BROOKLYN -- No. 1 overall pick AJ Dybantsa has hops and IP, not a bad place to start.
The hops (a 42-inch vertical at the combine that practically gave scouts whiplash) are courtesy of genetics. The IP comes courtesy of two intertwined deals with Nike.
On Day 1 of his pro career with the Wizards, the sneaker company released a video on social media entitled: “A future that’s monumental.” Narrated by rapper Wale, a D.C. native, it rewinds his life from now to back when Dybantsa was a tyke going to the basket in an oversized peewee uniform:
“Long before the rankings, the attention, before any of that, it starts with one decision to take the craft seriously. That’s how you make history.
“And when the greats decide to do something truly monumental, they do it in D.C. The wait is over.”
But Nike didn’t just put its money where Wale’s mouth is. They have also given Dybantsa IP as part of his sneaker deal, with the company developing his beloved “Starboy” logo for him.
And it’s not just a logo, it’s a road map. Dybantsa said he was visiting Jamaica as a four-year-old with his father Ace and his mother Chelsea when a taxi driver called him Starboy out of nowhere.
“I was confused, my dad was confused,” Dybantsa told SBJ after he was drafted Tuesday night. “But my dad ran with it.”
In other words, long before he was the first overall pick, he was a first-grader in Brockton, Mass., telling people there was a new Starboy in town.
“It’s true -- the cab driver started calling him Starboy,” Ace Dybantsa said. “And he just kept it. Little did he know, he was going to be a star.”
Twelve years later, Nike offered him his first sneaker deal at age 16, and he accepted (even though his friend Shaquille O’Neal wanted him at Reebok) because he said: “Nike’s the best marketing sports brand out there. So when they offered me, that was like a no brainer. Being in the same conversation as LeBron, Kobe, Kevin Durant, Devin Booker. Like I said, kind of a no-brainer.”
Nike wanted to know all about him. He told them the taxi driver story, told them he was Starboy, told him he already had his own logo, too.
“We had our logo and Nike wanted to add something different,” Ace said. “I told them you can tweak it all you want, but we own it. So they offered AJ several logos, and he made it clear ‘I want a star on my logo.’ Because when he signs, he signs the ”A" in AJ, with a star. So they came up with that and he was happy.”
The result is an AJ Dybantsa logo that Nike technically developed, but AJ still owns by himself. According to his advisor, Leonard Armato, it sets Dybantsa up to build valuable IP -- to go with his hops -- and institutional equity.
“I mean, it’s huge having my own logo -- just to be able to put out merchandise and start seeing it on shoes,” said AJ Dybantsa before hopping into a limo ... not a taxi.
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