EGN NEWS DESK
“Now,” Mr. O’Neal mentioned, “it’s bloggers, emcees, athletes, designers.”
At the N.B.A.’s All-Star weekend in February, as Mr. O’Neal and Mr. Iverson made the rounds carrying Reebok varsity jackets that have been customized with their respective titles, Reebok launched an N.B.A.-themed collaboration with Victor Solomon, the Los Angeles artist. (The jackets have been Mr. O’Neal’s thought.)
Star gamers, although, are nonetheless a useful piece of the puzzle, and Reebok made an instantaneous, and considerably shocking, first splash again in October by partnering with Angel Reese, one of the vital in style younger gamers within the ladies’s sport. A former all-American at L.S.U., Ms. Reese not too long ago joined the Chicago Sky of the W.N.B.A. as a first-round draft decide.
Mr. O’Neal first met Ms. Reese when he accompanied his daughter Me’Arah, a prime highschool prospect, on a recruiting journey to his alma mater. Though Ms. O’Neal later dedicated to the University of Florida, her father grew to become one thing of a mentor to Ms. Reese.
“She’s like a daughter to me,” Mr. O’Neal mentioned. “She’s fearless. She’s herself.”
Reebok, at Mr. O’Neal’s behest, signed Ms. Reese to an N.I.L. deal in October, making her the primary participant, man or lady, to be sponsored by the corporate within the Shaq period.
“No one was anticipating a school participant, and nobody was anticipating a lady,” Ms. Reese mentioned in an e mail, including, “The world’s overwhelmingly constructive response to it meant a lot to me.”
Mr. Krinsky described Ms. Reese as a “provocative” presence who matches with the corporate’s ethos of being disruptive. He cited Reebok’s 2001 collaboration with the rapper Jadakiss, who filmed a business to advertise the discharge of Mr. Iverson’s signature sneaker, the Answer V. The business was completely timed because the N.B.A. was leaning into its reference to hip-hop and Black tradition, a shift led by gamers like Mr. Iverson.
