In 1992, Reebok signed its first signature athlete – first overall NBA draft pick, Shaquille O’Neal. They gave him the biggest endorsement deal of his life and started something phenomenal. With the Dunkman-bearing Shaq Attaq, Reebok was in its prime, rivalled Nike’s Air Jordan, and dominated the sneaker market. The originator of it all returned in an executive capacity in 2023. Shaq’s goal was to restore Reebok to what it was when they signed him. So he followed the tradition of signing an impactful athlete. To him, one persona was a no-brainer.

A year since Shaquille O’Neal returned to Reebok as the president of the basketball division, he explained the first big decision he made. “When I took over Reebok and we wanted to do something with women’s sports, she was the first and she was the only [person I thought of]. ” ‘She’ is Angel Reese, Reebok’s current signature athlete.

As soon as Shaq and Allen Iverson came on board, they teased their first signing is a GOAT. It wasn’t surprising. 24 hours into the teaser, they unveiled Angel Reese as the face of Reebok. She was still playing in LSU then and inked an NIL deal. Since entering the WNBA, the Chicago Sky rookie is the newest signature basketball athlete. The partnership was a cinch as soon as Shaq met Reese.

O’Neal immediately took the fellow LSU alum under his wing. And he takes that role very seriously. “When you’re with people and you mentor them, a lot of mentors think you have to be micro-manageable. I don’t. I don’t call her all the time, I don’t text her all the time. She knows if she needs me, I don’t sleep. It’s 24 hours,” he said.

Reese testifies every time that Shaq came through during her lows. Like her unexplained absence during LSU’s 2023 season and the rumors she was subjected to. She credits her ‘Unc’ for making her thick-skinned to haters. For Shaq too, he’s progressed from calling her ‘niece’ to his seventh kid.

Shaq’s ambitions for Reebok focus on Angel Reese

Since signing with Reebok, Reese released ‘Reebok by Angel,’ a complete sneaker and apparel collection designed by its namesake. It was only the start of what she was going to do.

Under O’Neal’s reign, Reebok finally unveiled its first basketball performance shoe, the Reebok Engine A, since 2015’s ZPump Rise. Shaq’s son, Shareef, had some design input in it. Before its retail release in 2025, Reese debuted the sneaks at a game against Indiana Fever. Shaq arrived in the Sky arena to watch his first WNBA game in person this season.

The hype around the Engine A is giving Shaq’s ambitions a big boost. Very soon, Shaq will release the Chi-Town Barbie’s own kicks soon. She’d be one of the few active WNBA players to have their own signature sneaker and the first for Reebok since Rebecca Lobo. No doubt that Shaq’s making Angel the face of the Reebok revival.