Joel Embiid Has A Story To Tell About Life, Hoops, New Under Armour Shoe Deal
Thursday, October 11, 2018 at 05:59PM By Barry Janoff
October 11, 2018: Joel Embiid, NBA All-Star center for the Philadelphia 76ers, has signed a five-year deal with Under Armour, which will include signature shoes, marketing and other activations.
Embiid, who had been with adidas his first four years in the league, tipped his hand (or foot) in the pre-season when he wore Under Armour kicks during games, including the two China Games against the Dallas Mavericks.
Financial terms of the deal were not shared, but were called “the biggest for a center” by industry analysts.
“Welcome to the family,” Under Armour proclaimed on its Web site.
Embiid spent time after his signing in an Under Armour van, handing out swag to kids at a Philadelphia Boys & Girls Club.
“Philly has been behind me from Day 1 . . . Ya’ll have had my back. Now I’m gonna do my best to have your back,” he posted to his Twitter account.
Embiid has a solid social media following: 2.9 million on Instagram, 1.5 million-plus on Twitter, more than 281,000 on Facebook.
He joins a roster of Under Armour athletes and celebrities that includes Stephon Curry, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Tom Brady, Jordan Spieth, Misty Copeland, Bryce Harper, Clayton Kershaw, Lindsey Vonn, Anthony Joshua, Cam Newton and Michael Phelps.
For Embiid, however, the move to Under Armour went beyond signing a deal with a shoe company.
“This is about more than just shoes. This is about more than just basketball. I’m joining the Under Armour family, but I’m not trying to sell you sneakers right now,” Embiid wrote on in an essay, “This Is Bigger Than Basketball,” posted on the Under Armour Web site.
Embiid, who was born in Yaoundé, Cameroon, did not play basketball until he was 15, using as his inspirations Hall of Famer Hakeem Olajuwon and Luc Mbah a Moute, also a native of Cameroon, who was in the NBA and running a basketball camp there.
He eventually played one year at Kansas before being drafted in the first round (No. 3) overall by the Sixers in 2014.
“When I sat down with Under Armour, one of the first things we talked about was how this can be bigger than just shoes, bigger than just basketball,” wrote Embiid. “I want to help change people’s lives like Luc changed my life.”
He talks about his life in Cameroon, going from undiscovered to the Sixers in just a few years, his parents and his younger brother, Arthur, who died in a car accident in Cameroon shortly after Embiid was drafted.
This past summer, he was part of a group of NBAers who played in the 2018 Africa Game.
He also is the cover athlete for EA Sports NBA Live 19.
“Basketball has given me everything, but it has to be bigger than basketball. That was the first thing that I said to Under Armour, and they were behind it 100%. This isn’t about a shoe deal. I mean, listen . . . I’m gonna make sure they design some shoes as pretty as I am. Don’t worry about that. We’re gonna take care of that.
“But this is bigger than that. I want to use this partnership to do something real. I want to do something that would make my brother proud.
“And I want to start in Philly.”
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