Allen Iverson is a closer, why Reebok almost passed on him, and more takeaways from Netflix’s new ‘Power Moves’ docuseries

In Shaquille O’Neal and Allen Iverson’s heyday in the NBA, the Reebok brand was considered among the best footwear in basketball. In O’Neal, the brand had the larger-than-life personality, and in Iverson, it had the influential culture-setter.

Reebok’s popularity declined over the last 20 years. But its recent resurgence is led by the same two men who helped popularize the brand. O’Neal, who spent most of his career with the Orlando Magic and Los Angeles Lakers, became the brand’s basketball president in 2023 and named Sixers icon Iverson as his vice president.

In less than two years, the pair has combined to bring Reebok back into the basketball shoe game that culminated in the release of the Engine A shoe during NBA All-Star weekend in February. The recently released Netflix docuseries, Power Moves With Shaquille O’Neal, details Reebok’s journey back into the signature shoe game.

» READ MORE: Can Allen Iverson help make Reebok cool again?

Here are four things we learned from the documentary, from players the brand missed out on to a shift in the brand’s strategy in acquiring players to represent the company.

The documentary sets things up by showing a meeting between the top basketball executives for the brand, including O’Neal, Iverson, CEO Todd Krinsky, and others in 2024.

O’Neal says he felt Reebok’s legacy was “slowly starting to slip away.” Part of bringing Iverson on board was that the former Sixers guard “has a big influence on the game, the youth, and the culture.”

In discussing their vision for what they wanted for Reebok in the basketball space, Iverson and O’Neal agree: They needed a great player to represent the brand. Second came a great product, the signature shoe.

First on the list was 2025 NBA MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who was signed to Converse at the time. But his deal was close to expiring. O’Neal, who calls the guard “one of the most underrated players,” attempts several times to set up a meeting with Gilgeous-Alexander and his representatives, but never made it work. SGA ends up re-signing with Converse and was made the creative director of the basketball division.

That miss forced O’Neal to change Reebok’s strategy, aided by marketing manager Colin Bell. Instead of attracting already established players, the brand wanted instead to have a presence in high schools, colleges, the NBA, and WNBA.

One player they recruited heavily was Ace Bailey, the No. 2 player in the class of 2024 and the Rutgers standout who’s a potential Sixers draft pick this month. They secured a meeting, but according to Bell, Bailey’s counter to Reebok’s initial offer was out of the brand’s budget. He ended up signing with Nike.

» READ MORE: What does the NBA think of Ace Bailey? Some see an All-Star. Others think he has bust potential.

The first player the Reebok basketball team had interest in and ended up signing, as shown in the documentary, is G-League player Dink Pate, who became the youngest professional basketball player in U.S. history when he turned pro at 17.

As part of their recruitment efforts, O’Neal goes to Las Vegas to visit Pate in person, a common theme throughout the series. Pate wasn’t familiar with the brand, but was sent a pair of Iverson shoes and he calls them “real comfortable.”

Later in the second episode, Pate — at dinner with his family, O’Neal, and Reebok executives — commits to joining the brand on the spot.

“I know I could put myself on the map, put Reebok on the map,” Pate says afterward.

The deal was made official last October. Pate averaged 10.1 points, 5.1 rebounds, and 2.1 assists for the G-League’s Mexico City Capitanes last season.

When it comes to closing a deal on an athlete signing with Reebok, O’Neal or Iverson make the final pitch. Chicago Sky star Angel Reese, who signed with the brand not long after O’Neal became the basketball president, was the first major signing in the new era of Reebok. O’Neal played a big role in that.

Iverson, though, made the final pitch to another WNBA player, DiJonai Carrington of the Dallas Wings.

» READ MORE: Nike is releasing a Lower Merion-themed Kobe Bryant sneaker again, this time in Protro form

“Reebok has a unique quality in letting people be themselves,” Iverson says. “I think it’s going to be important for the younger generation.”

“When Reebok reached out to me, I felt like it was meant to be,” Carrington says. “They’re selective in their choosing. They’re just not picking anybody. … They see me and I see them.”

Carrington signed with Reebok in April, becoming the third WNBA player to sign, along with Reese and the Los Angeles Sparks’ Lexie Brown, who’s been with the company since 2021. Reese debuted Reebok’s signature basketball shoe, the Engine A’s, during a matchup with the Indiana Fever and Caitlin Clark last year.

On Wednesday, the brand announced her official player exclusive of the shoe, called Pretty Gritty and featuring her own logo.

“Obviously, Shaq and AI did a great job of bringing Reebok into the light, and on the women’s side; nobody’s done that,” Reese says. “So I wanted to be one of the first. I just want Reebok to be on top.”

Iverson also makes the final pitch to high school standout Nick Ament, a Tennessee recruit who is from Virginia, just like the former Sixers guard. O’Neal makes final pitches to Pate and the Chicago Bulls’ Matas Buzelis.

Power Moves doesn’t just focus on the current state of the brand. Krinsky reminisces about Reebok’s nearly passing on Iverson when the guard was a sophomore at Georgetown. Reebok was interested in Iverson, but Paul Fireman, the CEO at the time, said, “This deal is getting kind of big. It’s a lot of money, and I’m not sure we’re going to do it.”

Now 55, Krinsky, who was a merchandise manager, was invited to the boardroom to discuss Iverson by Que Haskins, a former Reebok executive. Fireman famously said next, “There will always be another Allen Iverson.”

“And in unison, Q and I got up and said, ‘No, there won’t.’ And everyone’s looking around like, ‘Who is this?’” Krinsky recalls. “And then Paul, who was always interested in what the younger generation was thinking, [said], ‘So, would you tell me more?’ And we just went into this, like, rant trying to explain why Allen was so special on and off the court — speed, the explosiveness, the swagger.

“I think that did have something to do with Paul deciding, ‘OK, we’re going all in on this guy.”