How these NBA and WNBA stars changed the industry from their deals to their signature shoes and more.  The notion…

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PUMA and Skylar Diggins-Smith continue their partnership. The WNBA All-Star and the global footwear brand unveiled the “Desert Sky” collection,…

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PUMA Hoops and Phoenix Mercury guard Skylar Diggins-Smith have something special on the horizon. The upcoming Skylar Diggins-Smith x PUMA…

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Creative Director for Puma Hoops, June Ambrose, stars in the Women’s High Court Collection campaign. This athletic lifestyle collection takes…

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Outspoken celebrities are nothing new, but up until recently, it’s been more or less a rarity for brands to step…

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WNBA superstar Skylar Diggins has departed from Nike and signed with PUMA. The RocNation talent joins the likes of Rihanna,…

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After an unveiling last week, the Nike Zoom HyperRev 2016 Skylar Diggins PE is now available for purchase. Dressed in…

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With the shorter days of fall in mind, this October Skylar Diggins and the Nike+ Training Club introduce her new…

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Yesterday, Nike announced the signing of the top three picks in this year’s WNBA Draft. Brittney Griner, Elena Delle Donne, and Skylar Diggins are the new faces of Nike Women’s Basketball, and rightfully so. However, two other prominent rookies were also signed to Nike yesterday in Tayler Hill and Kelsey Bone of the Washington Mystics and New York Liberty, respectively. Hill and Bone just so happen to be the fourth and fifth selections in the 2013 WNBA draft, marking an epic day for Nike and women’s basketball. The mere fact that Nike felt compelled to announce the signing of the new “Big 3” speaks to the implication that something special is on the horizon. With the increased interest and expected reemergence of the women’s game, is it time for another women’s basketball signature to become a reality? Let’s explore.

The careers of the top three selections are historic. They helped usher women basketball into a new stratosphere of popularity, and build unprecedented anticipation to the 2013 WNBA season. “I think that’s been missing from the women’s game. I’m glad to see some of that is back,” remarks Shereka Wright, a current Assistant Coach at Texas Tech. After being named WBCA, Gatorade, and USA Today High School Player of the Year in 2000, Wright went on to star at Purdue University, where she was an All-American. Wright has been inducted into the Texas High School Basketball Hall of Fame, and was drafted in the 2004 WNBA Draft. “I was a part of it when (Diana) Taurasi came in,” remembers Wright. “I was a part of that (2004) class. It was big talk when Diana came in. Our class was just a very good class. Diana was supposed to be the resurrection of the league because it hit a lull.” Nike released the Nike WMNS Shox DT, Taurasi’s signature shoe, back in 2006. Since then she has been wearing PE versions of the Nike LeBron line.

Taurasi’s sneaker may not have caught on, but a decade prior to the Shox DT, Nike made history by creating the first sneaker to be named after a female athlete. The Nike Air Swoopes broke barriers, and were extremely popular among female athletes worldwide. “I owned all of Swoopes’ shoes. Our whole AAU team wore her shoes in 7th and 8th grade,” reminisces former college All-American and current Tulsa Shock Forward Tiffany Jones. Nike continued to be on the frontier of signature footwear diversity by following with signatures for Lisa Leslie, Dawn Staley, Cynthia Cooper, and Chamique Holdsclaw. The Nike Swoopes line released an astonishing seven models, with the last being the Nike Swoopes Premier in 2002. Over a decade later, even Jones, a new teammate of Diggins, says, “I haven’t worn a women’s (basketball) shoe in a very long time.”

[Swoopes pic]

Why is that? Why has there been a gap in women’s signatures? You may be surprised to know that Los Angeles Sparks’ superstar Candice Parker had a signature in 2008 entitled the adidas TS Ace Commander. Due to injury and pregnancy, her next signature didn’t drop until the 2011 adidas Ace Versatility. It’s plausible you overlooked this shoe, because Parker’s name is not in the shoe’s name.

Similarly, Minnesota Lynx star Maya Moore became the first women’s basketball player to sign with Jordan Brand in 2011. “It was a big deal,” Wright says of the historic signing, “but was it something that you consistently heard about? There were a lot of people attending and watching WNBA games that didn’t even know she signed with Jordan.” She continues, “The only reason we knew about is through social media buzzing about the fact she signed with Team Jordan. Did you see a shoe for Maya Moore? Does Maya Moore have a shoe? No. As a female, we know that she’s with Team Jordan, but how do we know what she’s wearing? How do we know the shoes were made for her?”

These are great questions. The fear of women not wearing sneakers is no longer a valid deterrent from marketing a shoe bearing a woman’s name. With an ever-increasing female presence in the sneaker culture, having a shoe from a peer, a comrade, a relatable entity would be a welcome advancement. “Everybody is a sneakerhead these days,” Jones emphatically states. “The culture is changing. Women are wearing sneakers. I remember there was a time when women wouldn’t wear sneakers that often. Now that women are wearing them on a regular basis, I think people will wear a women’s shoe.”

[Nike signing women lead]

It was nearly a forgone conclusion that Delle Donne, Griner, and Diggins were going to be the first three picks in the 2013 WNBA draft well before their senior years were over. Their collective stardom had reached a point where it arguably surpassed their male counterparts. Can you undoubtedly name who will be the top three picks of upcoming NBA Draft? The names of these three women hold weight that is only comparable to when the WNBA first allocated 16 of the best women basketball players on the planet to their eight respective teams prior to its inaugural season in 1997. “With the entry of Skylar, Brittney, and Delle Donne, everybody is excited about this now. I think Nike needs to look at that,” Wright implores. “They need to expand this league. It’s what we (women basketball players) know. That’s what makes us. It’s our brand. We don’t have the NBA or MLB-type TV time or revenue. In order to sell the product, you have to generate excitement.” In terms of the “Big 3”, Wright says, “People were talking a lot about Brittney Griner (in college), but that’s talking about women’s basketball. It was on ESPN. It was on the ticker. Skylar Diggins was on the ticker. Delle Donne was on the ticker. They were getting that. We need that stuff.”

Jones agrees. “I think these three (Griner, Delle Donne, Diggins) are going to be huge for the league, and huge for women’s basketball at every level. There are girls growing up now saying they want to be Skylar Diggins, Delle Donne, or Brittney Griner. So, I think it would give younger girls something to look forward to. They would definitely want to wear their shoes.”

[skylar diggings dap pic]

Basketball is the one sport that a player has the opportunity to showcase their shoes. The proximity of fans and complete facial exposure are two elements that make the fans’ perceived relationship with basketball players a bit more intimate. Players are tangible. They are real-life beings that can be mimicked, and their styles can be replicated. This is the importance of a female signature. There is no shortage of basketball shoes on the current market. Finding a shoe that suits your specific needs, though tedious, is not impossible. It’s deeper than that. As Wright puts it, “when we used to read SLAM magazines, the shoes were what you were looking forward to seeing.  You know? Our (female) shoes were in there back then, but now you don’t have that. It’s obviously a male dominated sport, but we own the right do something and have something to talk about.”  Jones adds, “A women’s signature would be big for women’s basketball, and for women period.”

[Diggins PE pic]

You may still wonder if it truly makes a difference, or if there is any substantial significance due the recent decline in WNBA interest. Wright disagrees. “The women’s game has always been there. People have watched it, but I think more people will tune in now because of the names.”  She suggests, “adding to that would be good. I don’t think girls would wear it just because it’s a women’s shoe, but that it would be popular. Skylar Diggins wears that shoe? I want it. Brittney Griner wears that? I want it. That’s what it’s going to be.”

Before dismissing the idea of a wearing a sneaker with a woman’s name in the description, remember sports are inclusive. Sports are diverse. More importantly, sports are a microcosm of life, and there is more than enough room on shelves, on courts, on the street, in our closets, and in our hearts for the women to shine on a large scale. NBA players often wear other NBA players’ sneakers. We think it is time we see WNBA players’ lacing up signatures from their coworkers.

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Nike has signed the brand new "Big Three" to their roster. Skylar Diggins, Brittney Griner, and Elena Delle Donne, three women with three of the greatest careers in college basketball history, were drafted with the first three picks of the 2013 WNBA Draft. All three amazing basketball players are now signed Nike Basketball athletes. All three ladies were First Team All-America selections at least twice during their storied careers, and hope to continue their success at the next level.

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