And a brash backup point guard playing in puma shoes Beantown, who signed to the brand with a point-blank proclamation: " I ain't f in' with nobody else but Puma ."More players are wearing Pumas on the court than at any other time in NBA history. They've joined the Puma basketball family, which has a deeper and more tantalizing history than most would imagine. As Converse, Nike, Adidas and Reebok starred on court from the 1970s to the early 2000s.

It all started in 1973, when Frazier became not only Puma's first signature athlete but also the first player in basketball history to get his own puma suede sneaker. At the time, Frazier had a championship ring and was after another, averaging 21.1 points, 5.9 assists and a career-high 7.9 rebounds a game during the '72-'73 season as the All-Star point guard fenty puma for the New York Knicks.Before Air Jordans, there were Puma Clydes. Frazier wanted a shoe that was wide, light and designed with sufficient interior padding.

The brand followed his vision like a blueprint and delivered a product that featured an unprecedented element: Frazier's nickname "Clyde" etched in cursive under the brand's logo on the outside of each shoe  hence the term "signature sneaker."Left: Earvin "Magic" Johnson puma slides (left) drives past Wes Matthews (right) during a game between the Los Angeles Lakers and Chicago Bulls on Feb. 20, 1985. Matthews endorsed Puma from 1984 to 1986.Right.

In high school, I wore No. 10 like him. I wanted a Rolls-Royce like him & wanted fur coats like him. I wanted to be a player like Clyde. He got me really into Puma."Soon after the Clyde's 1973 debut, Puma signed George McGinnis , a back-to-back American Basketball Association (ABA) champion with the Indiana Pacers and the MVP of the league's 1973 playoffs. In the first game that McGinnis, a 2017 Hall of Fame inductee, puma fenty wore Pumas, the sneakers couldn't handle the 6-foot-8-inch, 235-pound big man.

With a strong product and perfect placement, Puma began to experience a basketball renaissance. "I'm playing alongside Jordan, who's getting fined every game for wearing his shoes & ," Matthews said. "He's getting a lot of publicity & so I figured Puma would get a lot of publicity and the brand would take off."Matthews was right  English, Sampson and Milwaukee Bucks power forward Terry Cummings appeared in the 1985 All-Star Game, all wearing Pumas. Sampson was named the MVP with a game-high 24 points and 10 rebounds.