South Carolina women's basketball: A'ja Wilson talks about her signature shoe and making the announcement in Columbia
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A’ja Wilson has a bunch of championship rings, a statue, and now a shoe. Wilson and Nike announced the A’One shoe on Saturday.
The announcement was timed to correspond to the Aces’ preseason game against Puerto Rico in Columbia. Wilson arrived for the game wearing a cutoff hoodie that said “Of Course I Have a Shoe Dot Com.” Dawn Staley also wore the slogan on a shirt when she sat courtside.
“To be home and to say that I’m having a shoe, it was special. I’m so glad that we were able to get that out and across, particularly here because this is where it all started. To come back and say that I’m a Nike Signature Athlete and there’s an A’One coming out in the spring – it’s so crazy to be sharing that with y’all because I’ve been sitting on that for a couple of years and I just could not share. It’s going to be epic. It’s going to be big. I’m excited for next year.”
That URL leads to a Nike page that lists Wilson’s career achievements, dubbing her the “pettiest hooper on the internet.” (Aces coach Becky Hammon questioned whether it should have said “prettiest.” Wilson confirmed that while she is pretty, she is also petty.)
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The shoe’s design has not been revealed.
“The design process with Nike was really gratifying, and I didn’t realize how much goes into designing a shoe,” Wilson said in a statement. “My biggest asks were that the shoe was light and comfortable for all the hours I spend on the court, and that it also looks really good. It’s versatile, and I hope people will wear it when they’re hooping but also just when they’re walking around every day. It’s so exciting to be sharing my signature, a piece of me, with the world.”
Wilson also gets a personal logo as part of the signature line.
The signature shoe has been in development for over a year. Wilson becomes the 13th player in WNBA history with a signature shoe, a list that includes Wilson’s college coach, Dawn Staley. It was Staley that reveled to Wilson back in 2023 that she would be getting her own shoe.
Wilson joins current players Elena Delle Donne (Nike), Breanna Stewart (Puma,) and Sabrina Ionescu (Nike) with a signature shoe, and Nike has signed Caitlin Clark to a deal that will reportedly include a signature shoe.
That sparked outrage that less accomplished players were getting shoes instead of Wilson, with many pointing out the other players are all white.
Nike never commented, and Wilson limited herself to cryptic tweets. Saturday’s announcement revealing the lengthy design process explains the silence.
“It was very, very hard. It was two-fold. I didn’t want to say that I have a shoe if it’s not what I want it to be. I have an awesome team at Nike that really put my vision out there into a shoe,” Wilson said.
“I wanted to make sure that when the shoe was ready that it is me,” Wilson continued. “It was very hard. I see the tweets, I see the DMs, I see the sources say that XYZ is getting a shoe. And it’s hard to sit there and zip your mouth.”
“I knew it was coming for a while so I was just waiting for it,” Becky Hammon said. “I’m putting my order in for sure. I’m a 7.5 men’s and 9.5 women’s, A’ja.”
