JORDAN, DURANT HEADLINE NBA’S BIGGEST 2021 SNEAKER DEALS

The blockbuster shoe contract has been a staple for NBA stars since Michael Jordan made basketball sneakers fashionable in the 1980s. Nike, Adidas, Under Armour, Puma and others have jockeyed to sign the hottest rookies or NBA All-Stars who were sneaker free agents.Get more news about best basketball shoes of 2021,you can vist nbaboss.us!

But while the latest crop of stars were signing nine-figure contracts, the performance basketball shoe market in the U.S. was collapsing, down double-digits in most years since its peak in 2015 and plummeting a whopping 23% in 2020, according to market research firm NPD Group.

Performance shoes are current basketball styles that are made to be played in, while “retro” shoes are typically performance styles from a decade or more ago that are intended for fashion. The two sneaker markets were roughly the same size in 2015 but have gone in opposite directions ever since. The retail performance business, which does not include direct-to-consumer sales, was $600 million in 2020, while retro, dominated by re-releases of old Jordans and Air Force 1s, was six-and-a-half times larger at $3.9 billion and up roughly 20% year-over-year, according to NPD analyst Matt Powell.
The retro product has done phenomenal,” said Cowen & Co. analyst John Kernan. “Nike is doing a lot of different colorways now, and they are launching product in very smart, very creative ways. They have done a masterful job managing the marketplace.”

Nike and the estate of Kobe Bryant did not renew their contract last week—ending a nearly two-decade relationship between the Los Angeles Lakers icon and sportswear giant—and weak sales of performance basketball shoes no doubt played a role. “Kobe was a big deal in China but was never a big force in footwear in the U.S.,” Powell said.

Nike doesn’t need Kobe to maintain its dominance; it has already cornered the market in basketball with an 86% share of performance sneakers, including the Jordan Brand, and a massive 96% of the U.S. retro business in the 12 months ending in March, per the NPD Retail Tracking Service.Adidas is paying three players—James Harden, Derrick Rose and Damian Lillard—at least $10 million this year. Their contracts all run at least 10 years, but Adidas has only 5.5% market share, a tick behind the 6.1% of Under Armour, which built its basketball business on the back of Warriors point guard Stephen Curry.

“Most of these contracts were written a long time ago,” said Powell. “They are legacy contracts that I think many of these brands would wish they didn’t have.”

The only blockbuster sneaker contract signed over the past three years belongs to New Orleans Pelicans power forward Zion Williamson, who joined Nike’s Jordan Brand in July 2019 after captivating hoops fans for a year at Duke University. Williamson’s deal is worth an estimated $12 million this year, and his first signature shoe, The Zion 1, is available in limited quantities in stores starting Friday.The Swoosh hopes Zion can carry the Jordan torch for the next generation, but it will be a long time before anyone can match the shoe legacy of MJ. Nike’s Jordan division reported revenue of $3.6 billion, up 15%, in the company’s fiscal year ending in May 2020, including the brand’s first $1 billion quarter. Sportico conservatively estimates MJ’s take at $150 million.

The Jordan Brand is far from done. It’s moving aggressively internationally, as well as with more women’s and lifestyle products. “China is on fire right now, and Jordan has done very well in Europe, too,” Kernan said.