By LiveWire Sports Media • June 29, 2026
Kelsey Mitchell’s sneaker future has officially been decided, and it has Indianapolis written all over it. The three-time WNBA All-Star, who has quietly built one of the most efficient and underappreciated scoring résumés in the league, signed an endorsement deal with PUMA Basketball on Monday — becoming the first athlete to join Indiana Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton’s signature Hali franchise.
For Fever fans who have watched Mitchell lace up different colorways of the Hali 1 throughout the early stretch of the 2026 season, the announcement was less of a surprise and more of a confirmation. What started as an on-court fashion choice has turned into a full-fledged partnership — and the first step in what PUMA is positioning as a genuine basketball sub-brand built around its breakout Pacers star.
From Free Agent to Family: How the Deal Came Together
Mitchell’s previous deal with Nike ran out in early 2026. Rather than rush into a new sponsorship, she spent the opening stretch of the season as a sneaker free agent, testing out different brands and styles on the court while she figured out where she wanted to land. “I’m just kind of figuring some things out and trying some things out,” Mitchell said. “But I said, ‘Why not?’”
That openness eventually pointed her toward the Hali 1, Haliburton’s debut signature shoe with PUMA, which launched roughly nine months ago. Since the start of training camp, Mitchell wore the shoe in every single Fever game this season — a real-time audition that ultimately became impossible for PUMA to ignore. “In the city of Indianapolis, with a guy like Tyrese Haliburton and all of the things he’s done for the Pacers, it was only right to see where I’m at,” Mitchell said. “PUMA feels really good today, so shout-out to Tyrese.”
The connection between the two stars runs deeper than shoe choice. Both Mitchell and Haliburton wear No. 0 for their respective Indianapolis franchises, and both have become the offensive engines of teams chasing championship relevance. Haliburton, a self-described basketball junkie, has sat courtside for the majority of Fever home games this season and has posted on social media multiple times about Mitchell wearing his shoes — including a post over the weekend before the deal became official that signaled an announcement was close.
In Their Own Words
Mitchell described the signing as one of the more natural partnerships of her career. “This partnership felt authentic from the start,” she said in PUMA’s official release. “PUMA continues to push basketball culture forward in a creative and meaningful way. Being connected to a brand that values self-expression, performance, and community means a lot to me. Seeing the success Tyrese has had with the Hali shoe from day one, I’m excited to team up with him and PUMA to trailblaze the Hali franchise into the women’s game.”
Haliburton returned the praise with a statement that spoke to far more than basketball. “Kelsey is one of the toughest competitors I know and somebody who has always stayed true to herself,” Haliburton said. “She’s earned everything through hard work and consistency, and I’m excited to see the contribution she will make to the Hali franchise as part of the PUMA family. The game continues to grow because of players like her.”
PUMA Basketball vice president Archie McEachern echoed that sentiment in welcoming Mitchell to the roster. “Kelsey represents everything we value at PUMA Hoops — confidence, competitiveness, individuality, and a genuine connection to the game,” McEachern said. “Her impact on and off the court continues to grow, and we’re excited to welcome her to the family.
The Vision Behind the Hali Franchise
What makes Mitchell’s signing notable beyond the friendship angle is the structural significance of the deal. PUMA’s official press release specifically states that the partnership with Mitchell is “built upon the vision and support of Tyrese Haliburton to add high-caliber athletes to his signature Hali franchise.” In other words, Mitchell isn’t simply a PUMA-sponsored athlete who happens to wear Haliburton’s shoe — she is the first official member of an emerging sub-brand, with Haliburton functioning less like a typical signature athlete and more like the face of a growing roster, the way Jordan Brand operates under the wider Nike umbrella.
The Hali 1 only launched roughly nine months before Mitchell’s signing, making this an unusually fast turnaround from solo signature shoe to multi-athlete franchise. It raises an obvious question for sneaker watchers: could Tyrese Haliburton’s PUMA line eventually build out a full stable of athletes carrying the Hali name, with Mitchell as just the first of several signings to come? PUMA’s language suggests that is very much the plan, and Mitchell will likely receive her own player-exclusive colorways of the Hali 1 in the near future as the partnership develops.
Mitchell Joins a Growing PUMA Presence in the WNBA
Mitchell’s signing adds her to an expanding list of WNBA stars with ties to PUMA, including Breanna Stewart, Skylar Diggins, and NaLyssa Smith. Stewart remains the most prominent name in that group, with her own signature shoe, the PUMA Stewie, already a fixture in the women’s basketball sneaker market. Mitchell’s arrival under the Hali umbrella gives PUMA a second distinct pathway into women’s basketball — one tied directly to one of the league’s most marketable rising stars rather than an established veteran.
The timing lines up with a breakout season for Mitchell on the court. She has appeared in every single Fever game in 2026, averaging 21.6 points per game — third-best in the WNBA — and is on pace for her fourth consecutive All-Star selection. She finished fifth in MVP voting a season ago and chose to stay in the United States to play in Unrivaled this past offseason rather than heading overseas, a decision that kept her in front of American audiences and almost certainly raised her commercial profile in the process.
What Comes Next
For now, Mitchell will continue wearing the Hali 1 in Fever games as the partnership formally takes shape behind the scenes. Given PUMA’s stated ambition to grow the Hali franchise into a multi-athlete brand and Mitchell’s status as its first signee, speculation will naturally turn to whether a Mitchell-specific colorway — or eventually a fully separate signature shoe — is somewhere down the road.
Two No. 0s. Two Indianapolis franchises. One growing sneaker family. As the Fever push through the back half of the 2026 season and the Pacers organization continues to lean into Haliburton as the face of the city’s basketball future, Mitchell’s PUMA signing is one more sign of how tightly the worlds of Indiana’s men’s and women’s basketball stars have become intertwined — on the court, and now, on the shelf.
