Shaquille O'Neal says the stakes are high for Reebok as it eyes a return to basketball: 'If this doesn't work, everyone's leaving'

• Reebok was once one of the NBA's leading brands.
• Legends of the game like Allen Iverson, Dominique Wilkins, and Shaquille O'Neal all sported Reeboks.
• The brand has now partnered with O'Neal to try to regain its status in the sport.

In the 1990s, Reebok was one of basketball's leading brands.

From Dee Brown's iconic slamdunk contest win in his Reebok Pumps to Allen Iverson's first signature sneaker, the "Question Mid," the brand was once at the center of the sport.

But fast-forward to 2024, and Reebok finds itself a long way behind the likes of Nike, Adidas, and Jordan.

The company has now embarked on a big push to change that, however.

In October 2023, former LA Lakers star and hall-of-famer Shaquille O'Neal, 52, was announced as the president of Reebok's basketball operations.

O'Neal, who originally signed with Reebok as a rookie in 1992, is leading the brand's return to the court alongside fellow NBA legend Allen Iverson, who joined the company as the vice president of basketball.

"Listen, we're getting back into basketball," O'Neal said at Reebok's annual brand summit in March, The New York Times reported. "Everyone needs to be 100 percent in on this, because I'm 100 percent in on this."

"I'm not doing this because this is a hobby. I'm doing this because we have a rightful place in basketball," he added.

Despite Reebok's success in the '90s, sales had begun to fall by the turn of the century, and the company was eventually acquired by Adidas for $3.8 billion in 2006.

But Reebok's fortunes did not fare much better under the German company's ownership, which moved the brand away from both basketball and ice hockey.

"Adidas really mismanaged the brand," Matt Powell, a footwear industry analyst and senior advisor with BCE Consulting, told The Times.

Following repeated calls from investors to offload the brand, Reebok was eventually sold to US-based Authentic Brands Group in 2021 for around $2.5 billion.

With O'Neal and Iverson on board, the company now hopes to regain its spot among basketball's elite and challenge the sport's top brands.

But the former stars will have their work cut out — in 2023, Nike reported gross revenue of around $51 billion, while Adidas pulled in roughly $23 billion. Reebok's annual revenue was just $2.3 billion.

As part of its strategy, Reebok is planning to launch a new basketball line in 2025. However, the company will be facing tough market conditions.

Sporting goods companies have faced lower demand while struggling with high inventories in the US, with Adidas reporting its first annual loss in more than 30 years in March and Nike announcing plans to cut around 2% of roles — over 1,600 jobs — in February.

The industry is hoping that the 2024 Paris Olympics and two major soccer tournaments — the Copa América and the UEFA European Championship — will help boost sales this summer.

O'Neal, at least, seems to know what's at stake for Reebok.

"If this doesn't work, everyone's leaving," he told The Times.