A signature shoe deal before your rookie season is rare. Earning a co-sign from the very icon whose path you’re following is historic. For Darius Acuff Jr., the praise just came directly from Allen Iverson.

Darius Acuff Jr. is currently on a hot streak, entertaining the NCAA crowd with his incredible skills. Acuff, the SEC Player of the Year and SEC tournament MVP, has helped lead Arkansas to the Sweet 16 under head coach John Calipari, and brands are looking forward to getting him on board. Reebok is the latest in line as they signed him up on a signature shoe deal.

“Reebok will launch an Acuff signature shoe as he enters the NBA – making him just the 11th rookie in league history to launch his own sneaker during their debut season,” Nick DePaula wrote on his X account, and the post got a surprise validation from basketball legend Allen Iverson.

“The next HIM,” declared Iverson, who has a signature boot deal with Reebok as well. Now this decision to create the Acuff signature shoe comes exactly 30 years after the company bet big on Iverson’s rookie year and launched the iconic Reebok Question in 1996.

Darius Acuff Jr already signed the signature shoe deal before the Arizona game and became the first collegiate men’s or women’s player to receive such while still playing in the NCAA. The last one to do it was John Wall back in 2010.

The career trajectory of Acuff always showed that he was destined for big things, but now the comparison between him and Iverson is building him up as a potential future superstar. So what are the similarities, and why does even Allen Iverson feel there are many things in common between the two?

Are There Similarities Between Iverson and Darius Acuff?

Ever since Darius Acuff made his way into college basketball, he has drawn repeated comparisons to Allen Iverson because of his scoring explosiveness, flashy guard play, and cultural impact. Now there’s also an endorsement to boot, and the bond just gets deeper and deeper.

The Reebok deal might have brought them a little closer, but the similarities were always there, and sports analyst Stephen A Smit felt the likeness between the two as well.

“Acuff is so damn special. He’s up there for sure. Reminds me of Iverson. Whatever it takes, he can do it to get the job done,” Smith had said after Darius Acuff Jr’s game-winning performance against Oklahoma.

While neither player fits the mold of a towering NBA guard, with Iverson at 6’0″ and Acuff at 6’3″, both have a history of playing bigger than their size and imposing their will on the glass. This knack for rising to the occasion is most evident in clutch moments; Acuff’s recent 36-point outburst to reach the Sweet 16 echoes the fearless scoring that defined Iverson’s career, like his iconic 48-point performance against the Lakers in the 2001 Finals.

It is no surprise now why Iverson has become a mentor for Acuff, guiding him along the journey of college basketball. Darius Acuff Jr, too, sports a braid quite like his mentor did back in the day, and the chemistry between the two shows that there is a lot of love and respect between the old and the new.

The Reebok deal is just a start for Acuff Jr, who will now look to build on his elaborate resume even further. With him being the top 5 draft prospect, the Detroit native would want to make a final dash for the NCAA championships before the NBA comes knocking.