"I am excited to pass the torch to him" — Dwyane Wade on D'Angelo Russell wearing WoW shoes
D’Angelo Russell was 23 years old and playing for the Golden State Warriors when he signed with Li-Ning. He was the company's biggest signee after Dwyane Wade inked a lifetime deal with the Chinese shoe brand in 2018.
“I step back and ask myself: Who would I want to be the face of my brand? Right? I see the way you move and the way that you like to do things, and it’s very similar to the way I move. Right? I am passing the torch, and I am welcoming DLo to the Way of the Wade brand. And I’m excited to pass this torch off to him," Wade said about the signing in an interview with B/R Kicks in 2019.
Li-Ning was quick to make a shoe for D-Lo
Just one month after the announcement, DLo went to social media to show off his Golden State Warriors-themed Li-Ning shoes. The white shoe, a Wade All City 8 model, had Russell’s social media handle D. Loading written on the tongue.
Meanwhile, Russell also boasted of a grey model which had the words DLo printed on the inside part of the strap and the Way of the Wade logo on the outer part of the strap.
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Russell’s first signature shoe with the Way of the Wade brand came in January 2022 with the release of the DLo Ice.
Six months later, WOW came up with the DLo Ice Blood V1.5, followed by DLo Blood Ice V 2.0 in November of that same year. One month later, Li-Ning released another D’Angelo Russell shoe called Way of the Wade Shadow 4. In August 2021, the Chinese brand also released the Way of the Wade All City 9 model, which ended up getting customized for D-Loading. Aside from his signature Li-Ning shoes, DLo wore the WOW 9 and WOW 10.
D'Angelo is back with the Lakers
While Russell blossomed into an All-Star player when he played for the Brooklyn Nets, he was initially drafted by the Los Angeles Lakers as the second overall pick of the 2015 NBA Draft. However, he lasted only two seasons in L.A. and ended up getting traded for Brook Lopez and the pick that became Kyle Kuzma.
After two full seasons in Brooklyn, Russell would get traded again, this time to the Warriors. It was in the Golden State where he signed the deal with Li-Ning. It was also with the Dubs where he averaged a career-high 23 points per game. DLo was on the move again in 2020 when Golden State shipped him to Minnesota, where he played for four seasons.
Last February, the Lakers re-acquired Russell along with Malik Beasley and Jared Vanderbilt in a three-team deal that included the Utah Jazz. In 17 regular season games for the Lakers, Russell averaged 17.4 points, 3.7 rebounds, and 5.7 assists per game. DLo provided a spark during the regular season, but during the playoffs, he was one of the players that underperformed and should be highly motivated in the upcoming season.
