A’ja Wilson Is the Face of the WNBA. So Why Is She Wearing LeBron’s Shoes?

LAS VEGAS – Before Game 1 of the WNBA Finals on Sunday, Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James gifted Las Vegas Aces star A’ja Wilson a custom pair of his Nike LeBron 21 shoes. Images of the one-of-one black and gold sneakers quickly spread across the internet and were even highlighted during ABC’s broadcast of the Aces’ 99-82 win over the New York Liberty.

James sat courtside as he watched Wilson put up 19 points, 8 rebounds, 3 blocks, 2 steals and 2 assists in his custom kicks. As I watched Wilson lead the Aces one step closer to back-to-back WNBA championships, which hasn’t been done in over 20 years, I couldn’t help but think the best WNBA player should be making history in her own signature shoes, not someone else’s.

“You think?” Aces coach Becky Hammon told me after the game with an incredulous grin. “You don’t need my thoughts. You already know my thoughts.”

Hammon, of course, wasn’t going to stop there because this isn’t really about footwear. It’s about representation. It’s how many young fans of basketball connect with their favorite players. It’s how a league grows beyond its current fan base and attracts new fans by highlighting their next Michael Jordan and also selling the next Air Jordans.

“She needs her own shoe,” Hammon told me, this time more bluntly. “She is the two-time MVP. I’ll toot her horn because she won’t. Olympic gold medalist, best defensive player two years running, her team’s (success)…Stop. Stop.”

Some have compared the Aces-Liberty matchup in this year’s WNBA Finals to the start of a rivalry that could be similar to the Lakers-Celtics playing in three NBA Finals during the 1980s. My most vivid memory of that rivalry as a child wasn’t a game or a play but the Converse commercial Magic Johnson and Larry Bird did in their custom Converse Weapon sneakers. The iconic ad closed with the announcer saying. “The Bird shoe. The Magic shoe. Choose your Weapon.”

A remake of that commercial this year for the budding rivalry between Wilson and Breanna Stewart, who is also a two-time WNBA MVP and five-time WNBA All-Star, would have been great but while Stewart has a signature shoe deal with Puma, Wilson — who is sponsored by Nike — does not.

“In due time, in due time,” Wilson told me when I asked her about getting her own signature shoe. “We’ll see what goes on but in due time I believe we’re going to get something moving and shaking but I’m blessed just to have my name in that conversation. 

“A lot of players don’t get signature shoes so for people to say I should or demanding that I get one, I’m blessed to be in that situation. So, in due time, we’ll see, until then I’m going to rock these LeBron 21s until the heel falls off.”

Sitting next to James courtside on Sunday was Houston Comets legend Sheryl Swoopes, who was the first women’s basketball player to have her own signature shoe when Nike released the “Air Swoopes” in 1995. It still holds the record for the longest-running women’s basketball signature shoe line thanks to its seven-year run from 1995 to 2002. 

A total of 12 WNBA players have had signature shoes in the league’s 27-year history, though several of those lines didn’t bear the player’s name. Most runs were short, only one or two years. Rebecca Lobo’s Reebok Lobo hit shelves in 1997, Diana Taurasi’s Nike Air Max Taurasi’s debuted in 2005 and Candace Parker’s adidas Ace Commander line was released in 2010. 

In the last two years, three WNBA players have gotten their own signature shoe line – ending a decade-long drought. In 2022, Puma unveiled the Puma Stewie while Nike honored two-time MVP Elena Delle Donne with the Nike Air Deldon. This year, Sabrina Ionescu joined the party with her signature Nike Sabrina 1s.

Ionescu, who has been the fourth leading scorer on the Liberty this postseason, got a signature shoe before Wilson drew the ire of many fans when the deal was announced. Nike also heard from many upset fans on social media after Wilson scored a WNBA record-tying 53 points in a game wearing the LeBron 20 signature shoe.

“LeBron has always been supportive of me ever since I was in college,” Wilson said after Sunday’s WNBA Finals win. “He would always be in my ear. We have a great relationship, friendship and bond. It’s pretty cool to see the mutual respect we have for one another. We get hit with a lot of crap on the internet from a lot of really, really bad-minded people so to have someone’s favorite player still reach out and still support is so key.”

When James was asked about gifting Wilson custom shoes before the WNBA Finals, he said, “A’ja is my little sister and I love what she’s been able to do not only for the game of basketball itself but for the WNBA and all the little girls around the world who look up to her for inspiration. Obviously, her accolades speak for themselves from high school to South Carolina and now with the Las Vegas Aces… It’s only right that I was able to take care of her for another Finals appearance.”

It’s a nice gesture but James shouldn’t have to take care of Wilson at this point in her career. Nike or another shoe company should have taken care of her long before her second straight appearance in the WNBA Finals and made sure that the next time she makes history, she does so wearing her signature shoe, not LeBron’s.