waters as Sinclair sings about passionate moments in the bedroom while “IMY” lands as a moving ballad about longing for a partner’s physical presence. Altogether, Sinclair uses For The Boy In Me to detail the beauty of the love and intimacy and the many ways it shows up in a solidified relationship.
Together with the release of For The Boy In Me, Uproxx spotlighted Sinclair for this week’s Uproxx Music 20 column. Scroll down to learn more about the Toronto native’s influences, inspirations, and aspirations.
You get 24 hours to yourself to do anything you want, with unlimited resources: What are you doing? And spare no details!
Wake up. Have a smoothie. Work out. Eat some Filipino food for breakfast. Go to the beach with some friends. Get drunk. Have fresh fish tacos for lunch. Go home to shower. Go on a dinner date and see where the rest of my night leads.
What are your three most used emojis?
, , and .
What’s a feature you need to secure before you die?
What’s your favorite city in the world to perform, and what’s a city you’re excited to perform in for the first time?
I love London’s energy. I’m looking forward to performing in the Philippines and Australia.
You are throwing a music festival. Give us the dream lineup of 5 artists that will perform with you and the location where it would be held.
Ask me this in a few months. My favorite artists are my friends and they haven’t released music yet.
What would you be doing now if it weren’t for music?
I have no idea. Around the time that I was getting into music more consistently, I was also getting into skateboarding so maybe I would’ve stuck with that.
If you could see five years into the future or go five years into the past, which one would you pick and why?
The past of course. Then I can do what I’ve done but better because of what I know now. The future belongs as a mystery.
What’s one piece of advice you’d go back in time to give to your 18-year-old self?
Carve out your own lane.
It’s 2050. The world hasn’t ended, and people are still listening to your music. How would you like it to be remembered?
For it to be remembered in itself is lit enough to me. The “how” is up to the listeners.
For The Boy In Me is out now Five Stone Records Inc. Find out more information here.
Meanwhile, Sister Sage’s master plan came together to give Homelander the power to declare martial law, and that led to poor MM being tapped by Love Sausage and Frenchie and Kimiko being detained by Cate and Sam, which takes the story back to Gen V again. The spin off will continue the chaos in a second season ahead of The Boys‘ fifth and final season. With that said, let’s get down to business on what to expect from Gen V‘s sophomore year:
Plot
For starters, it’s worthwhile to note that The Boys showrunner Eric Kripke has been forthright about how it is not necessary to watch both shows to enjoy one of them. That’s the case even though Gen V pretty clearly is meant to bridge gaps, but Kripke has stressed that he does not give “homework” to viewers akin to the MCU, as he told Variety:
And so to me, it’s like, if you want to watch “The Boys,” and you don’t want to watch this other show, don’t watch it. If you want to watch “Gen V” and don’t watch “The Boys” — which I actually know a lot of people that do that — great. They’re each their own story. They each have their own reason for being. They each need to be good enough to exist without the other one existing. But I’m not giving the audience homework.
Still, Gen V is a hellish good time, so it’s worth staying up to date if you are moved to do so. Sadly, however, the second season was prefaced with tragedy with news of Chance Perdomo’s accidental death at age 27. Eric Kripke and the show’s writers chose to significantly retool scripts with Perdomo’s character, Andre Anderson, having died in between seasons, too, so expect those plot details to be disclosed on a somber note.
Vought International is ready, however, to set aside the Godolkin University bloodbath and have Cate and Sam, according to Total Film, acting as a Guardians of Godolkin welcoming committee alongside the new dean, portrayed by Hamish Linklater (Midnight Mass). It remains to been, exactly, the show will handle the fact that several core characters (Marie, Jordan, Little Cricket, Andre) probably ended the first season in The Woods. Yet the possibility remains open that this surreal scene could have taken place in Cate’s head or otherwise not in reality, since Andre strangely seemed to be holding a cell phone in the medical facility. Also, most of the characters didn’t seem as upset as they probably should have been at being imprisoned.
Cameos from The Seven should be expected, and certainly prepare to see The Deep, as revealed by footage that recently debuted at San Diego Comic-Con. As for how Gen V will be affected by another upcoming spin off, Vought International, Amazon hasn’t clarified those details. However, we might not see that spin off (revolving around Stormfront and Soldier Boy’s earlier Compound V exploits) surface until 2027. Fortunately, Gen V will make its comeback years sooner.
Cast
A major get for this show: Hamish Linklater of Midnight Mass will portray the new dean after Cate forced Dean Shetty to slit her own throat.
Maddie Phillips (Cate) and Asa Germann (Sam) will be back at school following their scenes in The Boys‘ fourth season. Returning students will include Jaz Sinclair (Marie), Lizze Broadway (Emma/Cricket), and London Thor and Derek Luh (Jordan).
The series hasn’t yet revealed whether any previous footage of Chance Perdomo will be used to remember Andre Anderson. Presumably, Patrick Schwarzenegger’s time on the show as a regular (GoldenBoy) is over, but the series hasn’t definitely ruled out more flashbacks there, either.
Release Date
Gen V will be back in 2025. We will be all over specifics when they surface.
Trailer
While we await a teaser or full trailer, Amazon has kindly memorialized the final five minutes of the fourth season, which include Cate and Sam doing Homelander’s bidding while neutralizing Frenchie and Kimiko. If you don’t get chills while rewatching this, what kind of Vought devotee are you?
The WNBA began announcing its award winners earlier this week, with A’ja Wilson winning her third MVP award after a dominant, record-breaking season in Las Vegas and DiJonai Carrington taking home Most Improved Player after a terrific season in Connecticut.
That left two major awards still left to be announced, as Rookie of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year honors were yet to be officially handed out. However, on Friday, we learned who would win those two awards early after the WNBPA spoiled the ROY and DPOY announcements in a statement condemningUSA Today writer Christine Brennan over her questioning of Carrington after accidentally poking Caitlin Clark in the eye in Game 1 of their first round series. In that statement, the WNBPA opened by saying the focus this week was supposed to be “celebrating and amplifying A’ja, Caitlin, DiJonai, and Napheesa for their hard work and truly exceptional performances all season long.” That list of names seemed to indicate that Clark had won Rookie of the Year (as anticipated), while Napheesa Collier was the DPOY.
Sure enough, Shams Charania confirmed those two were the winners of those awards shortly after. The tight window of the Best-of-3 first round series makes the awards announcements a bit tricky for the WNBA, as the Fever were bounced in two games by the Sun meaning Clark didn’t have an opportunity to accept the award at home in front of the Indiana crowd. Collier, one would expect, will be presented with the DPOY trophy at the start of the second round on Sunday in Minnesota, as Wilson was before Game 1 of the Aces first round series against the Storm and Carrington was before Game 2 against the Fever. By having to announce awards across two series, you open the door for the winners to get leaked, but it coming from the players association probably wasn’t what anyone expected.
We are a month into the college football season, which means we are fully into conference play. As much fun as some of the big non-con matchups can be, the full slate of games tends to be lacking, as there are lots of tune-up games and buy games on the schedule. Now, we start to get Saturdays full of intriguing matchups, with more traditional showdowns and some new conference rivalries.
The headliner of Week 5 is a top-5 matchup between Georgia and Alabama, but the primetime showdown in Tuscaloosa isn’t the only important game on the schedule this week. There are some fascinating games across the country, from the expanded SEC and Big Ten, to the Sun Belt and Mountain West, as teams in those conferences are vying not only for a chance at a conference title, but the lone Playoff spot held open for a Group of 5 team. Here, we’ll dive into what we have an eye on for the Week 5 slate as well as a best bet and look back at last week’s top individual performance.
The Game Of The Year (Of The Week): No. 2 Georgia vs. No. 4 Alabama (7:30 p.m. ET, ABC)
The first major test (and the first SEC game) of the Kalen DeBoer era in Tuscaloosa is the program that has battled with the Crimson Tide for superiority at the top of the conference in recent years — and really, we wouldn’t have wanted it to be any other way. This game is the sort of heavyweight fight that this new era of superconferences should produce more frequently, and I, for one, cannot think of a better way to ring in that new era than the Dawgs and the Tide throwing haymakers at one another for 60 minutes.
Georgia’s offense has had a week off to lick its wounds after Kentucky dragged them into the mud in their SEC opener — the Bulldogs won, 13-12, but they just did not have a way to consistently move the ball. Alabama’s defense has been awesome this year, but teams have been able to move the ball a little bit on the ground. Not much, mind you, but it’s been a much better bet than throwing it. Now, Carson Beck is the best signal-caller they’ll have gone against, but Kirby Smart likes taking the air out of games like these, especially on the road. I expect tons of Trevor Etienne and Nate Frazier, but if Beck has to throw, he needs to be the potential top-10 pick we know he can be and keep tabs of Keon Sabb, the Michigan safety transfer who is a monster.
Unsurprisingly, DeBoer has the Tide’s offense absolutely rolling. Jalen Milroe looks unbelievable throwing the ball, and he’s always going to be dangerous with his legs. Jam Miller and Justice Haynes have combined for 48 carries for 430 yards, which is a tidy 8.95 yards per carry. Ryan Williams is one of the most dynamic receivers in America, and he doesn’t turn 18 until February. Having said this, Georgia’s defense is a different animal than what they’ve faced this season, and even though they’re not the clear-cut best defense in America, it’s a unit with NFL guys all over the place. Plus when you give Smart a few weeks to gameplan, good things tend to happen.
We might be able to drop (Of The Week) on the title of this section. This has a legitimate chance of being game of the year in college football. I can’t wait.
Lock Into This One: No. 19 Illinois vs. No. 9 Penn State (7:30 p.m. ET, NBC)
Your remote might be pretty busy flipping back and forth between the above game and what should be a really fun one in Happy Valley, as the Nittany Lions are hosting the Illini under the lights in Beaver Stadium. Illinois is one of the biggest surprises in America to start the year, as Bret Bielema’s bunch have gutted out one-possession wins over Kansas and Nebraska, the latter of which happened in overtime in front of the fans in Lincoln. Their secondary is nasty, while Luke Altmyer looks like a completely different quarterback than he was last year and his top-2 targets in the passing game — Pat Bryant and Zakhari Franklin — have been very productive. If they can run the ball, play keep away, and not ask Altmyer to do too much against a stout Nittany Lion defense, they’re going to have a shot.
Speaking of QBs who look completely different: Drew Allar has gotten off to an incredible start for the Nittany Lions this year, as the team has found big plays in bunches on the offensive side of the football. The chess match between that Illini secondary and Allar’s favorite target, standout tight end Tyler Warren, is going to be a blast, and their top running back, Nick Singleton, is as good as anyone in the country. Their defense didn’t look great against the best passing offense they’ve played so far this year (Bowling Green), but if that was just a weird game against a MAC team and they are one of the best defenses in America, Illinois could be in for a long day.
Under-The-Radar Banger: Maryland at Indiana (12:00 p.m. ET, Big Ten Network)
The Hoosiers should probably be ranked, but since the polls haven’t quite caught up to the Curt Cignetti wagon, I want to make sure people are aware of what’s happening out in Bloomington. Indiana isn’t just winning games, they’re beating the brakes off teams, and while the level of competition hasn’t been super high, they’re doing what they’re supposed to with lesser competition. This week they get a little test in the form of Maryland, as the Terps can put points on the board in a way none of Indiana’s opponents to this point have been able to. This will be a nice litmus test, because if Indiana mashes Maryland, we might have to start considering them part of the second tier of the Big Ten.
Message Board Meltdown Game Of The Week: No. 21 Oklahoma vs. Auburn (3:30 p.m. ET, ABC)
Hugh Freeze is morally opposed to, like, having a job where things go normally and no one gets mad at him. He cannot get enough of people getting mad at him. This time, he threw his QBs under the bus after a loss to Arkansas, which led to a former QB of his coming to their defense. It’s a tenuous time on the plains, especially with road trips to Georgia and Mizzou on the horizon. As for the Sooners, well, their offense was just flat-out non-competitive against Tennessee last week and if they can’t win this week, it’s very easy to see this season play out with them missing a bowl game. I do not want to be the team that loses this game, is the point.
Who Won The Heisman Last Week?: Alonza Barnett III, QB, James Madison
THE DUKES. My god, did they firebomb UNC last week. Their signal caller, Barnett, was at the center of it all, as the leaky Tar Heel defense had absolutely nothing for him. Barnett was 22-for-34 for 388 yards and five touchdowns, with 13 carries for 99 yards and a pair of scores on the ground. All of the attention after the game was on how UNC was a catastrophe — and, let’s be clear, understandably so — but let’s give Barnett a little love for a monster game.
Best Bet (2-2): Georgia vs. Alabama 1H UNDER 24.5
Georgia has not gone over the first half total yet this season, and I’m pretty sure that’s by design. Since Kirby Smart took over in Athens, the Dawgs tend to ease into the game and lean on the running game and their defense, wearing down opponents before pouring it on late. As such, Georgia first half unders are a principle of mine and now that this has crept up over a key number at 24.5, I like it even more. Alabama certainly can score in bunches, but this isn’t Western Kentucky rolling into Tuscaloosa. I like both teams to start the biggest game of the year out leaning on their excellent defenses and trying not to make a catastrophic mistake early on offense, and if that plays out I like us to go into the locker rooms at half under this total.
Today (September 27), Metro Boomin shared the second issue of his The Metroverse series, “Metro Boomin: The Rise #2.” The visual team behind the edition (which includes artists by Vasilis Lolos, Fred Stresing, and Micah Meyers, as well as writer Ryan Cady) continues the high-stakes adventure.
Without giving too much away, the issue’s synopsis is surely enough to spark your interest. The issue is described:
“Metro is at the front of danger when he gains an unlikely alliance with the Nightshade Trio – three mysterious and powerful femme fatales. The Nightshade Trio arrives on the scene changing the entire Metroverse world. The foursome work together to fight against some of the city’s largest threats.
Though, not everything is as it seems. Secrets are lingering in the shadows while a threatening romance sparks. Metro must make the tough decision if the Nightshade Trio are his greatest partners or a menacing force he could have never anticipated. This action-packed second issue is filled with relationships being tested, love growing, and Metro’s beliefs being tested more than ever before.”
The second issue of Metro Boomin’s The Metroverse comic book is out now. But if you want to get your hands on a physical copy, you are going to want to beeline for his website, as only 4,000 copies are available. Find more information here.
The signature sneaker is the ultimate status symbol in the world of professional basketball. Having a shoe line with your name on it from one of the major brands is reserved, typically, for the biggest names in the sport. That said, the space has gotten a bit crowded, as the race to sign young talent has meant companies are giving out more signature sneakers, placing bets on young hopeful stars to emerge as household names.
Sometimes that works and sometimes it doesn’t, but with some of the biggest names in the sport getting older and headed towards legacy sneaker status like the Jordan and Kobe lines — LeBron, KD, Curry, etc. — I don’t think we’ll see brands slowing down in terms of giving out sneakers. There are already a handful of shoes announced for this upcoming season, with De’Aaron Fox getting his first shoe with Curry Brand and A’ja Wilson and Caitlin Clark signatures on the way from Nike. They won’t be alone, though, as the next generation of NBA and WNBA stars commanding their own sneaker line is either already in the league or on its way.
Here, we take a look at nine players who figure to be in the conversation for their own sneaker, whether with the brand they currently represent or someone else whenever their deal is up.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (Converse)
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SGA’s new deal with Converse includes a signature sneaker, we just don’t know exactly when it’s coming in 2025 — perhaps it will arrive midseason, but it also could be for the 2025-26 campaign. His rise from intriguing young player to a legit MVP threat meant it was only a matter of time before he got his own shoe. He is also one of the leading NBA players in the fashion space, so he figures to create a unique sneaker that will be welcome in a world where we see an awful lot of copycat looks in hoops shoes.
Victor Wembanyama (Nike)
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The next NBA superstar is a no-doubter to get a shoe from Nike. The question is just what it looks like and when it arrives. Nike created some truly wild footwear prototypes ahead of the Olympics, including one for Wemby, but I have a hard time believing they’ll go fully in that direction for his first shoe. That said, they should steer into him being one of the most unique players in NBA history to give him a shoe to match, and if nothing else he has one of the best logos in the NBA already. Big men don’t typically sell tons of sneakers, but Wemby is such a unique player I think whatever shoe they release for him will do numbers.
Paige Bueckers (Nike)
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Bueckers is already getting her own PEs for her senior year at UConn, and a signature shoe may be on the horizon. What’s interesting for Nike is they’ve already committed to making signature sneakers for Caitlin Clark and A’ja Wilson, and one wonders how many signatures they’re willing to make in the women’s space. Other brands like adidas and Under Armour/Curry Brand are aggressively pursuing women’s hoops stars to be the face of a sneaker line, and will be chasing Bueckers and others hard if Nike balks on offering a signature shoe initially.
Cooper Flagg (New Balance)
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The expected No. 1 pick in 2025 has all the tools to be a massive star and command his own sneaker. He also opted to sign with New Balance despite going to a Nike school in Duke, which provides a much clearer pathway to a signature shoe as he won’t be stuck behind a long list of other stars. New Balance, at this point, only has a Kawhi Leonard signature. Flagg certainly figures to fit the bill for a second, even if it’s become increasingly rare for brands to give out signatures to rookies upon entering the league.
Joel Embiid (Skechers)
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I can’t imagine Skechers signed Embiid just to have him be the face of their regular basketball line. That said, his first signature sneaker with Under Armour wasn’t exactly a huge hit on the market and he faces the uphill battle that all traditional centers do in selling sneakers to the general public. Few have cracked the code on how to do that, and it’ll be interesting to see if Skechers can figure out how to create a shoe that stands up to the physical demands of Embiid while being something the public wants to wear.
Paolo Banchero (Jordan)
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Already an All-Star in Year 2, I think he has a chance to be a huge star, and if the Magic continue their ascent in the East, his next shoe deal might include his own line. The question is whether he can get that with Jordan or if he’d need to look elsewhere, as Jordan Brand already has three young stars — Jayson Tatum, Luka Doncic, and Zion Williamson — with their own sneaker lines.
Tyrese Maxey (New Balance)
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The Sixers young star guard keeps getting better and, like Banchero, another leap might put him in line for his own sneaker. As noted, New Balance currently just has the Kawhi line and even if there’s a Flagg line on the way, that would still leave room to give Maxey a shoe made for a guard.
Angel Reese (Reebok)
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She’s already designed her own line of lifestyle apparel, and helped Reebok debut their first performance shoe. A signature is the next step as Reebok has clearly embraced the Chicago Sky star as the face of their women’s line. After a record-setting rookie season, Reese is in prime position to continue building her brand on and off the court and helping Reebok burst back on the scene in the hoops space.
Juju Watkins (Nike)
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Watkins is still a few years away from being in the W, but she projects as a mega-star at the next level. I think she’s a no-brainer for a signature sneaker when she makes the leap to the WNBA, but the real question is who that’s with. Currently she is a Nike athlete, but as mentioned earlier, if Nike were to give Bueckers a signature shoe, it’s not a guarantee they’d want to hand out a fourth women’s signature. I could see adidas, now led by Candace Parker, New Balance, and Curry Brand both making big runs at Watkins — as they did for Caitlin Clark — in each of those brand’s quest for a face of their women’s division.
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Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
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