While the Boston Celtics are on the brink of winning their 18th NBA title, Jaylen Brown is on the cusp of becoming the first player in at least 45 years to win the NBA Finals Most Valuable Player Award without a shoe contract.
Brown is a three-time All-Star, Eastern Conference Finals MVP and All-NBA Second Team selection last season — honors that earned him the biggest contract in NBA history (well, for now). But the Celtics wing has yet to land a signature shoe or endorsement deal with any sneaker company.
Sneaker contracts are a rite of passage in the league, especially for the best players. Who else besides the league’s best players has won the MVP award? Michael Jordan six times, LeBron James four times, Kobe Bryant, Kawhi Leonard and Kevin Durant have each won it twice.
All of these stars had shoe deals or their own brands; other winners of the award only had endorsement deals. Brown has nothing, but he is considered the favorite to win Finals MVP with the Celtics leading the series with a 3-0 series lead over the Dallas Mavericks.
Brown was signed to Adidas until his contract expired in 2021. He is now a free agent. He has worn Nike sneakers in every game this month, including Kyrie Irving’s ANTA sneakers at the All-Star Game.
Jaylen Brown wears Kyrie Irving’s signature ANTA sneakers #NBAAllStar Games 🔥 pic.twitter.com/YUr7kuWXA6
— Nice Kicks (@nicekicks) February 19, 2024
“I prefer to go the sneaker disruptive route,” he said during an appearance on the Point Forward podcast last fall. “A lot of the contracts that athletes sign are kind of locked in, so to speak, which is pretty straightforward: you have no creative control, you have no marketing control, you don’t really have any input, let alone creative control. You honestly have no real input. Your marketing budget, how you brand yourself, your campaign ideas — a lot of that is developed for you.”
Brown’s decision to opt out of a sneaker deal made him the league’s most high-profile sneaker free agent, and it’s likely that his decision cost him some money, though it’s unclear how much.
There’s been a shrinking trend in the sneaker industry in recent years, especially at Nike, agents and industry sources say. When rookies enter the league and sign sneaker deals, even if they’re worth six figures, they can now get merchandise deals instead. The company has also been stingy with veteran players.
Nike has lost some major sponsors in recent years, cutting ties with Irving in 2022. Fresh off his Finals MVP contract, Nikola Jokic left Nike for 361 Degrees last year.
Matt Powell, a longtime industry expert and adviser to Sparwink River, said shoes for big-name athletes aren’t selling as well or in the volume they used to.
“That business is significantly smaller than it was 10 years ago,” he said.
Since 1980, Nike has been associated with by far the most Finals MVPs. The company’s shoes have been worn by 22 champions, and Leonard won the Finals MVP award wearing Jordan Brand in 2014. Converse has been the shoe sponsor of Finals MVPs, but only one (Dwyane Wade in 2006) has been selected since Nike acquired the franchise in 2003.
NBA Finals MVPs have worn a variety of shoes on their way to becoming history. Stephen Curry is the face of Under Armour. Leonard wore New Balance in 2019. Tim Duncan won with Nike (1999) and then Adidas (2003). Hakeem Olajuwon had consecutive endorsement deals in 1994 and 1995, first with LA Gear and then with Spalding, where he launched a low-cost shoe line.
Brown’s closest analogy might be Shaquille O’Neal. The star center wasn’t affiliated with a major shoe company when he was named Finals MVP three years in a row from 2000 to 2002, but he did have someone else’s shoes on his feet — his own. Backed by big-name investors and venture capitalists, he launched Dunk.net, an effort to create the Amazon of apparel, and made himself the front man of its advertising campaigns.
Brown currently has no shoes to sell, and despite not having a shoe deal, is a very good player and is on the verge of winning a career-making award, let alone an endorsement deal, but is undecided about what to do next.
Industry experts say Brown could expect strong offers as a big-market rising star and former Finals MVP, but he could also choose to take the initiative he desires and forge his own path.
Several players have released their own shoes in recent years. Spencer Dinwiddie manufactured and sold his own shoes while with the Brooklyn Nets. Langston Galloway launched his own company, Ethics, in 2021. Brown has his own sportswear line, 7uice, but has not yet made a sneaker. He was seen wearing a prototype shoe at halftime of this season’s All-Star Game.
“The desire and ability to have expression, control and a say in how your story unfolds is not something that major corporations are really trying to do,” Brown said this fall.
As Brown has already shown, he plans to do things his own way. He’s in control of his sneaker future and could gain more negotiating power or a bigger stage if the Celtics sweep the Mavericks as soon as Friday night.
(Photo: Nathaniel S. Butler/NBAE via Getty Images)
