Top 18 Best Basketball Affiliate Programs in 2025

The basketball market’s revenue is projected to reach US$11.24bn in 2024. With such high demand, promoting basketball products can be a great way to earn commissions.

From top brands to trusted sports retailers, these basketball affiliate programs offer a wide variety of options for you to explore. Let’s find the perfect fit for you to start earning money.

TL;DR: 

You have a lot of choices to promote basketball-related items and boost your earnings. Let’s see which top basketball affiliate programs offer the most attractive perks.

• NBA Store (Commission: 8%, Cookie: 7 days)
• HoopsKing (Commission: 10%, Cookie: 30 days)
• Wilson (Commission: 8%, Cookie: 30 days)
• Nike (Commission: 15%, Cookie: 7 days)
• Puma (Commission: 5-7%, Cookie: 14 days)
• Fanatics (Commission: 1-8%, Cookie: 7 days)
• Li Ning Way of Wade (Commission: 3%, Cookie: 15 days)
• New Balance (Commission: 2%, Cookie: 30 days)
• Leather Head Sports (Commission: 10%, Cookie: 60 days)
• Paragon Sports (Commission: 8%, Cookie: 7 days)

It can be overwhelming to run programs, manage affiliates, monitor performance, or process payments. However, affiliate software like UpPromote can help handle all these tasks effortlessly. Our app makes it simple for even beginners to grow a successful affiliate marketing program.

Top 18 Basketball Affiliate Programs to Boost Your Earnings

If you don’t have time to read the whole article, follow the table below to view the best basketball affiliate programs.

1. NBA Store

The NBA store is taking the lead in selling branded basketballs and other sports merchandise, primarily focused on the National Basketball Association (NBA). They provide a range of team jerseys, apparel, footwear, memorabilia, and accessories.

By joining the NBA affiliate program, you can get a competitive commission rate of 8% for each order. The cookie duration lasts 7 days, so you can earn a commission on sales within 1 week of visitors clicking on your link.

The NBA Store affiliate program offers an auto-updating dashboard to track your promotional results. Their dedicated affiliate managers are always ready to provide support and help optimize your performance.

2. HoopsKing

HoopsKing focuses on helping athletes improve their basketball skills through innovative products and expert-designed resources. The brand has a variety of training aids, instructional videos, and custom sports products for players of all levels.

By joining the HoopsKing affiliate program, you can earn a high competitive commission rate of up to 10%. You’ll receive credit for purchases made within 30 days of customers clicking your affiliate link.

The program provides a broad range of text links, banners, and product information for you to promote their products. You can also check your referrals and commissions via a real-time tracking dashboard.

3. Wilson

Wilson is a trusted name in high-quality sporting equipment and apparel. Their diverse product offerings cover basketball, tennis, baseball, pickleball, golf, and more.

Wilson affiliates can get up to 8% commission on each successful sale. The cookie duration is 30 days long from consumers’ first click.

As a Wilson affiliate, you’ll get personalized links and banners to begin your promotions. If you have any questions about the program, the program manager is ready to assist.

The brand supports you with various customized links and banners to create appealing promotional content. You can also ask their affiliate manager for more promotion tips to boost your earnings

4. Nike

Nike is one of the largest and best-recognized global sports and athleticwear brands. Their product line features sports apparel, footwear, and gear for basketball, golf, soccer, baseball, and more.

The Nike affiliates can earn up to a 15% commission rate on each order. You can earn commissions on any successful order made within 7 days of the customer’s first click.

Their automated product feed and affiliate newsletters will update you with the latest offers and product launches. Their affiliate manager also offers personalized advice and recommendations to optimize your promotion.

5. Puma

Puma is the third-largest sportswear manufacturer globally and sells their products in over 120 countries. They are available products cater to a variety of sports, including running, soccer, basketball, golf, and motorsport.

The Puma affiliate program allows you to earn a commission rate of 5-7%. The cookie window lasts 14 days from the consumer’s first click.

Managed through CJ Affiliate, the program offers tracking tools for you to monitor your promotional performance. You can also keep your promotional product up-to-date with their daily product feed.

6. Fanatics

Fanatics is a go-to destination for authentic fan gear with an extensive selection and partnerships with top teams like the NFL, NBA, and MLB. They provide a wide range of licensed sports merchandise such as apparel, footwear, and collectibles.

Affiliates can enjoy a 1-8% commission rate for each sale generated through your link. The 7-day cookie window ensures you get credit for any purchases made within a week of someone clicking your link.

Their automated tracking dashboard lets you stay informed about your real-time performance. You can also get support with essential guidance and personalized advice to have better promotional strategies.

7. Li Ning Way of Wade

The Way of Wade is a line of basketball shoes, clothing, and accessories created by Dwyane Wade in collaboration with Li-Ning. The brand has been popular in the sports footwear industry with design and technology inspired by Wade’s signature style.

The Li Ning Way of Wade provides a 3% commission rate for each successful sale. You earn commissions when purchases are made within 15 days of a customer clicking your affiliate link.

With their monthly updates, you can stay up-to-date on the newest products and offer your audience fresh and relevant items. They also offer free products of your choice to encourage stronger partnerships.

8. New Balance

New Balance stands out in the sportswear industry with a combination of heritage and modern design. Their products are ideal for both athletes and casual consumers with superior fit, performance innovation, and sustainability.

Managed through Impact, the New Balance affiliate program offers partners a 2% commission rate. You may earn about $2,5 for each successful order with an average order size of $125.

The 30-day cookie allows you to get commissions from orders placed within a month of the initial click.

Their monthly newsletters keep you informed about the latest promotions, content, and sales opportunities. Plus, you can keep your content fresh and drive more attention with newly updated product details from the data feed.

9. Leather Head Sports

Leather Head Sports is a premium brand known for their handcrafted, vintage-inspired sports equipment. They specialize in using genuine leather and expert stitching to create durable, stylish products.

The Leather Head Sports affiliate program allows you to earn a 10% commission rate within 60 days of cookie duration. Their average order size is over $150, so you will receive up to $15 for each successful order.

The brand will customize professional banners for your website. Plus, their affiliate director is always available to help optimize your promotion.

10. Paragon Sports

Family-owned since 1908, Paragon Sport is New York City’s best sports specialty store. They provide the most innovative and technologically advanced sports products, catering to both beginners and experienced athletes.

The Paragon Sports affiliates can earn a high commission rate of up to 8% with a 7-day referral window. The average order value is $170, which means you may get $13,6 for each order via your link.

You can boost credibility and drive more conversions by promoting a wide range of products from The North Face and Nike. They also support your promotion with attractive banners and text links.

11. Will-One

• Commission rate: 10%
• Cookie duration: Not mentioned

Will-One offers training programs for basketball players to develop their skills and reach their full potential. They focus on the players’ mental and physical health to help them create good habits and control their environment.

12. Swish International

• Commission rate: 40-50%
• Cookie duration: Not mentioned

Swish International aims to help players improve their basketball shooting skills with detailed instructional videos. Their program is designed for basketball players of all levels and coaches to boost their shooting percentage and overall performance.

13. Vert Shock

• Commission rate: Not mentioned
• Cookie duration: Not mentioned

Vert Shock can help basketball and other jumping sports players develop explosive power within 8 weeks. Their program is perfect for both at-home and gym workouts with simple, practical exercises that require little equipment.

14. Cost 2 Coast Sports

• Commission rate: 5%
• Cookie duration: Not mentioned

Cost 2 Coast Sports specializes in custom uniforms for sports like basketball, netball, football, and rugby. With over 300 designs available, they provide full team wear, accessories, and 24/7 access to merchandise.

15. Online Sports

• Commission rate: 10-14%
• Cookie duration: 60 days

Online Sports provides a flexible shopping experience with options to browse by category, supplier, sport, or item. Consumers can also use the search tool to find any sports item they need.

16. Pro:Direct Sport

• Commission rate: 3%
• Cookie duration: 1 day

Pro:Direct Sport provides a diverse selection of sportswear, footwear, and equipment for various sports, including football, running, and basketball. They serve athletes of all levels with expert advice, quality gear, and fast shipping.

17. Decathlon

• Commission rate: 1-3%
• Cookie duration: 30 days

Decathlon is the world’s largest sporting goods retailer with over 1,700 stores worldwide. They cover equipment, apparel, and accessories for various sports, including basketball, hiking, camping, and cycling.

18. Dick’s Sporting Goods

• Commission rate: 2%
• Cookie duration: 3 days

Dick’s Sporting Goods is a major sporting goods retailer in the US with diverse sports products, from basketballs and tennis rackets to hiking boots and camping gear. They also offer uniforms and equipment for schools and leagues.

How to create an affiliate program for your basketball brand on Shopify?

Today, people are investing heavily in basketball, with market revenue projected to reach US$11.32 billion by 2025.

From children competing in local leagues to fans tuning in to major games, basketball engages people at every level.

In the United States alone, millions of fans follow their favorite players online and actively seek out new gear to purchase.

But in this big and loud market, how does your brand get noticed? How do you stand out from the crowd?

That’s what affiliate marketing can help.

You can team up with trusted voices, such as basketball lovers, bloggers, or content creators.

They recommend your products to their followers, and every time they help make a sale, you pay them a small share.

And starting an affiliate program doesn’t have to be complicated.

In this guide, we’ll walk you through the simple steps to launch your own basketball affiliate program. Let’s get going!

Find the right affiliate management solution

Trying to run an affiliate program on your own is like trying to manage a team without a coach. It’s messy, and you’re bound to make mistakes.

Many store owners try to juggle different apps: one for affiliates, another for customer referrals, and a third for influencers. It’s confusing, time-consuming, and it slows you down.

That’s why you should find a reliable affiliate management solution for your Shopify business.

UpPromote solves this problem by putting everything in one simple tool.

It serves as an all-in-one solution that helps you manage affiliates, influencers, and customer referrals from a single, easy-to-use dashboard.

Moreover, you can launch your entire program in less than 5 minutes, even if you’re not a tech expert.

Plus, the app can handle all the hard work, like tracking and payments, allowing you to focus on growing your business.

Best of all, you can start for free. UpPromote has a free plan and a 14-day free trial on all paid plans, so you can see if it’s the right fit for your Shopify store with zero risk.

Set up an attractive commission plan

If you want the best people to promote your products, you need to offer them a good deal. A fair commission rate tells them you’re serious about working together.

We’ve looked at what over 120 other basketball brands are doing to help you get it right.

For gear like shoes, jerseys, and high-performance basketballs, a 5-12% commission is a great place to start.

These items can be expensive to make, so your profit margin isn’t huge. A lower commission rate protects your profits while still giving affiliates a nice reward on a high-priced item.

For example, let’s say you sell a pair of signature sneakers for $200. The total cost to make and market them is $140, leaving you with a $60 profit. By setting a 10% commission, you’d pay affiliates $20 per sale and still keep $40 in profit.

Now for collectibles, like signed basketballs or rare trading cards.

Your partners have to get people excited about them, which takes more skill than just sharing a link.

A higher commission of 10-15% will motivate affiliates to create special content to promote them.

For example, a store like yours might sell a signed basketball for $300. By setting the commission at 10%, affiliates would earn $30 per sale. That’s a great reward for their effort.

If you sell digital things, like online shooting courses or vertical jump programs, you can be the most generous as they don’t cost you anything to make for each new customer.

We recommend offering a high commission rate of 20-30%.

One of our merchants who sells a basketball training course started with a 15% commission.

After they increased it to 25%, they saw that affiliate sign-ups grew by 40% and their sales increased by 20% over the next two months.

Takeaway: You should set commission rates for each type of product based on your profit margins and how much you want to sell. This way, both you and your partners win.

Select the right cookie period

Choosing the right cookie period is very important in a basketball affiliate program.

A fair cookie period shows your partners you respect their work, even if a follower doesn’t buy right away.

For basketball gear like jerseys and basketball shoes, a 7 to 14-day cookie is perfect. 

Most fans make these buying decisions pretty quickly. A shorter cookie window rewards affiliates for sales that happen soon after they send someone to your site.

For example, a Shopify basketball gear store in the UpPromote system sets a 7-day cookie.

This way, a fan can click an affiliate’s link for a new jersey on Monday, wait for payday on Friday, and still make the purchase in time for the affiliate to get credit.

For digital items or special collectibles, a 30-day cookie works best.

People often take more time to think about these kinds of purchases. A longer cookie gives them time to decide without the partner losing out on their commission.

For instance, HoopsKing sells unique products like training videos and custom coaching whiteboards.

Since customers may take longer to decide on these items, their 30-day cookie makes sure affiliates still get paid if the customer returns to purchase later.

For really big purchases, like a whole set of team uniforms or a nice basketball hoop, you should use a 60 to 90-day cookie. 

These big decisions often need a budget or approval. A longer cookie encourages your partners to go after these big sales.

One Shopify basketball brand we know sells team uniform packages. They started with a 30-day cookie but found that many of their big sales happened after that timeframe.

They changed their cookie to 60 days to motivate their partners. As a result, their team uniform sales from affiliates went up by 25%.

Takeaway: The big idea is to match the cookie time to how long people usually take to buy the product. It builds trust and makes your program a place where people want to be.

Select ideal partners for your affiliate program

The right affiliates are key to a winning program. They build trust and bring in high-quality sales.

Identify the right partners

Basketball bloggers and content creators can be your ideal partners. 

These people often create content on social media platforms. They have followers who trust what they say about basketball gear and training.

To find them, you can easily go to YouTube, Instagram, or TikTok,  and search for things like “best basketball shoes 2025” or “how to improve your crossover.”

Then, you should look for creators who have good engagement – meaning lots of comments and likes – not just a lot of followers.

High engagement shows that their audience actually trusts them and is more likely to take action.

If you don’t have time to do the research yourself, that’s okay. We’ve already put together a list of great basketball bloggers and content creators you can explore.

• @ShotMechanics (1.34M subscribers)
• @RevengeBasketball (111K subscribers)
• @chrissmoove (5.08M subscribers)

Chris Smoove’s YouTube profile

Basketball coaches and trainers are another great group to team up with.

These partners are seen as experts, and their recommendations mean a lot. They work with players every day and can suggest your products to their teams.

You can use Instagram and search for hashtags like #BasketballTrainer, #BasketballCoach, and #BasketballSkills.

You should pay attention to who posts regularly, shares useful tips, and engages with their followers in the comments.

Another great place to look is on online coaching platforms like CoachUp.

You can go directly to the CoachUp website and use their “Find a Coach” tool.

Then, search specifically for “Basketball” and even enter a zip code to find coaches in cities or states you want to target.

Once you have a list of coaches, it’s time to look closely at their profiles.

Basketball Coach Profile on CoachUp

You should check their client reviews to see what parents and players are saying about them.

Lots of great, 5-star comments show you that they are trusted and respected in the community.

You should also look at their experience. A coach who played in college or has special certifications from a place like USA Basketball is a credible and trustworthy partner.

How to approach these target affiliates?

1. Reach Out Directly

Direct outreach helps merchants quickly connect with affiliates. It also gives you the opportunity to highlight program benefits and inspire them to promote your products.

You can contact them through email for a more formal approach.

To make things easier, here’s a template you can follow for your outreach emails:

For a quicker, more casual way to connect, you can send them a direct message (DM) on social media.

2. Create an affiliate application form

If your website gets good traffic, set up a sign-up form to let interested affiliates come to you.

With UpPromote, you can build a professional-looking affiliate registration page that matches your Shopify brand.

You can choose from three beautiful templates (Basic, Trendy, or Comfort) and easily customize the colors, fonts, and logo.

You can also add custom questions to the form to learn more about the affiliate.

That way, you can quickly filter and find the most suitable partners. You might ask questions such as:

• What topics do you primarily cover in your basketball content? (e.g., training, NBA news, gear reviews, collectibles)
• How do you plan to promote our basketball products? (e.g., social media posts, blog reviews, product unboxings, tutorials)
• What type of support do you expect from us to help your promotions succeed? (e.g., exclusive discounts, content ideas, marketing materials)

By understanding the topics an affiliate covers, merchants can see if their content aligns with the brand and products.

For instance, an affiliate who focuses on basketball training could be an excellent partner for promoting training gear or coaching tools.

In addition, asking about the kind of support they need helps merchants learn what resources will enable the affiliate to perform effectively.

Share promotional tools with your affiliates

You can save your affiliates’ time and effort by giving them ready-to-use marketing materials. This way, they can start promoting your brand right away without creating content on their own.

First, give your affiliates banners and product photos that they can use on their blogs, websites, and social media.

Good pictures can effectively grab people’s attention and make your products look great, helping affiliates get more clicks and sales.

Let’s take a look at Vert Shock. They provide their partners with a range of both skyscraper and horizontal banners.

With UpPromote’s Media Gallery, you can create a central library of approved content.

You can upload unlimited banners, product photos, video links, and even PDF guides.

Your affiliates can then log into their account, grab what they need, and start sharing in just a few clicks.

In addition, many of your best affiliates, especially coaches and popular bloggers, have their own email lists full of loyal followers.

So, another great resource you can give your partners is a set of pre-written email templates.

An email is a powerful way to recommend your products, but writing a good one takes time and effort.

By giving them a ready-to-use template, all they have to do is copy, paste, add their unique affiliate link, and send it to their list.

It also ensures your brand’s message is always professional and says exactly what you want it to say.

Vert Shock supplies different versions of high-performing email swipes.

Encourage your affiliates to boost sales

Great partners deserve great rewards. Keeping your affiliates motivated is key to getting them to sell more and stay with your program for the long run.

One great way to motivate them is with tiered commissions. This means the more an affiliate sells, the higher their commission rate gets.

It’s a great way to reward your best players and give everyone a goal to aim for. It keeps them excited to sell more for your Shopify basketball store.

With UpPromote, you can set up tiered commission levels where affiliates get higher rewards as they sell more.

For example, you could set up a system where everyone starts at an 8% base commission. Once a partner makes $2,000 in sales, they automatically jump up to 10%, and if they reach $5,000 in sales, their commission increases again to 12%.

Another powerful tool is offering bonuses for hitting specific targets.

This is a one-time reward that you give when an affiliate reaches a goal, like making a certain number of sales.

UpPromote can help you set up rewards for different targets. For example, you can set up a $50 bonus for any affiliate who brings in 20 sales in a single month.

This way, you can keep your partners excited and pushing for the next milestone.

Conclusion

Setting up a basketball affiliate program is a powerful way to grow your business and connect with a passionate community.

By choosing the right partners, offering great commissions, and using a tool like UpPromote to manage everything, you can build a program that gets great results.

We’ve shown the essential steps for building a successful affiliate program for your basketball store on Shopify from start to finish. Now it’s your turn to take the court and put these strategies into play.