For decades, Nike has ruled the basketball market with their shoes, made in collaboration with the best athletes in the NBA. Since the Jordan brand took off, they have worked with some of the greatest athletes of all time to further refine their brand value. However, now there may be a major shift waiting to happen, as Adidas slowly makes progress in signing top athletes. Nike taking a few hits in recent times has also contributed to the problem, according to former Milwaukee Bucks guard Brandon Jennings.
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During a recent conversation with Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson on All The Smoke podcast, Jennings talked about how Adidas is slowly gaining ground in the market share. “For me, I’m going to say Adidas is running it right now. I love the layout that they did with the Hardens and the Ant-Mans, especially with Ant becoming one of the faces of the league.”
The 34-year-old also believes that Nike losing Kyrie Irving was one of the major reasons behind their recent decline. The $143 billion brand also took a hit with Ja Morant undergoing a steep decline in popularity following his gun-related suspension and subsequent season-ending injury.
Jackson also agreed with Jennings’ take on the Kyrie-Nike situation. He said that one of the biggest tell-tale signs of shoe sales is when they are visible during AAU games, and recently, there’s been an influx of Kyrie’s shoes at those events. Adidas’ collaboration with Harden and Anthony Edwards have produced some of the most unique designs in the market right now. So Nike is facing competition on the creative front as well.
The entire discussion was prompted by the lack of visibility of Nike shoes in the first round of the playoffs. As players like Anthony Edwards and Kyrie Irving have put up great performances, top Nike athletes like Giannis Antetokounmpo and Kevin Durant have faced setbacks in the early stage of the postseason.
Anthony Edwards’ shoes take the top spot on the Complex list
Recently, Complex released their list of best signature basketball shoes in the market right now and Ant-Man’s Adidas AE 1s took the top spot, beating the likes of LeBron James, Devin Booker, Sabrina Ionescu, and others. Released on December 16th, 2023, the AE 1 is priced at an affordable $120. According to the Complex list, “The AE 1 is also just eye-catching. Its futuristic honeycomb design looks like nothing else on the market right now.”
However, it will be unfair to just write off Nike so soon, because a giant like that knows how to make all the right moves to bounce back on the market. Nike might have a winning product on their hand already, because they just signed the sensational Caitlin Clark to a reported $28 million, eight-year deal. With the kind of popularity that Clark has right now, it won’t be surprising if Nike ends up taking the top spot on all the lists when they launch their first shoe with the Indiana Fever’s number one draft pick.
