NBA Summer League 

Puma Made Big News With Hoops Sneaker Deals But Will Not Have Presence At NBA Summer League In Vegas Next Month

Alan Snel , ,

By ALAN SNEL

LVSportsBiz.com

 

Puma made splash headlines this week by signing some of the biggest names in Thursday’s NBA draft to sneaker deals, but do not expect Puma to have a presence or activations at the NBA Summer League in Las Vegas next month.

 

That’s because powerhouse basketball sneaker maker Nike is the NBA Summer League’s official partner for the annual popular hoops event held at Thomas & Mack Center and Cox Pavilion on the UNLV campus.

 

Puma signed expected first pick Deandre Ayton and top prospects Marvin Bagley III and Michael Porter, Jr. to endorsement deals in their first basketball sneaker deals in 20 years.

 

Puma showed what the new sneakers will look like.

 

The NBA Summer League in Las Vegas, which will feature all 30 NBA teams for the first time, will be staged from July 6-17 when 82 games will be played over a dozen days at Thomas & Mack Center and Cox Pavilion. The summer league set an attendance record in Las Vegas last year.

 

Even though Puma made news with its announcement that Jay-Z, a rapper and sports agent, would be its “creative consultant,” Nike is an NBA Summer League’s official partner and companies that are sponsors squawk if a competitor tries to ambush them at an event where they are a corporate partner.

 

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The NBA Summer League tips off with 10 games on July 6 on the UNLV campus and will be beefing up more features for fans, Thomas & Mack Center Executive Director Mike Newcomb has said. 

 

Puma and basketball sneakers go back to the 1970s when former New York Knicks star Walt “Clyde” Frazier wore Pumas and Frazier has again been enlisted by Puma for a lifetime deal this week to help promote the new Puma hoops sneakers that are expected to hit retail stores in October.

 

Nike is a dominant force in NBA sneaker sales and have superstars LeBron James and Kevin Durant on its roster to promote the Nike brand.

 

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Follow LVSportsBiz.com on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Contact LVSportsBiz.com founder/writer Alan Snel at asnel@LVSportsBiz.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Alan Snel

Alan Snel brings decades of sports-business reporting experience to LVSportsBiz.com. Snel covered the business side of sports for the South Florida (Fort Lauderdale) Sun-Sentinel, the Tampa Tribune and Las Vegas Review-Journal. As a city hall beat reporter, Snel also covered stadium deals in Denver and Seattle. In 2000, Snel launched a sport-business website for FoxSports.com called FoxSportsBiz.com. After reporting sports-business for the RJ, Snel wrote hard-hitting stories on the Raiders stadium for the Desert Companion magazine in Las Vegas and The Nevada Independent. Snel is also one of the top bicycle advocates in the country.

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