Puma is planning on a return to basketball apparel, and they are hoping Trae Young can be for them what Stephen Curry has been for Under Armour.
The Oklahoma star guard had reportedly drawn significant interest from the lifestyle apparel company, which plans on pitching Young on being the face of a sneaker renaissance, according to ESPN’s Nick DePaula.
When Trae Young and his family met with Roc Nation Sports during the process of vetting potential agents, there was an added twist to the presentation. A representative from sportswear company Puma was in the room as part of a big-picture pitch: The brand believes so strongly in Young’s star potential that it wants to make him the face of Puma basketball as the company looks to re-enter the basketball sneaker landscape for the first time in nearly two decades.According to DePaula, Puma would look to bolster its roster by surrounding Young with other existing NBA players.
Young and his parents, Ray and Candice, ultimately passed on Roc Nation – and a PR representative for Roc Nation Sports denies that anyone from Puma was in the room for the meeting. However, multiple sources confirmed to ESPN that Puma was part of the pitch, and that Young, who ultimately signed with Octagon Sports for his representation, is very much still a target for Puma, which is just one of a handful of sneaker brands that consider the former Oklahoma guard the most marketable player in the NBA draft class of 2018.
“The possibility to be the seminal piece to re-establish that category for Puma is what’s enticing,” Young’s agent Omar Wilkes said.Puma’s last major hoops star was Vince Carter, who eventually left for Nike.
Young drew comparisons to Stephen Curry after he averaged 27.4 points and 8.7 assists in his freshman season. Young, the hottest sneaker free agent entering the draft, is also drawing interest from Nike, Under Armour, and Adidas.
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