While the Boston Celtics are on the verge of their 18th NBA title, Jaylen Brown is nearing a feat not seen in several generations. He could be the first player in at least 45 years to win the NBA Finals Most Valuable Player Award without a shoe deal.
Brown is a three-time All-Star, the reigning Eastern Conference finals MVP and was voted onto the All-NBA second team last season. That honor helped him land the biggest contract in NBA history (well, for the time being). But the Celtics wing still doesn’t have a signature shoe or endorsem*nt deal with any sneaker company.
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Sneaker deals are a rite of passage in the league, and certainly for its top players. Who else wins an MVP award than some of the best players in the league? Michael Jordan has six. LeBron James has four. Kobe Bryant, Kawhi Leonard and Kevin Durant each have two.
Those stars all had shoe deals and their own signature lines. Others who have had the award had simple endorsem*nt deals. Brown has nothing, and with the Celtics holding a 3-0 series lead over the Dallas Mavericks, he is seen as the favorite to win finals MVP.
Brown had been under contract with Adidas until his deal ran out in 2021. Since then, he’s been a free agent. This month, he’s worn a pair of Nike sneakers in every game. He wore Kyrie Irving’s ANTA sneakers during the All-Star Game.
Jaylen Brown is wearing Kyrie Irving’s signature ANTA sneaker for the #NBAAllStar Game 🔥 pic.twitter.com/YUr7kuWXA6
— Nice Kicks (@nicekicks) February 19, 2024
“I’m more inclined of following that sneaker disruptive kind of path,” he said last fall during an appearance on the Point Forward podcast. “A lot of the deals that athletes get signed are kind of, like, stationary. Here it is, cut and dry, no creative control, no control over your marketing, but no input, actually. Don’t even mention creative control. No real input, to be honest. In the marketing budget, how you’re being branded, the campaign ideas; a lot of that stuff is developed for you.”
In objecting to a sneaker deal, Brown has become the most high-profile sneaker free agent in the league. That choice has likely cost him a not-insignificant amount of money, though how much is hard to say.
There has been a retrenchment in the sneaker industry in recent years, especially with Nike, agents and industry sources said. Where rookies might enter the league and get a sneaker deal, even if it paid in the six-figure range, they could now get merchandise deals instead. The company has been stingier with veterans, too.
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Nike has lost key endorsers in recent years. They cut ties with Irving in 2022. NikolaJokić, fresh off his own finals MVP, left Nike for 361 Degrees last year.
Matt Powell, a longtime industry expert and advisor at Spurwink River, said that shoes associated with marquee players are no longer selling as well and in as large of quantities as they used to.
“That business is significantly smaller than it was a decade ago,” he said.
Nike has, by far, been associated with the most finals MVPs since 1980. Their shoes have been on the feet of 22 winners, and Leonard won his finals MVP award in 2014 wearing Jordan Brand. Converse has been the shoe endorser of choice for finals MVPs, but only one since 2003, when it was bought by Nike (Dwyane Wade in 2006).
NBA Finals MVPs have worn an assortment of shoes on their way to history. Stephen Curry is the face of Under Armour. Leonard wore New Balance in 2019. Tim Duncan won wearing Nike (1999) and then Adidas (2003). Hakeem Olajuwon went back-to-back in 1994 and 1995 with different endorsem*nt deals, first with L.A. Gear before he signed with Spalding to put out his own low-cost line of shoes.
Brown’s closest analog might be Shaquille O’Neal. The star center wasn’t associated with any major shoe company when he won three-straight finals MVP awards from 2000 through 2002, but he was wearing someone’s shoes on his feet: his own. He started Dunk.net, his attempt at creating an Amazon for apparel, with the backing of prominent investors and venture capital and put himself as the centerpiece of the advertising campaign.
Brown, at this point, has no shoe to sell. He is a very good player without a shoe deal, and about to win an award that can make a career, let alone an endorsem*nt profile. But what he does next is undetermined.
As an emerging star in a large market, with a finals MVP award to his name, Brown could make the case for a strong offer, industry experts say. But he could also choose to go his own way, giving him the control he seeks.
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Several players have launched their own shoes in recent years. Spencer Dinwiddie produced and sold his own shoe while he was with the Brooklyn Nets. Langston Galloway launched his own company, Ethics, in 2021. Brown has his own sportswear line, 7uice, though it has yet to create any sneakers. Heseemingly wore a prototype shoefor a half at this season’s All-Star Game.
“In wanting and being able to have representation, control and say so in how your narrative is being projected is not something major companies are really trying to do,” Brown said this fall.
As he has already shown, Brown is willing to do things his own way. He maintains control over his sneaker future and he could gain more bargaining power, or a larger platform, as early as Friday night if the Celtics finish their sweep of the Mavericks.
(Photo: Nathaniel S. Butler / NBAE via Getty Images)
Mike Vorkunov is the national basketball business reporter for The Athletic. He covers the intersection of money and basketball and covers the sport at every level. He previously spent three-plus seasons as the New York Knicks beat writer. Follow Mike on Twitter @MikeVorkunov
