Zion Williamson Signs Shoe Endorsement Deal With Jordan Worth $75 Million

Zion Williamson, the first overall pick of the 2019 NBA Draft to the New Orleans Pelicans, signed this week a seven-year deal with the Jordan Brand worth $75 million.

According to Forbes, the deal is not record-setting, as LeBron James remains on top with his rookie deal worth $90 million for seven years with Nike. Many of the major shoe brands were going after the NBA’s next star, but didn’t declare a favorite through his tenure at Duke and when he entered the NBA Draft.

“I feel incredibly blessed to be a part of the Jordan Brand family,” Williamson said, according to ESPN. “Since I was a kid, I dreamed of making it to the league & having the type of impact on the game Michael Jordan had & continues to have today. He was one of those special athletes I looked up to.”

“Zion’s incredible determination, character and play are inspiring,” Michael Jordan said about Williamson, according to ESPN. “He’s an essential part of the new talent that will help lead the brand into the future. He told us he would ‘shock the world,’ and asked us to believe him. We do.”

Williamson was last season’s Naismith College Player of the Year at Duke, where he averaged almost 23 points a game and  nine rebounds and two blocks. He shot 68 percent from the field, and is one of the most explosive players in the history of college basketball.

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“Jordan Brand just got the steal of the century,” Skip Bayless said on FOX Sports’ Undisputed. “This is a great choice by Zion. Russell Westbrook or Chris Paul are kind of the face of Jordan Brand, Zion is about to take over Jordan Brand. He wanted to go with his idol, which was Jordan, not LeBron.”

Williamson’s deal with Jordan comes as a surprise, as Adidas seemed to be the front-runners after he blew out his Nike shoe against North Carolina and had to sit out the rest of the game with a knee injury.