When looking to purchase a basketball, it isn’t always as simple as picking one off the shelves. There are many factors you should take into consideration before choosing. Are you planning on using the ball outdoors or indoors? Are you using the basketball to practice for team tryouts, or for a couple hours each week after school shooting hoops with your friends? What is your budget?
Each basketball player’s answer will differ, which makes choosing the right ball even more important. Playing any sport with equipment that doesn’t work well for you is a waste of money and resources
In this article, we will compare two notable basketball brands, Cipton and Wilson, and will focus on three points of comparison: popularity, price, and quality.
What Should I Look For When Purchasing A Basketball?
Quality of materials, durability, air retention, performance, and price are all important considerations when purchasing a basketball. Aside from price, the two most important are materials and durability.
Materials
There are three main cover materials that basketballs are made from: rubber, composite leather, and genuine leather.
- Rubber – this is the cheapest material to be used on a basketball cover. However, it does hold up better than the alternative materials when used on an outdoor court. The good thing is that rubber basketballs can be used in both indoor and outdoor settings, but they tend to lose their shape faster than leather basketballs when used on their intended courts.
- Composite Leather – the middleman between rubber and genuine leather, composite leather is a mix of genuine leather and polyurethane (or some other plastic material). These balls can be used for indoor or outdoor environments and tend to have better grip than rubber balls. Unfortunately, they aren’t as soft as genuine leather balls and can be harder to grip as well.
- Genuine Leather – this material is what original professional basketballs were made from and is what’s still used in the NBA today. It provides the best grip for players and is much softer on the hands. Some of the downsides, however, are that these basketballs tend to be the most expensive and should only be used on an indoor court.
Durability
Durability measures how long a product can last under the assumed conditions. For basketballs, you’ll want a ball durable enough to play as often as you want. Because certain materials are better suited for outdoor vs. indoor play, you’ll want to buy a basketball that is suited for the environment in which you regularly play.
Are Cipton Basketballs More Popular Than Wilson?
In terms of popularity, Wilson wins hands down. Besides the fact that they currently provide the NBA’s official ball, they were the original ball provider to the league for almost four decades. Below is a list all leagues where Wilson is the ball provider:
- National Basketball Association (NBA)
- Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA)
- Jr. National Basketball Association (Jr. NBA)
- National Collegiate Athletic Association’s (NCAA) March Madness
- Basketball Champions League (BCL)
- Basketball Africa League (BAL)
Cipton, on the other hand, is a lesser-known company, specializing in LED sports equipment that can be played during the nighttime. Their online presence is much more limited than that of Wilson, and they are best known for their Illuminite series – a line of sports equipment, including basketballs, baseballs, footballs, etc. – which uses LED batteries to make the equipment glow in the dark.
From a social media standpoint, Wilson also takes the cake. Below, we have a table of each company’s following on four major social media sites.
| Social Media Platform | Cipton Following | Wilson Following |
| 91.9K | 67.4K | |
| <0.1K | 9.7K | |
| <0.1K | 25.0K | |
| YouTube | <0.1K | 1.5K |
| Total Following | 92.0K | 103.6K |
It’s a bit strange that almost 100% of Cipton’s social media following is through Instagram. Additionally, most of their social media pages only started posting in 2020, so they are a bit new to the modern marketing game.
Are Cipton Basketballs More Expensive Than Wilson?
For this section, we will compare various similar basketballs from both Cipton and Wilson to form a fair price comparison. For pricing, we went to each brand’s official website to avoid any misinformation, as prices on secondhand websites can fluctuate and don’t always reflect the retail value of each product (Disclaimer: prices are subject to change).
| Cipton Basketball | Price | Wilson Basketball | Price |
| Cipton Elite Pro | $19.95 | Wilson NBA Official | $199.95 |
| Cipton Midnight | $49.99 | Wilson Evo NXT | $99.95 |
| Cipton Velocity | $49.99 | Wilson Evolution | $79.95 |
| Total Avg. Cipton Cost | ~$40.00 | Total Avg. Wilson Cost | ~$126.67 |
As you can see, Wilson’s basketballs run at a significantly higher cost than those of Cipton. Wilson is able to charge a premium for their basketballs because of their league partnerships, the NBA Official basketball is their most expensive ball is constantly sold out. The Evo NXT is the BALs official ball and also has a high price tag.
One of the advantages of choosing Cipton (along with its cheaper pricing) is that many of their balls come with an air pump. This will save some additional money when considering additional basketball equipment.
From the most expensive to the least expensive ball, Wilson ranges from $159.95 – $10.99, while Cipton ranges from $49.99 – $10.99. Wilson also has a larger spread of options to choose from, listing more than 82 basketballs while Cipton only has seven.
Are Cipton Basketballs Better Than Wilson?
On average, Wilson used better-quality material to make their basketballs than Cipton does. Material has a lot to do with how a ball is gripped, how it bounces, etc. A majority of Cipton’s balls are made of rubber, with only to being made of composite leather.
All of Wilson’s indoor balls are made of either genuine leather or composite leather. Their outdoor balls are a mix of composite leather and plastic, but the price tag generally reflects this.
What’s important here is to look at each company’s highest quality ball. Wilson’s is made of the best material a basketball can be crafted from, while Cipton’s is a hybrid.
In Conclusion: Cipton vs. Wilson
Overall, Wilson is the distinct winner over Cipton in being the better basketball provider. Although their basketballs tend to be more expensive, they have a larger selection to choose from, use better quality materials, and have a lot more hype behind their brand.
Again, depending on what your priorities are, Cipton might be the brand for you. It is important to take all factors into consideration when deciding what ball you want to go with.