Is Shaquille O’Neal’s Massive Reebok Deal With WNBA a Smart Move or Headed for Doom?

“There is no one making a bigger impact on the game right now than Angel Reese.” Last year, Shaq made the decision to bring in the Double-Double Queen to Reebok to achieve great heights in basketball once again. And he is certainly moving there. Big moves became the theme the moment Reebok brought back its biggest player.

After making his first NIL deal with Reese, putting his son on marketing, launching the brand’s first basketball performance shoe in a decade, retro-released its best hits, announcing a new signature shoe for its newest signature athlete, and more superstar signings, Shaquille O’Neal did something incredible no one saw coming. Reebok’s new President of Basketball, together with its VP Allen Iverson, signed a multi-year deal with WNBA. It’s a bold move, no doubt. But is it a smart one?

Putting aside the fan sentiments, Angel Reese, and her rivalry with Caitlin Clark, there’s a lot riding on this for Reebok. For starters, Shaquille O’Neal wants to make the brand Nike’s top competitor again. And he may just have succeeded in one way.

Shaquille O’Neal outdoes himself

While Nike was focused on A’ja Wilson and Sabrina Ionescu, and seemingly putting Caitlin Clark on the back burner, Reebok swooped in. Shaquille O’Neal and Allen Iverson leveraged some major brand power by signing a multi-year agreement to become the official footwear supplier of the WNBA. Naturally, Angel Reese, as Shaq and AI’s first signature athlete, will be the unofficial face of this new partnership.

“It’s an exciting time for Reebok, the WNBA, and the game of basketball overall,” O’Neal said. It’s exciting indeed.

The reactions were instantaneous. While some fans accused Angel Reese of stealing Clark’s thunder, others came after Nike for letting this opportunity pass. There’s some risk and competition from Nike as they’re now planning to release the point guard’s signature shoe in 2026 when Reese also drops her own. At the core though, it has very little to do with the signature athletes. This is about another notch in Shaq’s entrepreneurial savvy.

The 1993 NBA RoTY was Reebok’s first signature athlete who left in 1998 to launch an affordable shoe line. In his absence, Allen Iverson became the Reebok bestseller, but after him, the brand went downhill and landed in Adidas’ control.

O’Neal spearheaded the acquisition of Reebok by Authentic Brands Group for $2.5 billion in 2021. It took a simple request to his friends at ABG to place himself in charge of the basketball division and bring back AI.

The duo signed Angel Reese while still at LSU. Shaq would go on to attend his first WNBA game in person this season when Reese played against Clark wearing Reebok’s first basketball performance shoe since 2015 – the Reebok Engine A – which Shaq’s son, Shareef O’Neal had some input in. It will officially launch in 2025 and possibly be a huge feature in the coming season with this deal.

Shaq also chose Angel Reese’s podcast, Unapologetically Angel, to announce the official release date of her signature shoe (though that kind of got overshadowed by his controversial comments). Reese already designed and released an apparel line with the brand. This deal could further her own brand under the Reebok umbrella. But there’s more to it.

Shaq’s endgame for Reebok

Clark and Reese’s rivalry made women’s basketball popular in the NCAA, carried forward to the league, and brought it to its most popular era. It’s a harkening back to when signature shoe deals were non-existent in the NBA in the ’80s. Then a near-bankrupt Nike took a chance on rookie Michael Jordan and sold 4 million pairs of Air Jordan 1s, The signature athlete became a thing then, without which there wouldn’t be a Shaq attic nor the Answer IV.

With the rise of the signature athlete, more money poured into the NBA. Charles Barkley has outrightly credited Jordan for growing the NBA with the Air Jordan branding. This is the stage the WNBA is in now.

The shoe space in the WNBA is uncharted territory. There are only a handful of WNBA signature athletes and most brands have shifted their focus to individual athletes rather than an entire league. Nike may have gone a step beyond Shaq by making Paige Bueckers the first NIL athlete to have a signature shoe.

Now there will be more signature athletes in the WNBA. Besides Reese, Reebok also has Lexie Brown of the Sparks and draws more athletes. Shaq’s made an early bird move to monopolize as much of this new market with a new wave of women’s basketball fans.

This is the guy who never wants Reese and Clark to team up. He wants to fuel their rivalry to must-see entertainment, grow WNBA viewership, and draw higher salaries. Through Reebok, Shaq might be closer to boosting sponsorship-driven higher pay for the WNBA athletes before his youngest, Me’Arah, declares for the draft.

Reebok was at its prime when it signed Shaq, neck-and-neck with Nike and Air Jordan. O’Neal wants to get the brand there, and at the same time, bring the WNBA to par with the NBA. There will be stiff competition after this deal, but nothing Shaq isn’t used to.