Kyrie Irving finally returned from his multi-game suspension this past Sunday against the Memphis Grizzlies in a 127-115 win. He dropped 14 points and looked to get back into the groove of things. As expected, he went off for a light 29 points last night against the Raptors in yet another win for the Brooklyn Nets.
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The Nets are currently on the surge up, with them being a win away from having a .500 record. So, getting Irving back is quite a huge boost for the team. Him apologizing for his tweet about the antisemitic movie on Amazon led to him being reinstated back onto the team and it couldn’t have come at a more perfect time.
Though, one thing that has been in the background of this entire debacle of Irving’s has been being let go by Nike. His contract upon signing it in 2011 was reportedly worth at least $11 million. They would however, drop him after everything that’s transpired in the past month.
Kyrie Irving wore all-black Skechers and dropped 29 points
Knowing Kyrie Irving, it truly doesn’t matter what shoes he’s wearing as he’ll be getting his buckets in regardless. Following his fallout with Nike, he was seen sporting all-black Skechers against the Raptors with, according to Twitter, Hanes socks on.
Kyrie wearing some Hanes socks and Skechers. Ditched all his Nike gear pic.twitter.com/nRVcVrmtfg
— Ryan R (@skippyson) November 23, 2022
This is quite interesting as he would actually wear his all-red Kyrie 1 colorway during his Memphis game. So, it’s clear that he’s still allowed to wear Nike shoes and has no problem in doing so. However, with him being a sneaker free-agent, he seems to be wanting to explore his options.
It’s highly unlikely that Skechers of all brands will look to build high-tech basketball shoes for Kyrie Irving. Though, it is incredible to see that Irving is such a high-level player that he doesn’t need all the fancy Zoom Strobel units, Cushlon, and all that to be effective during an NBA game
Kyrie Irving has had ‘beef’ with Nike before
Last year, Kyrie Irving took to his Instagram to publicly shame Nike for not consulting him on the design of the Kyrie 8 model. He would call them ‘trash’ and apologize to hoop shoe fans for the shoe that would be released.
This shoe would be rebranded into the Kyrie Infinity and despite the 6’3 guard’s harsh words, would actually be considered one of the best shoes for guards this year. The most notable player in the league to constantly wear them is Darius Garland with his signature pink and white colorway.