Marvin Bagley apparently has his rookie shoe deal, and it's a very large one. It's just probably not with the company you'd expect.
Bagley, a Duke product projected to be a top-five pick in this year's NBA Draft, will reportedly sign with Puma, which doesn't have much of a footprint (pun intended) in the NBA -- at least not compared to competitors like Nike, Adidas and Jordan Brand. But Puma is hoping to change that, and they're shelling out some serious money to do so.
According to The Athletic, Bagley's five-year contract will be the richest rookie shoe deal since the one that Kevin Durant signed with Nike back in 2007. That went for seven years and $60 million (Durant was offered $70 million from Adidas, but turned it down), so we can expect the numbers on Bagley's deal to be similar.
It's a big score for Bagley financially -- we'll have to wait to find out exactly how big -- but it's also a major win for Puma. They land one of the biggest names in this year's draft class and will hope that this is just the first shoe to drop (again, pun intended). If Bagley becomes a star, he can help influence future athletes to join the brand.
And, for what it's worth, Puma is apparently hoping to ink more rookies to team up with Bagley.
We'll see how it works out, but at the very least it's intriguing to see another player enter the NBA's sneaker game. It's obviously a very lucrative market, but they're going to have their work cut out for them if they hope to truly compete with the big boys.