Building the brand of a number one draft pick: Can Zion be as marketable as LeBron?

When the name of the New Orleans Pelicans was pulled out first in this year’s National Basketball Association (NBA) draft lottery, staff that had gathered to watch the draw in the franchise’s ticket office reacted as if they had stumbled upon a well in the desert. In reality, though, the Pelicans had struck gold.

Interest in the NBA Draft – and indeed those of all the North American major leagues – has always been high, but this year, Duke University prospect Zion Williamson dragged the levels of intrigue up to new heights. The question was never so much whether he was going to be drafted first, but which franchise was going to be lucky enough to have him. Most top picks are predicted to have a transformative effect on their team’s fortunes, but rarely is an individual yet to set foot on a professional court expected to be quite so franchise-altering.

As of early July, Williamson’s pending arrival had already seen the Pelicans sell 10,000 season tickets for their 16,867-capacity Smoothie King Center. The player’s professional debut clocked a 1.2 metered market rating on ESPN, breaking TV viewership records for the NBA Summer League. Already, it is being predicted that he will waltz his way to the league’s rookie of the year award during the 2019/20 season.

So what, exactly, is it about Williamson that has got everyone talking? 

“What’s interesting about Zion is there’s been so much hype and talk about him for such a long amount of time,” begins Darren Heitner, a US-based sports lawyer and founder of Heitner Legal. “Couple that with the fact that he went to the biggest blueblood school, that being Duke, and was on the national stage for such a long period of time, was a fantastic player in college, has a very unique build in terms of his body, and was the number one overall pick.”

Being the number one overall pick carries commercial heft in any sport, whether it be the National Football League (NFL), National Hockey League (NHL) or Major League Baseball (MLB), which all have individuals who command serious commercial dollars. The NBA, however, has arguably a better recent track record than any for converting emerging talents into global phenoms. 

“The most marketable players in the US right now tend to be professional basketball players,” Heitner asserts. “There are a lot of factors that go into that; the growth of the game has been tremendous over the past decade, the amount of viewers and interest even beyond the game has really helped the game and the players grow with regards to marketability. Even as far as the amount of money that they’re making, I think that draws additional interest. 

“But certainly the higher the pick no matter the sport, typically the more intrigue surrounding the player. I just think that basketball has been able to separate itself as a sport among the other large sports in the US.”

Great expectations

A larger than life character in more ways than one, Williamson was dominating the conversation long before he joined NBA commissioner Adam Silver on stage in June to pose with Pelicans apparel for the first time.

The basketball world held its collective breath in February when Williamson’s Nike shoe exploded 33 seconds into a game against North Carolina, prompting his 2.01 metre (6ft 7in) frame to collapse under the pressure of an injury to his right knee. As well as wiping one per cent off Nike’s share price, Heitner says it was a moment that “only added to the discussion” and “made him more recognisable” among both basketball fans and the general public.

And such is the magnitude of US college sports that Williamson was already a known quantity from the endless catalogue of showreels that had been put together from his exploits in the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC), which awarded the South Carolina native its athlete, player and rookie of the year awards for 2019.

“It’s not only the exposure from a media perspective,” begins Heitner, “but it also allows fans to connect to those players early on, and social media has certainly contributed to that tremendously, where fans are able to follow their favourite college athletes.

“The top-level guys are creating their social media profiles, they’re doing their best oftentimes to provide constant and intriguing content, so then when the players are going pro, they’re not starting from scratch, they already have these huge followings, and they are oftentimes nationwide if not international followings irrespective of what team drafts them and what location they’re playing in.”

Nike made headlines for the wrong reasons in February when Williamson's shoe exploded 33 seconds into a college game for Duke against North Carolina

It is a combination of all that – his sport, his once-in-a-generation talent and his already obvious star aura - that has tempted some US media to christen Williamson as the most marketable NBA rookie since LeBron James. And if living up to the on-court achievements of one of the greatest basketball players of all time is not daunting enough, Williamson has also been tipped by some industry analysts to rack up US$1 billion during his career from basketball and his commercial endorsements.

Clearly then, for the teenager parachuted in at number three on this year’s list of the world’s 50 most marketable athletes, the bar is being set remarkably high.

“Well, he has a lot to live up to,” says Heitner. “Brands that are paying him a lot of money are going to expect deliverables and results in turn, so absolutely he’s entering into the biggest moment of his life.

“He’s going to have to one, prove himself on the court - that’s most important, hopefully stay injury free - and then be personable off the court, and generate that conversation surrounding the brands that are hoping to receive value from his endorsement and from the use of his publicity rights.”

Where the 19-year-old might already have an edge over the NBA’s elder statesman, though, is in the era in which he is breaking through.

“What really separates him and allows him to be potentially more marketable than LeBron coming out of college is the fact that social media has changed so much since when LeBron went into the professional ranks as opposed to today when Zion’s entering,” Heitner explains.

“Zion enters with a massive following on a variety of social media platforms – not just a following, but also engagement, which is really important. So I think that is what has really allowed Zion to distinguish himself from LeBron.”

Heitner says Williamson's four million Instagram followers make him even more valuable to brands

Entering the commercial battleground

Given that NCAA regulations prohibit college athletes from signing endorsement contracts until they turn professional, Williamson is likely to have been inundated with offers since being snapped up by the Pelicans. As he starts to entertain those, however, Williamson will also have to deal with a US$100 million lawsuit hanging over his head.

Back in July it was revealed that Williamson was suing to enforce the termination of an agreement signed with Florida-based Prime Sports Marketing, alleging that the deal breached laws designed to protect student-athletes from unauthorised agents. At the heart of the issue is that Prime Sports and its president, Gina Ford, were not certified by the National Basketball Players Association or registered in the state of North Carolina.

News of the lawsuit, filed on Williamson’s behalf by New York-based attorney Jeffrey Klein, emerged just days after the player signed with the Creative Artists Agency (CAA) in a deal covering contract negotiations and marketing. Prime Sports and Ford subsequently filed a countersuit against the NBA recruit and CAA seeking damages of US$100 million, claiming that the player is in breach of a contract that he willingly signed.

The latest development came earlier this month, as additional amendments made to the existing lawsuit filed by Williamson alleged that Prime Sports had violated North Carolina sports agent laws by beginning its pursuit of the player as early as January 2019 while he was still playing his freshman basketball season at Duke.

As that intricate saga continues to rumble on in the background, Heitner says Austin Brown and Lisa Joseph Metelus, now Williamson’s representatives at CAA, will be “helping with the intake on all the outreach from different brands and determining what is and is not the right fit”, while Williamson will ultimately have final say on who he signs with.

“Who?” was precisely the question on everyone’s lips when it came to Williamson’s first shoe deal, and speculation only intensified after the aforementioned Nike malfunction. With as many as six brands – including the likes of Adidas, Puma and New Balance – reportedly vying for Williamson’s signature, ESPN estimated that his rookie shoe contract could command as much as US$100 million.

Ultimately, though, the sought-after sensation opted to team up with another NBA legend he would do well to emulate, announcing in July that he had signed a multi-year deal with Nike’s Jordan Brand. Forbes reported that the agreement is worth a whopping US$75 million over seven years, making it one of the biggest rookie shoe deals in NBA history, but still less than the US$87 million contract LeBron signed with Nike after being drafted first by the Cleveland Cavaliers.

“I think from a broader perspective, the amount of money that shoe and apparel companies have thrown at players coming out of college has changed dramatically over the past decade,” Heitner explains. “Less money is being promised to players prior to them actually performing and proving themselves at the highest level, and even then domestic brands tend to be pulling back a bit.

“Interestingly at the same time, you have had other brands enter the space that either had been a part of professional basketball in the past or not.

“I think it should be said that Zion perhaps could have made more money either going with a different brand or even trying to create his own brand, but probably felt most comfortable going with a company such as Nike and its Jordan Brand, and they have left some money on the table.

“But I think with regard to comparing his deal to LeBron, if you’re going to criticise it in any way, it’s probably not Zion that’s to be criticised, it’s the fact that companies in general have largely scaled back in the amount of money they’re willing to invest in really unproven products.”

What is also worth considering is the market in which Williamson has ended up. Given the way entry drafts work – teams with the worst record from the previous season have better odds of landing the first pick – players coming out of college tend to have little say over who signs them.

New Orleans is one of the NBA's smaller markets

There is every chance that Williamson will have the draw to transcend what is traditionally one of the NBA’s smaller market teams – the Pelicans’ US$1.2 billion valuation is the second lowest in the league - but Heitner says it would have been more beneficial to his marketability had the stars aligned for him to become the face of a franchise in New York or Los Angeles.

“I do think it affects his marketability, at least in the infancy of his professional career,” Heitner declares. “His team will not receive the same amount of national exposure as one, a larger market team, and two, a team that’s probably predicted to have better results than the team on which he was drafted.

“So I think that in a certain respect it does limit his ability to command perhaps larger dollars and more marketing deals, although that also in turn may be a good thing for him not to oversaturate himself in his rookie season with too many deals.

“If he does perform well then his value and price tag will be going up irrespective of where he’s playing. That said, in a smaller market such as New Orleans, he doesn’t have as many big names to compete against for exposure, so it could turn out to be a benefit for him, especially if the city and surrounding territory champion him in a way and market him in a way where it continues to benefit his exposure.”

Living up to the hype

Williamson has wasted no time cashing in on his newfound fame, adding deals with trading card and memorabilia company Panini and the NBA 2K video game to his Jordan Brand shoe contract.

However, flagship brands of similar ilk are only likely to want to continue to associate themselves with Williamson for as long as he is a success on the court. Sponsors that have been and will be prepared to tie the rookie down early in his career are not only banking on future titles, but also his ability to stay fit and enjoy a long career.

It is not uncommon, though, for number one picks to go off the boil. Being top of the class does not always go hand in hand with marketability, and Heitner says the first few seasons of Williamson’s career will give a good indication of just how marketable he will go on to be.

“That’s definitely true years after the draft, because the top players aren’t always the most talented at the next level,” Heitner explains. “Sometimes they can have a lot of hype surrounding them and they can be viewed as strong prospects but not pan out at the highest level.

Heitner says Williamson's success on the court will ultimately determine how marketable he becomes

“But certainly, even separate from that you have personalities that shine through no matter where they’re selected, and sometimes the top overall pick does not have the type of personality to support further exposure and further hype, so just being drafted number one overall is not a guarantee that that individual is going to be the most marketable person for that rookie season or for years to come.”

In the case of Williamson, however, the hype feels real. Whether he can scale the marketable heights of LeBron remains to be seen, but there appears to be no doubt that it will be fun finding out. 

“I don’t see why there’s a limitation,” says Heitner, when asked whether Williamson can be as big as LeBron. “I think again he’s got a very impressive build, and can transcend the sport in a way where he can play almost any position similar to LeBron.

“Time will tell whether his personality shines in the way LeBron’s has – remember LeBron was quite controversial in his early years with the NBA, so his Q score has gone up and down over the years. Ultimately he’s one of if not the most marketable people in the world.

“A lot will depend on what Zion is able to do on the court. LeBron has proven himself in high school and then in the NBA. Can Zion prove himself not only in college but also at the highest level of basketball as well? I think that will determine whether or not he can be on the same marketable scale as LeBron.”