Complex announced today that Jay-Z’s relationship with PUMA is going to the next level. The Roc Nation executive is strengthening his hand in the world of sports becoming the president of Basketball Operations at PUMA.

The move makes sense, with Jay-Z owning Roc Nation Sports Management they can easily help PUMA build their sports imprint through upcoming athletes.

PUMA Basketball also signed top NBA draft prospects DeAndre Ayton of Arizona, Marvin Bagley III of Duke, and Zhaire Smith of Texas Tech. Each are expected to be lottery picks, with Ayton projected to go number one overall.

Clyde Frazier was also signed to a PUMA lifetime deal.

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The announcement comes at a time of strong sports footwear competition. The powerhouse that is Nike has seen competition in sports footwear with brands like Adidas and Under Armour after the brands have collaborated with many different sports and music influencers

“We’ve been working with Roc Nation for quite some time. They’ve been great partners to us for several years. We’ve done many different deals with many different ambassadors,” — Adam Petrick, Puma’s global director of brand and marketing

To help solidify the practical use of these brands products in everyday life, PUMA, Nike, Adidas, and Under Armour partner up with various athletes, celebrities, & creative artists, giving them their own brand of shoe to market to their particular fan bases. Athlete and celebrity endorsements are crucial for companies because they align the companies brand with different groups of people and influence these groups buying choices. In 2015, Adidas signed up to 500 athlete endorsements. Adidas also created partnerships with celebrities such as Kanye West, Jeremy Scott, & Pharrell creating very sought after shoes. In response, Nike spent $9.42 billion on endorsements in 2016, a $3.2 billion increase in spending since 2015, and doubling the budget set for endorsements in 2014 ($4.7 billion).

Although Adidas is lacking in sales and social media popularity when compared to Nike, they are currently growing at an exponential rate. Looking at Nike and Adidas’ stock prices during 2016 you can see that Adidas’ stock increased by a staggering 55.48% while Nike’s stock dropped more than -16.9%. This stock increase with Adidas can really be attributed to the increase in popularity Adidas has had in social media. In 2015, Adidas was actually one of the most liked companies on all of instagram boasting almost 80 million likes compared to Nike who had only about 20 million likes.

Celebrity endorsements have significantly increased sales, brand recognition, and online interaction.

“What’s important to him on a day like today is that it’s clear we’re making a serious push with players like Bagley and Ayton and Smith. We’re making a serious statement about the entry of the category, that we want to be a performance brand, but then also very culturally focused. It’s clear that we’re looking at basketball through the lens of culture, and thinking about the fashion of basketball, the music of basketball, all the aspects of culture around basketball as much as the on court presence that we will have,” — Adam Petrick

Hov will play apart of the process of which players join PUMA’s basketball division as well as concept and overall brand creative direction.

PUMA now has Rihanna and Jay-Z vs. Kanye West and Adidas. PUMA was also responsible for the 4:44 apparel and has worked closely with Jay-Z’s best friend Emory “Vegas” Jones.

Can’t lie, those Clyde Frazier’s are fresh, and those Yeezys will go down in shoe fashion history.

What a time for the shoe industry!