- In an interview on The Boardroom,
Sabrina Ionescu revealed that she is choosing betweenNike ,Under Armour , andPuma in what figures to be an enormous shoe deal. - The Oregon Ducks superstar has her eyes on securing a signature shoe line, a move that would make her something of a trailblazer as the only current
WNBA star with her own custom sneaker. - Ionescu told NBC Sports Bay Area's "Runnin' Plays" podcast that Golden State Warriors star Stephen Curry is heavily recruiting her for Under Armour by texting her "almost every day."
- The presumed No. 1 overall pick in Friday's
WNBA draft says a shoe deal announcement will "probably happen before the draft," though she hasn't set a firm deadline for herself. - Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.
Sabrina Ionescu is just a few days away from becoming the first pick in the 2020 WNBA Draft. And even though the Oregon Ducks superstar is all but certain that she'll be starting her career with the
Which sneaker giant will have the honor of signing her to an endorsement deal is chief among them.
In an interview on The Boardroom, Ionescu revealed that she's in talks with Nike, Under Armour, and Puma for a shoe contract.
"This part has been really fun," Ionescu told Ros Gold-Onwude. "For the endorsement deals, trying to figure out what shoe company I'm going to sign with ... It's been fun talking to the different companies and seeing the vision that they have for me."
Guided largely by the advice of her late mentor, NBA legend Kobe Bryant, the all-time NCAA leader in career triple-doubles has been focusing on more than just her on-court persona in deciding which brand to sign with.
"The money is important, but I think the vision and kind of the plan they have in place for me, and what I can do not only for the sport but for basketball and society," Ionescu said on John Canzano's Bald Faced Truth podcast. "I think just making sure I align with the right company that can do that and just being happy with where I'm at."
She even teased the potential for a signature shoe down the line.
"Whether that's going to be a shoe down the line or whatever it is, I'm just hoping to fit with a brand that can use me on their platform to kind of advocate for something bigger than basketball," she said.
Ionescu would be a trailblazer in the category should she actually strike up a deal involving a signature shoe. Though WNBA legends like Sheryl Swoopes and Dawn Staley rocked their own line of sneakers in the mid-to-late 1990s, custom shoe deals for women grew increasingly uncommon over the next two decades.
Now, not a single active WNBA player has her own signature shoe deal, with superstars like Elena Delle Donne, Breanna Stewart, Diana Taurasi, and Sue Bird instead wearing the popular signature lines of their counterparts in the NBA.
"I think before this all happened, I never thought about it because I didn't think it was even a possibility because women don't usually have signature shoes," Ionescu said in an appearance on NBC Sports Bay Area's "Runnin' Plays" podcast. "And then I think listening to a lot of these companies and the goals and visions that they had to have a signature shoe down the line, I was like, 'Oh, actually that would be pretty cool.'"
"I feel like a lot of individuals would want to buy that shoe and wear that shoe," she added. "I do think a shoe would be really cool or like a clothing line or something ... [It] would be kind of beyond belief just because I'm so used to buying other people's shoes, and kind of looking up to them. And so kind of having that reciprocated would be awesome."
Nike, Puma, and Under Armour appear to be pulling out all the stops to sign one of the brightest stars to ever emerge on the WNBA scene. The latter of the three is even employing the services of one of the NBA's biggest names — Stephen Curry — to win Ionescu over.
"I think he texts me almost every day," Ionescu said. "He's working hard."
Still, with Friday's virtual WNBA Draft inching closer by the minute, the only Division I player — male or female — to record 2,000 points, 1,000 assists, and 1,000 rebounds over their career has yet to make a decision on whether she'll be sticking with Curry and Under Armour, following in the footsteps of 2019 No. 1 overall pick Jackie Young by joining the Puma team, or donning a Nike swoosh next season.
"It's just been a weird process because I wasn't planning on having to do it so soon," Ionescu explained on The Boardroom. "There's usually 10 days after the national championship game until the draft, so I was planning on having everything done then."
"Now understanding that there probably isn't going to be a season that starts in May, there's kind of a little bit more time," she added. "I'm just trying to stay on top of things and figuring out what's next."
Though she hasn't set a hard deadline for herself, Ionescu told Canzano that her shoe deal announcement will "probably happen before the draft."
"But knowing me, who knows," she added. "That's what I'm aiming for. But I'm not sure of it. I'm still trying to weigh out the pros and cons of all the companies and seeing what's going to be the best fit for me."
Though Ionescu is widely expected to go to the Liberty with the first overall pick in Friday's WNBA Draft — which will air on ESPN starting at 7 p.m. ET — the rest of the first round picks remain far less certain.
- Read more:
- Sabrina Ionescu and her twin brother hustled adults at basketball courts as kids to win money for Slurpees
- WNBA MOCK DRAFT: What the experts are predicting for all the first-round picks
- The 2020 WNBA Draft will now air on ESPN's main channel after fans criticized plans to show it on ESPN2
- Floyd Mayweather once threatened to buy Diana Taurasi's team when she trash-talked him during a game, and it was 'the one time she's ever been silenced'