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Puma signs Ayton, names Jay-Z President basketball division

Puma is making a major play to get back in the world of basketball, and the company took a big step by inking possible overall draft pick DeAndre Ayton for an endorsement deal. Ayton, who played one year at the University of Arizona before declaring for the draft, announced the deal on Twitter. The signings makes Puma a player in pro basketball, a sport it has sat out since striking a deal with Vince Carter in the late 1990s.

Ayton, a native of the Bahamas, even suggested he wanted to try a collaboration with Rihanna, who is from Barbados. Jay-Z, who founded the agency Roc Nation in 2013, is expected to play a major role in marketing and pursuing players as future endorsers.

Puma's sudden commitment to basketball is its first action in the sport since it signed Vince Carter to a 10-year deal in 1998, though that deal lasted only two years. The company also re-signed perhaps its most famous basketball player from past decades, Walt "Clyde" Frazier, to a lifetime contract earlier this week and launched a modernized version of Frazier's old shoe from 1973.

Bagley and Smith have each signed multi-year shoe deals with Puma, and the company is expected to pursue other top prospects as well as established NBA players after inking Ayton.

 
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