“I don’t like doing what everybody does”: How Angel Reese’s bold decision to pass on Nike became a major bet before sparking a Team USA controversy

How Angel Reese’s bold decision to pass on Nike became a major bet before sparking a Team USA controversy(Getty Images)

Angel Reese’s decision to take a different path with her footwear partnership is back in the spotlight after her Team USA arrival at the 2026 FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup. Reese was seen wearing a vintage Reebok tracksuit, even though Team USA’s official apparel is supplied by Nike. The choice quickly sparked debate online and brought renewed attention to a decision Reese made long before the current controversy.Reese signed with Reebok in October 2023 while she was still at LSU. At the time, she had plenty of options, but she wanted something beyond simply joining another major sports brand. She wanted to become a central figure in a company that was rebuilding its basketball business, while also having a bigger role in shaping what came next.

Reese explained her thinking herself in a video that circulated on X in May 2024, several months after she originally signed with Reebok. She was asked why she chose the brand when she had other opportunities available.

“I wanted to be a priority ’cause I could have signed easily with Nike. I could easily sign with Jordan,” Reese said. “But everybody’s doing that. I don’t like doing what everybody does. I like to do the complete opposite.

I’m bringing Reebok back.”Those remarks came from the resurfaced social media video, rather than a formal press conference or game-day interview. In the same video, Reese explained that Reebok did not have a prominent women’s basketball player as the face of its brand, which gave her an opportunity to fill that role. She also pointed to her relationship with Shaquille O’Neal and the creative freedom Reebok offered her.That decision quickly became bigger than a standard endorsement deal. Reese became the first major NIL signing of Reebok’s renewed basketball push, with Shaquille O’Neal serving as president of Reebok Basketball and Allen Iverson also joining the brand’s basketball leadership. Reese was positioned as one of the faces of its return to the sport.The partnership then gave Reese a chance to influence products connected to her own identity. In 2024, she launched the Reebok by Angel collection and debuted the Engine A performance shoe during a WNBA game against Caitlin Clark’s Indiana Fever. Later that year, she agreed to a multiyear extension that included a signature shoe.

The biggest proof of the partnership came with the Angel Reese 1. The signature shoe officially launched on September 18, 2025, at $120. Within hours, all three launch colourways sold out on Reebok’s website across all 24 sizes. Reese later described the launch as a major risk because the company released three versions of her first signature shoe at once.The success also gave more weight to the choice Reese made two years earlier. She had not simply selected a different logo. She had taken a chance on a brand trying to rebuild its position in basketball, while putting her own name and image at the centre of that comeback.That is why her appearance at the 2026 World Cup has attracted so much attention. On September 3, Nice Kicks shared footage of Reese arriving in a vintage Reebok tracksuit. Former U.S. Olympian Mechelle Freeman then criticised the decision in a now-deleted X post, writing, “She isn’t bigger than the team. No one is. Ever.”

The criticism has turned what was once a personal business decision into a larger conversation about athletes, sponsorships and national teams. Reese’s Reebok partnership is part of her professional identity, but Team USA also has its own commercial arrangements.In Reese's case, the irony is hard to miss. In 2024, she openly said she wanted to take the road that most athletes were not taking. More than two years later, that same decision has helped build her signature shoe business and has now placed her personal brand at the centre of a fresh Team USA debate.