'More Than a Big Man' Joel Embiid 'Excited' to Have His Own Signature Shoe
Air JoJos? Embiizys? These are just a couple terrible shoe name ideas for the signature shoe Joel Embiid hopes to bring to stores soon.
"Signature shoes?" Embiid said while with the Sixers in China, per Tim MacMahon of ESPN. "We might be able to make it happen at some point, and I'm excited about it. I'm excited.
"A lot of people, you know, always have that notion [that] big men can't sell shoes. And when I look at myself ... I can dribble, I can pass the ball, I can shoot. I can bring it up. I can be a playmaker. I'm more than a big man. So as far as signature shoes, I'm excited to come and break that."
Embiid currently does not have a shoe deal. He has been wearing Under Armour throughout the preseason, which could signal the brand is the current favorite.
Stephen Curry is currently the face of Under Armour's shoe brand, though the company could use some cache. Curry's shoes have become a source of tongue-in-cheek mocking on NBA Twitter due to their, well, resemblance to dad cookout shoes. (More recent iterations have gotten better.)
Embiid says his brand as the NBA's resident troll has helped make him a more marketable talent.
"Oh, yeah, it definitely helps the brand," he said. "People understand that that's my personality. That's me. That's who I am. It definitely helps a lot."
Under Armour, Puma, New Balance and Chinese brands have pursued Embiid, per MacMahon.
