The NBA and sneakerheads have always been a match made for each other, but now that relationship is coming to the court in Detroit.
StockX, the popular merchandise marketplace that has become a destination for sneaker fans, is the Pistons’ new jersey patch sponsor, team and company officials told The Athletic. The Pistons and StockX agreed to a multiyear deal to have the StockX logo on the left strap on the front of Pistons jersey starting with the 2024-25 season.
The partnership is also a Detroit story. StockX is based in the city. The company signed a multiyear deal, and StockX will replace United Wholesale Mortgage as the franchise’s patch sponsor; UWM — which is owned by Mat Ishbia, who acquired the Phoenix Suns as majority owner last year — had been on the team’s uniforms the past three seasons.
The deal will bring together two Motor City staples, and further tie the Pistons to the culture and retail side of the sport. As sneaker culture exploded online, StockX became a go-to spot to buy hard-to-find sneakers and as a platform for sneaker commerce. The New York Times compared StockX to a “Nasdaq for sneakerheads.”
“We’ve always admired StockX as a global brand that’s both rooted in and authentic to Detroit,” Pistons chief operating officer Rich Haddad said. “We’re both committed to this community and we’re both committed to this city. We are both proud of the work that we do in and around Detroit, and this is really an opportunity to partner together to amplify all that.”
It is a full-circle moment for the company and its CEO, Greg Schwartz. Schwartz is a longtime Pistons fan and has been a season ticket holder for years. The franchise has also brought him in to talk to the Pistons over the years at symposiums held for its players. Now, he’ll also be a business partner with the franchise.
StockX rose in prominence as sneakers became a luxury commodity and the company provided an online home for consumers to buy and sell them, and made a big business out of it. Recently, it announced that it would also sell some of its sneakers with Walmart.
“Basketball, and the NBA specifically, is just so synonymous with the StockX customer and products that are in our catalog,” Schwartz said. “Obviously, sneakers being a large part in this first product category, we started with.”
It will help each side reach new audiences. This will be StockX’s most significant sports-related sponsorship to date, Schwartz said. It had previously been a jersey patch sponsor with the G League Ignite but this will be its first NBA patch deal. StockX will also have signage on the home court of the Pistons’ G League team, the Motor City Cruise.
For the Pistons, it is an opportunity to further tether basketball and culture together at a time when NBA teams and players are continuously trying to reach both worlds. It is no coincidence that the deal installs StockX as the new sponsor for the arena walk-in for Piston players, which has become a fashion hub for NBA teams and a prime example of how fashion and the NBA have started to cross paths.
The Pistons hope this new deal could give them an opportunity to reach StockX consumers. They’ll mark the new partnership with an event Wednesday in Detroit’s Campus Martius Park and bring out Cade Cunningham, Big Sean and Jalen Rose, among others.
“It’s an opportunity to attend their extremely loyal fan base and customer base,” Haddad said, “and hopefully broaden our funnel and engage some of their fans and turn them into Pistons fans if they’re not already there.”
(Top photo courtesy of the Detroit Pistons)
