As Puma continues it’s ascension into a basketball mainstay, the talent on their roster also continues to pile up. After inking four high-profile prospects form this year’s 2018 NBA Draft class to shoe deals, ESPN’s Nick DePaula reports that they have also signed veteran forward Rudy Gay:
Rudy Gay just appeared at Puma’s New York event and was announced as the brand’s newest signing. Still more on the way…
— Nick DePaula (@NickDePaula) June 20, 2018
Now 14 years into his NBA career, Rudy Gay is vastly different from the other recent signees to the Puma brand. The brand known mostly for soccer and track & field has made a clear, concerted effort to entrench themselves in the basketball world early this summer.
Just in the past few days, Puma recently signed four of the top sixteen picks from Thursday’s NBA Draft including the Suns’ Deandre Ayton, Kings’ Marvin Bagley III, 76ers’ Zhaire Smith and the Nuggets’ Michael Porter Jr.
Along with these four marquee prospects, Puma had also signed Knicks legend Walt Frazier to a lifetime deal while naming Jay-Z as the head of their basketball section. Their newest signing of Rudy Gay contrasts their recent activity of pursuing younger pieces, giving them an established veteran element needed to grow their brand even further.
