Over the last few years, footwear companies based out of China have tried to make waves in the United States, particularly when it comes to getting noteworthy basketball players to be the faces of their brands stateside. Most notably, Warriors star Klay Thompson takes the floor with Antas on his feet, and they usually end up being pretty aesthetically pleasing sneakers.
While Anta is doing its thing, Li-Ning is also trying to break into the American market. It has a sizable list of basketball players on its roster, and few of them are more prominent than Dwyane Wade, who joined the company back in 2012. Wade has had a few signature sneakers with the company, and on Wednesday, word dropped that surely makes it sound like he has a few more signature kicks on the horizon.
Wade’s newest shoe, the Way of Wade 7, was revealed. Soon after, the soon-to-be Hall of Fame guard signed a lifetime deal with Li-Ning.
First look at the Li-Ning Way of Wade 7 for @DwyaneWade 👀 pic.twitter.com/jhC3tgdyzS
— B/R Kicks (@brkicks) July 18, 2018
BREAKING: Dwyane Wade has agreed to a Lifetime Deal with Chinese brand Li-Ning.
He first signed with the company in 2012, is launching his 7th Way of Wade signature shoe & has 11 standalone Wade stores in China. Li-Ning boasts more than 7,000 stores in Asia.
📷: @MsBennyBonsu pic.twitter.com/N0Jxk94Faa
— Nick DePaula (@NickDePaula) July 18, 2018
After the deal was official, Wade took to Instagram to celebrate the occasion.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BlXh6UZA-uq/
https://www.instagram.com/p/BlYTwS8AOMn/
Wade also spoke to Tim Reynolds of the Associated Press about the move, saying “This was something I needed to do from the standpoint of building something. That’s what I set out to do. This word we all talk about, legacy, I tried to set out to build a legacy for myself and my family. And after six years of that, it’s cool to be here today.”
