D’Angelo Russell spent his Tuesday in Beijing, part of a four-city, seven-day tour of China to promote his brand and specifcally his new signature shoe, the DL0 1, from Li Ning’s “Way of Wade” line. The theme; float like a butterfly, sting like a bee, Muhammad Ali’s great line.
Propelling that marketing butterfly has been a bit of a whirlwind.
The Nets vet is visiting Kunming, Beijing, Changsha and Hong Kong, working basketball clinics: hosting a podcast at a mall ... with a hefty entry fee; attending the Finals of the Chinese Basketball Association all in the marketing his new shoe that is out this week. He’s been with Li Ning for six years and has been a regular on NBA promotion tours. Two years ago, he and Dwyane Wade toured the country and now, as a member of the Brooklyn Nets he’s back on his own.
Monday, it was Kunming, the first stop that included a clinic and game with locals...
Then, Tuesday it was the Chinese capital highlighted by the meet-and-greet at a Beijing mall where he took questions in a podcast format...,
The price tag for being able to ask D’Lo questions, get selfies and autographs: 2,299 Chinese Yuan or $320. The local mall was all dressed up for Russell...
Russell is indeed one of the most popular NBA players in China...
Tuesday night, he was at the deciding game of the CBA Finals, donning the jersey of Li-Ning’s big Chinese player rep Zheng FanBo, showing off his new shoes. (Zheng’s team lost.)
Changsha and Hong Kong, with a big Li-Ning event Friday, will follow.
For D’Lo, China is prime marketing territory not only because of his long association with Li-Ning, but because he has played most of his career with the three most popular teams in China: twice with the Nets and Lakers and once with the Warriors. And that matters to players for whom business deals are becoming as big or bigger than endorsements. It’s also something BSE Global has focused on. The Nets are not only No. 3 in among Chinese fans, they’re No. 3 in France as well as No. 10 overall internationally. (In comparison, the Knicks never strong internationally, are only 16th in China.)
In his podcast with fans, Russell did not talk about returning to Brooklyn but rather focused on his career. He has said he wants to return to the Nets, but that the decision won’t be up to him. One thing he did mention Tuesday was how much of a big change his first stint with the Nets represented.
He told fans that prior to his trade to Brooklyn (for Brook Lopez and the rights to Kyle Kuzma) in June of 2017, he had not taken his conditioning as seriously as he should have while in L.A. It wasn’t until that summer that he focused on his cardio, nutrition and sleeping habits, canceled summer travel plans so he could up his performance to the All-Star level he reached in 2019. (In talking with reporters this season after his return to Brooklyn, D’Lo singled out the Nets performance team for their work with him.)
The Nets open their preseason and help usher the NBA back into China — after a five year hiatus — in early October when they travel to Macao, the resort city across the Pearl River delta from Hong Kong. Whether D’Lo will be on that plane won’t be known for a while, but if he is, he’s likely to be sitting right up front.