Skechers is getting into the basketball business, and according to today’s reports, the brand is close to signing one of the NBA’s biggest names to wear its shoes: Joel Embiid.
According to a report from The Athletic, Skechers is nearing a deal with the Philadelphia 76ers star. The report stated a deal has not yet been signed yet, however the hooper was spotted during the 76ers practice today wearing a Skechers shoe for the first time. Embiid, according to The Athletic, will wear the new Skechers shoe in games once the deal is complete.
Embiid, who earned NBA Most Valuable Player honors last season, is the latest basketball star to lace up Skechers in recent months. Both Julius Randle of the New York Knicks and Terance Mann of the Los Angeles Clippers wore Skechers shoes during their teams’ respective media days at the start of the month.
Prior to Wednesday’s reports of a potential Skechers deal, Embiid was an Under Armour ambassador. The Baltimore-based athletic giant announced in October 2018 that it had signed Embiid. And in January 2020, Under Armour revealed to select media that he would become its next basketball player to get a signature shoe. The shoe, dubbed the Under Armour Embiid One, was revealed to the public in August 2020.
FN has reached out to both Skechers and Under Armour for comment.
News of a possible Embiid deal and NBA stars wearing Skechers shoes comes not long after the brand made a splashy move in another sport: soccer. In August, Sheckers announced it had signed Harry Kane to a long-term deal, making him the center of its first European football boots, the SKX_01, which launched in the UK and Europe last month. Skechers also said Kane will be featured as a brand ambassador in a multiplatform marketing campaign.