Nike has officially announced it will continue its on-going partnership with the WNBA, NBA and G-league for 13 more years, up to 2037.
To celebrate the partnership, along with the end of the WNBA season and the launch of the 2024-25 NBA season, Nike held a live panel with a multitude of guest speakers at the Nike Headquarters in Manhattan.
The discussion was moderated by Monica McNutt, basketball analyst and reporter for ESPN and MSG Network. Key speakers for both leagues were present, including NBA commissioner Adam Silver, WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert, NY Liberty guard Sabrina Ionescu, Las Vegas Aces center A’Ja Wilson and four-time WNBA Champion Sue Bird.
More players made appearances through Zoom and were shown on a large digital display, such as Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark, Boston Celtics forward Jayson Tatum, Phoenix Suns forward Kevin Durant and Milwaukee Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo.
With the WNBA season recently ending, players, league officials and Nike representatives reflected on the growth of the league this past year.
“I think in a decade we’re going to be looking back at this year saying this was the year, a transformational year for the WNBA,” WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert said. “What a way to end this epic season with that epic matchup between those two teams taking it to the limit,” she added, referring to the NY Liberty claiming the 2024-25 WNBA title in Game 5 over the Minnesota Lynx.
When asked what fans should expect for the next WNBA season, Engelbert mentioned the change of amount of games played in the next finals, which will be seven instead of the previous five. With these new changes, the league continues to grow and adapt to the evolving sport of basketball. This year’s WNBA Rookie of the Year Caitlin Clark reflected on the changes she’s witnessed in Women’s basketball in the past few years and what’s to come for the future.
“We’re just scratching the surface, and I feel like it can only get better and better … from the amount of people that have showed up in the stadiums, from the viewership numbers to people really wanting to wear a WNBA’s players jersey… just how it’s evolved in such a short period of time, I think shows everyone there’s real opportunity here,” Clark said.
Heidi O’Neill, Nike President of Consumer and Marketplace, spoke on the initiatives by Nike to promote young athletes in basketball, specifically young girls.
“With the WNBA, I love the idea of our Nike Game Growers work, which is where we’re bringing 7th and 8th graders you know into the mix and helping them think about how we grow the game together” O’Neill said.
Game Growers has been a program run by Nike since 2019 that allows young female athletes to share their own ideas towards Nike on how to encourage more girls to participate in sports.
“We’re gonna be the athlete, whether it’s the elite athlete or the everyday athlete of the fan at the center and try to extend the game of basketball beyond the elite athlete to grassroots, men’s-women’s, boys-girls, different formats” Nike CEO Elliot Hill said.
Hill also mentioned the global growth of basketball, a developing matter by Nike and the NBA to which commissioner Adam Silver added that he’s hoping for more people to be introduced to the game internationally. NBA champion and international player originally from Greece, Giannis Antetokounmpo contributed to the conversation saying, “We have to play our part in this history … there’s a lot of people around the world in our countries where we’re from watching us and they’re being inspired by us … Last year there were around 150 international players in the NBA. I think it’s in the best place it’s ever been. I know the future is bright for our international players.”
