The Marketing Genius Of Young Wemby

Added: 2026-06-01

[00:00:00]Young Wemby has a marketing problem, or does marketing have a Wemby problem? You see, in his young NBA career, Victor Wembanyama has established himself as what I like to call an anti-Shaq in the marketplace. [music] The Shaq method of doing business as a professional athlete follows more of the traditional route. College standout becomes top NBA draft pick who then becomes rising star in the league, who then gains exposure and partners with brands on brands on brands, and thus becomes a household name because every time you sit down in front of the tele vision, you see him in a commercial for Icy Hot or Gold Bond or Reebok or you get the point. Oh, uh just don't forget about Dove Men Plus Care on his forehead. Shaq might be one of the more extreme examples because the man has like a hundred million endorsement deals. Well, 78 if you want to get specific, but still the league's top players have routinely translated their on-court excellence into off-court wealth through endorsements. LeBron's total endorsement deal income is estimated to be roughly 900 and one million dollars from 72 individual deals throughout his career. Kevin Durant, 767 million from 67 deals. And this data was from 2023. These numbers are likely to have climbed much higher by now. And while I obviously don't expect Wemby to be reaching these kinds of numbers just 3 years into his NBA career, I do expect him to have more than seven. That's right. Seven endorsement deals at this point. Man is a future face of the NBA and he got seven endorsement deals. And get this, get this, right? Wemby was the number one pick in 2023. Cooper Flagg was the number one pick two years later in 2025. The day after Flagg got drafted, the man already had nine endorsement deals. You know Anthony Edwards, right? Who doesn't know AE?

[00:01:48]Number one pick [music] in 2023 years before Wemby. The man has endorsements with 20 brands across various industries including footwear, travel booking, business services, and more. My point is this, why aren't we seeing Wemby's name, image, and likeness everywhere? This dude is clearly the most popular basketball player on Earth right now, and brands have what exactly to show for it? Few billboards, few photo shoots, a few interviews. Either this man and his team just don't pick [music] up their phones or brands are dropping the ball on how to market a foreign superstar in America. Or could it be something else?

[00:02:25]Is Wemby's seemingly low number of endorsement deals actually a strategic move that plays directly [music] into a genius plan of how he wants to be viewed? We're diving into that today.

[00:02:36]This is Topic Tackle. Let's go.

[00:02:43]All right, let's pause for a quick shout-out to Rakuten, who is not sponsoring this video, by the way.

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[00:03:21]Let's get back to the video.

[00:03:23]So, why have Wemby and his team been so selective in the endorsements they've chosen so far? Well, interestingly enough, the day of the 2023 NBA draft, Yellow Apple Marketing on Instagram shared that Wemby is boldly turning down rich endorsement offers to focus on [music] his craft. Agent Bouna Ndiaye reveals their strategy aiming to preserve Wembanyama's rarity and cement his legacy. Obviously, Wemby and his team had a big-picture goal in mind before he was even drafted on how they wanted to control the narrative around him. And one way to do that is by being selective with endorsements. So, it would make sense to me that if we look at the deals he's signed so far, they should paint a picture of Wembanyama's persona, what he believes in, what he [music] chooses to represent, and ultimately what that says about him.

[00:04:11]Starting with Nike, I recently released a video on everything Wembanyama and the Swoosh have collaboratively released so far and what the potential delay might be on a signature shoe. So, make sure to check that one out after this one. The link will be in the description. [music] After the 2023 NBA draft, Wembanyama's team struck up a brand ambassadorship and investment with Barcode in July 2023. And it's crazy to me how the man makes regular people look like midgets.

[00:04:34]Let's just face it. Anyway, Barcode was developed by Mubarak Bar Malik, former New York Knicks and a Los Angeles Lakers director of performance. Malik co-founded the company with Kyle Kuzma, and Barcode products are the first-ever plant-based all-natural performance drink on the market with added benefits and ingredients including vitamin D, B6, B12, magnesium, and ashwagandha and no added sugar. "I'm conscious of the ingredients I put into my body to ensure I stay healthy and perform at the highest level," said Wembanyama. "The partnership with Barcode allows me not only to be a spokesman, but a role model. I want to be elite on and off the court. I want my body to be the healthiest it has ever been. That's why I chose Barcode >> [music] >> over anything else." Now, this all sounds good, but the problem is, if not for the research done for this video, I'm not sure if I ever would have known about any of this. Gatorade had the Be Like [music] Mike commercials.

[00:05:30]Classic, right? Well, Barcode had a draft night photoshoot and social media video featuring a billboard with Wembanyama on it. Cool, especially for the locals in San Antonio. But again, this is a generational talent we're talking about. Without nationally televised commercials, the biggest marketing for Barcode thus far has likely come from Wemby himself as he [music] routinely rejected Gatorade bottles at his postgame pressers over the years. To keep with the theme of grocery and drink, Wemby also inked an endorsement deal with HEB, which if you're familiar with Texas, you know that they're the largest grocery store chain in the Lone Star State, making this large billboard of Wemby holding up a bunch of HEB bags very fitting. The alien also signed a licensing deal with Fanatics with big reveals happening in New York around Draft Night 2023 as Wemby's [music] Metropolitans 92 card was digitally displayed in the city. And after Victor and the Spurs' breakout run in the 2026 NBA playoffs, the Wemby trading card market has experienced a boom with a rare rookie card selling for 5.11 million in a May 2026 [music] private sale via Fanatics Collect. This is now the 11th highest sale price in the top known sports card sales of all time. If you don't think the man has marketing power after hearing that, I don't know what will convince you. But the endorsement deal that really stands out for Wemby was him becoming an ambassador of French fashion house Louis Vuitton in February 2024. "It's the best partner I can think of," said Wemby. "To me, it made a lot of sense to partner with LV, you know, French excellence.

[00:07:04]The expertise is something that I feel very much attracted to. On paper, this deal just makes too much sense. You had the most hyped rookie [music] at the time partnering with his hometown brand that passed the test of making his draft day suit. [music] I think it was well worth it because it's definitely the best suit of this year's draft and also the past years in my opinion," Wemby said. "It was just beautiful and now it's all coming together. I'm tall, but I'm also pretty thin, so it's always been hard to find [music] clothes that fit. Now though, fans can expect me to wear nice and beautiful clothes, which has been before in my life a struggle, >> [music] >> but is now possible with LV." And Wemby has been seen rocking Louis V in the tunnel since. The deal put him in rare air also, becoming the only NBA player ever outside of LeBron James to become an official house ambassador for Louis V. So, when taking a step back and looking at the brands Wembanyama has endorsed, [music] there are common themes that stand out. Mostly industry leaders committed to excellence, innovation, attention to detail, [music] and maybe most prominent, exclusivity.

[00:08:04]To go back to what Wembanyama's agent was quoted to have said before the draft, their strategy aiming to preserve Wembanyama's rarity and cement his legacy. And this is where Wemby and his team may know something that all of us don't. Where one could see a problem with the lack of endorsement deals Wembanyama has entered into at this point in his career, another could see a genius that's being intentional to preserve his rare image. Permission to go on a quick sidebar that I promise will relate to this point? Thank you.

[00:08:34]All right, if any of you have seen the Michael Jackson movie, there was a moment where MJ was sitting with his agent, aka Miles Teller, and his agent was suggesting he do press tours to promote his upcoming music. And MJ straight up rejected that traditional way of thinking and said, "Instead, no press. I want to be mysterious." So, he dropped music videos instead. This gave him the freedom to express himself more creatively than simply doing what everyone else did. I believe Wemby is in a similar rarified air in the sports world where the more success he has on the court, the more he can feed his rare, unique, mysterious persona.

[00:09:13]>> Rare sauce?

[00:09:14]>> Yeah.

[00:09:14]>> Okay.

[00:09:15]>> Rare sauce means he's a man of many talents.

[00:09:16]>> I didn't know. I didn't know. Okay.

[00:09:19]>> [laughter] >> So, with all this considered, I leave it up to you. Has the marketing of young Wemby been problematic or actually genius? Should he be the face of more brands via endorsement deals? I'll continue to follow this story and keep y'all updated right here on Topic Tackl.

[00:09:35]And in the meantime, feel free to stick around and check out how [music] Nike could be delaying Lonzo Ball's signature shoe, and I'll be back with another episode of Topic Tackling coming as soon as always. Stay solid, people.

[00:09:48]>> [music]