Austin Reaves is following in Michael Jordan’s footsteps with new contract

Los Angeles Lakers guard Austin Reaves is one of the 26 NBA players who has/will drop their own signature shoe this season. And after the successful launch of his first-ever signature shoe (the AR1), Rigorer (the company that releases his sneakers) has decided to extend his deal to make him an equity partner.

The New Deal

According to Boardroom’s Nick DePaula, the extension will be a multi-year deal that will net Reaves “north of seven figures per year.” This deal will allow Reaves to continue releasing his AR series of sneakers. So, there will be an AR2, AR3, AR4, etc.

And along with being able to add more signature sneakers to his collection, Reaves will also become an equity partner in the overall Rigorer company.

According to their website, Rigorer is “a sporting goods brand who specialize[s] in basketball products and offer[s] an extensive range of protection gear. At RIGORER[,] we believe in quality[.] [O]ur products are carefully and purposefully designed with performance and quality as a priority so that we that we may provide what our athletes truly need.”

Following in Michael Jordan’s Footsteps

As those who watched the film “Air” will recall, Michael Jordan once upon a time signed a deal with a shoe company that gave him equity in said company. To this day, Jordan earns 5% on each Jordan brand shoe sale. 

Although, from the sound of things, it appears that Reaves will have an even larger share of the pie, as Reaves’ new deal will give him equity in the entire company rather than just a subsection of the company (Jordan is a branch of Nike). 

Along with the money he is earning off the court, Reaves is also making a good chunk of money on the court (at least relative to regular folks). Currently, Reaves is in the first year of a 4-year, 53.8-million-dollar extension he signed this past offseason.