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As the projected No. 1 overall pick in the 2010 NBA Draft after a strong season at Kentucky, John Wall signed a five-year, $25 million endorsement contract with Reebok.
The decision to sign with Reebok wasn’t his first choice due to the stronghold Nike and Jordan Brand had on the basketball market. However, Wall recently revealed on the “All The Smoke” podcast with Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson that it was his idol, Allen Iverson, that convinced him to join Reebok.
Of course, Iverson signed a lifetime endorsement contract with Reebok in 2001, which pays him $800,000 annually. Iverson became instrumental in Reebok landing Wall over the likes of Nike and Jordan Brand after a lengthy conversation with him.
“I was in Reebok, I went to take my visit there to talk to them and A.I. showed up out of nowhere,” Wall said. “He talked to me for like two hours. He was like listen, ‘I know what you are going through, I know what you are deciding because I was the same person in them shoes coming out of Georgetown wearing my Jordans.’
He was like, ‘Why not change the culture? Why not be yourself and start something in your own way?’ Once he said that, he didn’t even have to walk me upstairs, you can bring them papers down here I’m signing. My idol just came and talked to me and told me the reason why I can go this way and start my own revenue. … A.I. was the reason why I signed them papers. Forget what everybody else was talking about.
Allen Iverson actually pulled up to the Reebok meeting to sign @JohnWall đź‘€ @SHOsports pic.twitter.com/vCVVCw63tH
— B/R Kicks (@brkicks) May 6, 2020
Wall eventually left Reebok after three years to join Adidas. He wore a variety of shoe brands after leaving Adidas and ultimately would re-sign with the Three Stripes in January 2018. He was reportedly in talks for a buyout with Adidas in October 2019, though it is unclear if those negotiations were successful.
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