Victor Wembanyama has agreed to a contract extension with Nike that will include a signature shoe, league and industry sources told The Athletic.
Wembanyama, who further became a face of the brand during the San Antonio Spurs’ run to the NBA Finals, will join LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Devin Booker, Ja Morant and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander in Nike’s current NBA player signature shoe collection.
ESPN was the first to report the deal. The sources spoke with The Athletic on the condition of anonymity because the signature shoe deal has not been formally announced.
Wembanyama, 22, was the first unanimous winner of the NBA’s Defensive Player of the Year award and finished third in MVP voting last season. During the postseason, Nike began running more social media advertising featuring Wembanyama, celebrating his wins on the road to the finals. Wembanyama has primarily played in Nike’s G.T. series of shoes, featuring a small alien logo the brand first unveiled when he became a Nike athlete in 2022, the year before the Spurs drafted him. Nike has released a special-edition Wembanyama version of the G.T., but this will be his first signature shoe with the brand.
In a video Nike and Wembanyama posted to social media Friday, they unveiled a new Wembanyama alien logo that takes on a subtler form. The new logo features a stylized V over a W, creating the image of an alien in the negative space.
The video shows a supernova eruption that then turns into a pulsar, revealing the new “VW” alien logo. This was chosen to signify that, according to Nike, Wembanyama is the NBA’s brightest rising star. The pulsar ties back to early research on the phenomenon, which had scientists wondering if their signals were signs of alien life.
“We are proud to continue supporting Victor Wembanyama’s journey with Nike,” Nike said in a statement to The Athletic. “As one of the most unique and influential athletes in the world, Victor is a generational talent who continues to inspire the game’s next generation. We are excited about all that we’ve built together and look forward to more wins ahead.”
Nike recently released a special “Nike Atelier” capsule collection in conjunction with Wembanyama, featuring a reimagined lifestyle version of the T90 Laser III soccer shoe.
Wembanyama signs his long-term deal with Nike just weeks after signing a five-year, $252 million extension with the Spurs that will keep him in San Antonio through the 2031-32 season. Wembanyama was eligible to sign for the $301 million supermax, which includes around $50 million in bonuses if he once again met one of several award criteria next season. But the Spurs star took the rare decision to settle for the standard max, telling The Athletic’s Jason Jones, “The reality of today’s NBA is that often, the potential of teams is not fulfilled because of money. I just want to make sure it’s never our case.”
