Hold your horses before jumping to conclusions. It was the 2024 NBA All-Star weekend when leading shoe companies — Nike, Adidas, Puma, and Under Armour — lined up at an Indy hotel lobby to make their pitch to sign one of the biggest stars in basketball. Caitlin, at the time, was coming hot off of her 49-point performance and hadn’t yet sprung her intent about turning pro publicly. With her final year of eligibility remaining at Iowa under the NCAA’s Covid-era exception, no one knew what’s next for CC. It didn’t matter to her agents though. Excel Sports Management fronted a historic base minimum to get her full commitment: $3 million a year at the very minimum!

According to the Wall Street Journal, here’s the gist of what went down that day:

• Puma, understandably so, immediately dropped out. They already had signed deals with LSU’s Flau’Jae Johnson and WNBA players including Breanna Stewart.
• Adidas fell awfully short. Despite their promising efforts which included a call prior to the meeting that saw Caitlin using her marketing honors student card to full effect as well as sending a prototype signature model, they had only $6 million over four years to put on the table.
• It all came down to Nike and Under Armour. Reportedly, Under Armour’s star ambassador Stephen Curry had taken a personal interest in landing Caitlin by offering $16 million over four years, with a signature shoe. But Nike topped them all.

A massive eight-year, $28 million sneaker deal, the biggest ever for a women’s basketball player to date! The only caveat is: Caitlin knew what she was getting into. The contract, which initially primed her as the female face of the Kobe Bryant line, didn’t have a signature shoe offer in hand. However, in the final stretch of the negotiation, Nike upped their game in that regard as well. So, while fans have gone ballistic against Nike’s handling of Caitlin Clark ever since their signing, for the sake of repetition, make no mistake — Caitlin knew what she was getting into all along! But now, it looks like Nike has finally followed up on their promise after all.

In fact, just last month, Nike CEO Elliott Hill confirmed that Caitlin Clark had been to their headquarters to oversee the development of her signature shoe and logo. And although he didn’t propose a tentative timeline, for now, even though most player-exclusive sneakers never make it to stores, it looks like Nike is making a special exception for the Indiana superstar. The Kobe 5 Protro “Indiana Fever” is set to release later this year.

Clark’s custom kicks will perfectly match her team’s colors, featuring a sleek dark navy upper with a bold orange gradient on the heels, tongues, and swoosh logos. But CC fans can’t keep their calm still!

Caitlin Clark fans fume over the new Kobe Bryant shoe

Fans didn’t hold back their frustration, taking to X to make their voices heard. They’ve been counting down the days for Clark’s signature sneaker, only to get a player-exclusive colorway instead. To many, it feels like a quick cash grab by Nike, selling a shoe that not everyone wants. One fan summed up the sentiment by saying, “Dropping a player-exclusive shoe just to shut us up for a bit 😂.” Others made it clear what they really wanted, with one tweeting,

One fan had an interesting theory on why Nike is doing things this way, and it might just make you see the bigger picture, “The goal was to make CC the face of Kobe until she decided to opt for a signature shoe. That’s why she didn’t really officially promote the Kobe shoe this year, but they were giving her prototypes to play with.” However, this user declared their staunch refusal to the release,

“Come on. We don’t want Kobes. We want CC1s,” while some kept it simple and direct,  “I want Nike CC1!” ,  “the ppl want her signature shoes not kobes”

Fans are clearly disappointed feeling that a player-exclusive colorway isn’t enough to satisfy their hunger for Caitlin Clark’s own signature line. After a year of waiting, they’re eager for Nike to finally drop the CC1s and give the superstar the sneaker she deserves! Stay tuned to know when the sneakers eventually come out!