- Madina Okot signs a global sneaker deal with Reebok, becoming the first Kenyan-born basketball player to land a global athletic-brand partnership.
- The deal was brokered by George Land, Founder & CEO of Youthquake Nation Sports and Entertainment.
- Okot joins a Reebok basketball roster that includes her Atlanta Dream teammate Angel Reese, along with Aneesah Morrow, Lauren Betts, DiJonai Carrington, and Lexie Brown.
- The signing caps a breakout 2026: All-SEC Second Team honors at South Carolina and the No. 13 overall pick in the WNBA Draft, the highest a Kenyan has ever gone.
Madina Okot has signed a global sneaker deal with Reebok, becoming the first Kenyan-born basketball player to land a global partnership with a major athletic brand.
The deal was brokered by George Land, Founder & CEO of Youthquake Nation Sports and Entertainment, the agency that has guided Okot’s rise from Kenya to the WNBA.
Okot joins a fast-growing Reebok basketball roster. Aneesah Morrow signed her own multi-year Reebok deal in February after a strong rookie season, while Lauren Betts inked her Reebok sneaker deal shortly after this year’s draft. Longtime Reebok athletes Lexie Brown and DiJonai Carrington round out the roster.
Okot’s new Atlanta Dream teammate, Angel Reese, remains Reebok’s biggest basketball name; her partnership has grown from a 2023 NIL deal into a full signature line, most recently extended with a Barbie doll and matching Reebok colorway.
For Okot, the deal caps a remarkable run. She didn’t pick up a basketball until 2020, rising through Kenya’s Zetech University and Kenya Ports Authority before transferring stateside to Mississippi State and, for her final season, South Carolina.
There, she averaged a double-double (12.8 points and an SEC-leading 10.6 rebounds) and earned All-SEC Second Team honors while helping the Gamecocks reach the national championship game.
In April, the Atlanta Dream made her the 13th overall pick in the 2026 WNBA Draft, the first Kenyan ever selected in the league’s first round. She now plays alongside Reese, who joined Atlanta via an April trade from the Chicago Sky.
Reebok has been rebuilding its basketball presence since becoming an authorized WNBA footwear supplier in December 2024 under Reebok Basketball president Shaquille O’Neal.
Signing Okot extends that push onto a new continent, tying the brand to a player whose journey, from a farming family in Kakamega County to the WNBA in six years, is already being celebrated across Kenya.
Takeaways
This isn’t just another sneaker signing; it’s Reebok placing a bet on a story, not just a stat line. Okot is a rookie still finding her footing in the league (6.5 points, 3.8 rebounds per game so far), but her narrative (visa denials, a six-year rise from raw beginner to first-round pick) gives Reebok a genuinely global hook heading into a season where women’s basketball marketing keeps expanding past U.S. borders.
Could this open the door for more African-born athletes to land major global sneaker deals? Will Reebok build Okot a signature colorway or shoe the way it has for Reese, Morrow, and Betts? Does signing Okot signal Reebok’s next move is international expansion, not just WNBA depth?
