Under Armour yesterday announced a multiyear endorsement deal with No. 2 overall NBA draft pick Derrick Williams. The T'Wolves F is slated to be part of Under Armour's '11 marketing campaigns and joins Bobcats first-round draft pick Kemba Walker, Bucks G Brandon Jennings and Grizzlies G Greivis Vasquez as Under Armour endorsers (Under Armour). Williams said, "This is the first big deal I’ve ever signed, and it’s a shoe deal, so it’s real important to me and everyone I’m close to. As soon as I declared for the Draft and signed with an agent, Under Armour started to put a lot of focus on me. They said they wanted two players from this class and went real hard after me and Kemba Walker." SLAM's Ben Osborne noted one of the "big things for Williams, who had worn exclusively Nikes since the 9th grade until he started the process of feeling out brands to sign with, is the chance to get a signature shoe" (SLAMONLINE.com, 7/20). Williams said he and Walker both will probably wear "a lot of Brandon's stuff, what he designed." Williams: "Hopefully we can put both of our minds together and design something that we like as well." Asked about his role with Under Armour, he said, "Just to be able to help this program make a bigger jump than what it is right now. I think two years ago, they went into the basketball side of it like they are right now. I think that we can make another big jump and have more people come in to make that jump, and sign with Under Armour like I did" (DIMEMAG.com, 7/20).
