In an interesting decision made by the National Basketball Association, the league announced on Tuesday that it signed a new contract with Wilson to replace Spalding as their official basketball manufacturing company according to Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today. The new deal will be in place for the 2021-22 season. Spalding will continue to make basketballs for the NBA for the remainder of the 2019-20 season (if the season concludes) and for the 2020-21 NBA season.
Spalding had been the official basketball manufacturing company of the NBA since the 1983-84 season. In fact, the NBA is returning to Wilson, as it was the official manufacturing company of basketballs for the NBA from 1946 to 1983.
In addition to being the official manufacturer of the NBA, Wilson will also make basketballs for the WNBA (the Women’s National Basketball Association), the G-League (the top developmental league for the NBA), and the Basketball Africa League. On February 16, 2019, the Basketball Africa League was created as part of a joint partnership by the NBA and FIBA (International Basketball Federation).
According to the Associated Press, the NBA will be working in combination with the National Basketball Players Association on creating the new basketball. The players will be part of “approving, developing and refining the new ball.”
It will be interesting to see the changes that are made with the new basketball. Wilson has its headquarters in Chicago, Illinois, and has been owned by Amer Sports, which is based out of Helsinki, Finland, since 1989. In addition to basketballs, Wilson also makes golf clubs and tennis racquets.
