Aug
02
I
got the sense during the Las Vegas Summer League that rookie Will Barton might be close to signing with upstart sneaker/apparel company
Under Armour. Both Barton, the 40th pick in the 2012 NBA Draft, and Under Armour are based out of Baltimore, so there's a connection there. And UA has continued to increase their stable of NBA players, including the likes of Brandon Jennings, Kemba Walker, DeAndre Jordan and Derrick Williams, after making their bones specializing in compression apparel most commonly associated with football, so a partnership between Barton and UA would seem to make sense for both parties.
So no surprise yesterday when Barton,
via his instagram account, announced he had in fact joined the Under Armour crew:
After making the announcement, Barton heard from a few of his new Under Armour comrades:
Barton joins a growing and impressive group of non-NBA athletes, such as Tom Brady, Ray Lewis, Arian Foster, Cam Newton, Buster Posey and Bryce Harper, who are all sponsored by UA.
No idea what the terms of the agreement are, though hopefully it involved Barton getting some kind of player exclusive sneaker. Currently, Under Armour Basketball only offers the
Brandon Jennings' "Bloodline" sneaker on their site, though their newest basketball shoe,
the Micro G Juke, is sold-out. Best guess: Barton doesn't get his own shoe, but a custom Juke PE, which will hopefully be available for purchase in Portland at some point.