WNBA, Puma Announce Endorsement Partnership; Brand's 1st Deal with Sports League

Puma's re-emergence into the basketball world just took a big step forward. 

The WNBA announced on Friday that it has reached a deal with Puma, the apparel company's first partnership with a professional sports league:

This is just the latest basketball deal for the apparel company.

Before 2018, Puma had largely been out of the basketball business for nearly two decades. It had signed then-Toronto Raptors star Vince Carter to a 10-year deal back in 1998, but that partnership lasted less than two years. Since then, Nike, Adidas and Under Armour have been the big players around the game.

However, ESPN's Nick DePaula revealed back in May that Puma was looking to re-enter the basketball market. And it has made a number of splashes recently.

Puma named Jay Z the president of its basketball division back in June. It has also signed Deandre Ayton, Marvin Bagley III, Zhaire Smith and Terry Rozier in recent months.

And while having individual players on board moving forward could prove to be beneficial, teaming up with entire league can help put the brand name in front of customers. Just as importantly, Puma can now market WNBA players in their uniforms.

Puma's first time in the WNBA spotlight will come during Saturday's All-Star Game at the Target Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota.