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A’ja Wilson has a lot to be proud of. In addition to being a two-time WNBA champion, a staple on the All-Star team and an Olympian, Wilson is an It Girl. Amid her busy career, Wilson—who is currently competing for gold in Paris— is gearing up to release her Nike signature shoe. The deal is especially significant because it makes Wilson the first Black woman to get a Nike signature basketball shoe in over two decades. “To be the next Black woman with a signature shoe, oh my gosh, I am so excited for next year. … It’s such a big moment,” Wilson told Footwear News in her cover story published today. She teased that the sneaker, named the A’One, will be a “very versatile” and “comfortable” low top shoe.
The exciting collaboration, which was announced in May, was briefly met with skepticism because the news came after reports of Caitlin Clark’s own signature shoe with Nike. “The conversation [on social media] was like, ‘Now you have a shoe because of Caitlin.’ No, it was never that. What is for me was always going to be for me, with or without this rookie class. I promise you that,” Wilson told FN.
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While Clark—who was drafted to the Indiana Fever in April—and other 2024 rookies, including Angel Reese and Cameron Brink, have been credited with increasing the WNBA’s popularity, Wilson and her forthcoming shoe prove that the league and its veterans have always been worth the hype. Take Reese’s on-court style, for example. The Chicago Sky forward previously shared that she wears the single-leg sleeve because of Wilson. “I cover the scar for one, then my two players that I really admire, Te’a Cooper and A’ja Wilson, they also wear it too. … So it’s swag. But I’ve used it to cover my scar,” Reese said during the 2023 NCAA Tournament. Wilson, meanwhile, told FN that she first started wearing the piece because “my leg was not working.”
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Reese isn’t the only athlete to hop on the trend. “[My agent] Jade [English], was at a regional and she sent a picture of the 10 girls on the court, eight of them had on the one leg sleeve. She was like, ‘Look at the A’ja Wilson effect,” Wilson said.
Wilson’s pregame style is also noteworthy. Last month, she graced the tunnel in a tennis skirt and textured sandal heels, a fuzzy bucket hat with cargos and an unforgettable monochrome fit that consisted of a blue moto jacket and a coordinating leather mini dress. She just gets it.
