Dive Brief:
- Reebok has named former basketball star Shaquille O’Neal as the president of Reebok Basketball, according to a press release emailed to Retail Dive. The appointment comes as Reebok looks to become a team sports company once again.
- In the new role, O’Neal will lead Reebok’s basketball strategy and establish partnerships with athletes and organizations in the space. Reebok signed O’Neal in 1992 and the athlete also “played a major role” in getting Reebok acquired by Authentic Brands Group in 2021, the companies said. O’Neal is a shareholder in Authentic.
- Reebok is also bringing back brand ambassador Allen Iverson, who will take on the role of vice president of basketball. Iverson signed with Reebok in 1996 and will now be responsible for player recruitment, community initiatives and athlete activations.
Dive Insight:
Reebok is coming back to basketball in a big way. After years of ownership by Adidas, in which Reebok gradually moved away from team sports and into fitness and training, the sports brand is reversing its course.
“We’re back, baby! Get ready,” O’Neal said in a statement on the news. The celebrity posted a photo on Instagram last week in a “Shaq for President” shirt, which Reebok is now selling on its website.
“We are thrilled to be expanding upon our partnership with Shaquille with this historic appointment,” Reebok CEO Todd Krinsky said in a statement. “As an athlete, he made an incredible imprint on not only our brand, but the entire sport and culture of basketball. With the combination of his deep-rooted history with Reebok and reigning influence he’s made on the game, there is no one better than this guy to take the helm and lead our brand back to reclaiming its rightful place and dominance in basketball.”
That last point echoes comments former CEO Matt O’Toole made in 2022 just after the acquisition, saying Reebok had a “rightful position” in basketball and could eventually expand to many of the sports it once moved away from. Since Authentic’s takeover, Reebok has named a new CEO, expanded its wholesale distribution and broadened its assortment, developed a new brand direction and opened stores in budding markets.
When Reebok was pursuing the basketball market in the ‘90s, both Iverson and O’Neal were strong athletes to sign, but neither of them quite had the success that Michael Jordan did for Nike. Iverson’s career turned out to be “more of a bottle rocket,” Matt Powell, an adviser with retail consultancy Spurwink River, told Retail Dive in 2021. And O’Neal’s position as a center challenged his potential as a brand ambassador.
“Big men typically just don’t sell shoes,” Powell said. “Your average 12-year-old in the driveway could dream of being Allen Iverson and shooting from outside and all the crossover dribble and all the things that Iverson did. Not in their wildest dreams would they ever think they could be Shaq because he’s just a giant. And giant men need really supportive footwear, which tends to make [the shoes] kind of ugly.”
