The Kicks You Wear, Vol. 382 — It’s Juju's world and Nike needs to live in it 💰
The Kicks You Wear, Vol. 382 — It’s Juju's world and Nike needs to live in it 💰
Nike's big picture plan for Juju Watkins should be in motion already
Good morning, folks! Welcome to the Kicks You Wear. Thanks so much for rocking with me today. Appreciate y’all! Hope you’ve had a good week and have an even better weekend ahead of you.
HOUSEKEEPING: No KYW this Monday! The newsletter will be back next Friday. I’ll miss y’all in the meantime, per usual.
Let’s jump in.
It’s time to get started
Nike made headlines this week by locking USC women’s basketball star Juju Watkins down to a “lucrative” deal that immediately gives her one of the richest shoe deals in the history of women’s basketball, ESPN’s Shams Charania reports.
The big deal: There are two big reasons this should catch your eye.
First: Watkins is entering her sophomore year at USC. She’s one of college hoops’ brightest stars and certainly has the potential to skyrocket to Caitlin Clark levels.
Second: We don’t know the value of Watkins’ deal, but Clark’s deal with Nike is for $28 million over the next eight years. That’s reportedly the richest footwear endorsement deal ever for a women’s basketball player.
It’s safe to assume Watkins’ deal is in that same ballpark, even if it might not surpass it.
That’s a huge investment into a player with so much room to grow personally and professionally — she’s still only 19 years old (!!!!). It shows how much Nike believes in her.
The takeaway: This is a brilliant move on Nike’s part. Juju is worth it.
She’s been described as your favorite basketball player’s favorite basketball player. It’s true. She probably is.
She became a national phenom as a freshman, finishing second in the country in points per game (27.1) behind Caitlin Clark. She also broke freshman scoring records held by Clark.
She already has nearly 1 million followers on Instagram, which is more than Breanna Stewart and nearly as many as A’ja Wilson.
To put it simply, she’s got the juice, folks. Locking her down now allows Nike to grow their brand along with her. The next step is to make the most of it.
Here’s how: We’ve already got Watkins appearing in Nike commercials. The visibility is there. But now, she needs a product to sell. I think Nike should already be working on Juju Watkins’ signature shoe.
It’s imperative to start now. Developing a signature shoe takes time. If you’re aggressive, you’ll have about a two-year window if you’re aggressive about it.
The process can be long and grueling. You’ve got to design it. Then you’ve got to make sure it performs well and has the necessary tech.
You have constant wear-testing during that process, and that can take a while, depending on what Watkins needs.
Once that part is finished, you begin the rollout and marketing for the shoe. That can take another year to six months to get done.
If Nike starts now and moves quickly, her shoe could be ready by senior year. If not, it’ll at least be ready when it’s time for Watkins to enter the WNBA in 2027.
The question: Now, I know what you’re thinking. “Sykes, brother, she’s a college athlete. Is that even allowed?”
Great question. Some athletes can’t wear the brands they’re signed to while representing their teams that competitor brands endorse.
Flau’jae Johnson, for example, can’t wear Puma while representing LSU in any capacity because it’s a Nike school. The same will go for Cooper Flagg at Duke, despite his New Balance deal.
That won’t apply to Watkins here. She’s a Nike athlete signed to a Nike school. She’ll pick up the litter when it comes to wearing the brand. That could include her own shoe, which would be an unprecedented moment in college sports.
The big picture: Women’s basketball is a largely unexplored space for footwear brands. Though everyone is beginning to catch on, the space has been neglected for decades despite a fervent audience just waiting to be served.
Brands have finally recognized that and we’re watching a race to win that category in real time. Nike is already leading here — we talked about the success of the Sabrina Ionescu signature line. On top of that, they’ve got the most popular athletes in A’ja Wilson and Caitlin Clark under contract, with signature shoes on the way.
Now, imagine adding Juju Watkins to that signature squad immediately.
That’s the big win Nike has been looking for over these last couple of years. It’s the one the brand desperately needs right now. It should make it happen.
Clarity on FOG’s future with Adidas
Complex has been on a pretty great run with its video content lately. The James Whitner interview was fascinating. So was the recent Joe FreshGoods joint.
Now, we can add Fear of God’s Jerry Lorenzo to that list.
What happened: Lorenzo sat down with Complex’s Noah Callahan-Bever to discuss his path with Fear of God and what the future holds for his brand. What interested me was his talking about what went wrong with his start with Adiads.
Remember: Lorenzo’s deal with the brand was announced at the tail end of 2020. But the first Fear of God Athletics collection with Adidas wasn’t released until the tail end of last year.
My biggest question has always been, what happened in between all that time? Lorenzo finally gave us some answers.
“I signed a contract and an announcement was made two days later. We hadn’t even found a way of working together yet. We hadn’t found a rhythm,” Lorenzo said. “It took years to figure that out.”
He continued to say the Fear of God and Adidas shoe didn’t do “what we promised it to do” because of that haphazard process, so the lack of enthusiasm wasn’t a surprise.
My take: That doesn’t shock me at all. That’s exactly what it felt like when the announcement was made. There was nothing exciting attached to it — just the fact that it was happening.
Instead of product announcements, we got that piecemeal through several leaks over the next three years.
What’s next: Lorenzo confirmed that his deal extends through 2025 and said what comes next is “uncertain.” He said he still would like to remain with Adidas, but we’ve yet to see the same commitment on Adidas’ end.
I’m afraid the waters may be too spoiled at this point, but you never know.
WATCH MORE: You can view the interview in full here.
We are so back
Jordan Brand dropped a new spot for Tatum’s sneakers on Thursday, and this is exactly what a sneaker commercial should look like.
Please watch this:
What’s happening: Vince Staples is playing the Spike Lee to Tatum’s MJ here. “Ayo! It’s a shoe commercial. We’ve got to talk about the shoe,” he says to Tatum, as the NBA star keeps shooting on the court in the spotlight.
Staples continues to beg, asking him to talk about the “tech benefits” of the shoe. Tatum turns around, repeats what he said to him, and then Staples has his epiphany.
“[BLEEP] the tech benefits.”
YES. EXACTLY. BLEEP THE TECH BENEFITS.
Don’t get me wrong: The tech benefits are very important — that makes a basketball shoe a basketball shoe. They keep your feet healthy.
But this ain’t about tech benefits, man. It’s about Jayson Tatum. He’s what sells the shoe — not the other way around.
Why I love this: This commercial pokes fun at the very thing that I’ve hated in sneaker commercials for so long. Brands have been taking themselves way too seriously for years now. Lighten up! Make something cool. Make us laugh and we’ll buy the shoes.
And, man, these are cool as hell. So is this commercial. 10 out of 10 — no notes. Hats off to whoever wrote this.
BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM
AYO. Saucony is making moves, folks. Griselda rapper and overall art and fashion enthusiast Westside Gunn is getting his own sneaker with the brand.
Gunn shared the news on Instagram.
For those who don’t know, Westside Gunn is a rapper from the group Griselda. The group is niche, but their fans support them hard. It’s one of those “if you know, you know” things. That same support is about to carry over to Saucony, which is why this is happening.
Gunn credited Jae Tips for “inspiring” him. That should earn the man some sort of finder’s fee or something.
I can’t wait to buy these. BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM.
GET HIP: Learn your ABC’s with Griselda ad libs. Please click this. You will enjoy it.
#TheKicksWeWear
Y’ALL KNOW WHAT TIME IT IS!!!!! LET’S GET IT!
First, the homie Saoirse came through with the Bruce Lee Bean joints. A classic.
Then the homie 901 came through with the Desert Elephant 3s. I really wish I didn’t sell my joints, man. I miss em.
The homie Preet came through with the Bron x John Elliot 8s. Man! These are so slept on. What a clean shoe.
The homie CK came through with the Olive Travis 1s. LOVE this colorway. Best Travis AJ1 low in years.
Then the homie Alex closed us out with this family Dunk session. GOALSSSSSSS.
Y’all are too fly for me, man. Idk how you do it, but you do it. Special. Brings a tear to my eye.
That’s a wrap, folks. Thanks so much for rocking with me today. Appreciate you. I’ll see you again next Friday.
If you have any questions, comments or concerns, feel free to hit me up at mikedsykes@gmail.com or shoot me a message here via Substack.
Until next time, folks. Peace and love. Be safe, be easy, be kind. Peace. We out.
-Sykes 💯
Tatum spot ignores the fact that no one trusts Jordan performance basketball to build a good shoe these days. Putting out lots of stinkers lately and not even including basic stuff like shank plates. It's a good commercial but isn't self aware about the current problems people have with Jordan's performance lines.
Vince Staples is great in that spot! (I also just picked up a pair of Tatum 2s for like $65 from the Nike website, if that's relevant to anyone's interests!)