Jaylen Brown’s Secret South Korea Trip Could Lead To His New Shoe Brand Following Fallout With Nike

Sneaker free agent Jaylen Brown has been entrenched in controversy since his comments about Nike before the 2024 Olympics. Now, there are whispers about a South Korean brand courting the three-time All-Star. The talk began during Brown’s unpublicized trip to Seoul.

Baraq Co., a Korean shoe manufacturer, is reportedly launching Brown’s signature shoe line, the brand’s CEO revealed in an interview. A Korean basketball page’s YouTube video ignited speculation among fans on the Boston Celtics subreddit.

This created a buzz in the fan community because the 2024 Finals MVP has been spotted wearing an undisclosed sneaker this year. In early August, Brown was in Spain, shooting around at the NBPA’s Sanctuary. During a pick-up game, he grabbed attention, by wearing some undisclosed black sneakers. It’s also being reported that he wore an earlier version of those shoes during the All-Star game in February.

If these are Brown’s soon-to-be-announced signature shoes, then he’s in luck, because fans have already shared their excitement over the design. Furthermore, for those who support Brown’s many off-court ventures, the deal will be seen as long overdue.

The 27-year-old signed a 5-year deal with Adidas when he was drafted. But since that deal expired in 2021, there have seemingly been no suitors for the Celtics star. In recent years, Brown wore Nike shoes, particularly from Kobe Bryant’s line. But that might change after this contentious off-season.

Jaylen was very vocal online after not making the team for the 2024 Olympics. He shared several tweets and even spoke to media personalities about how he believed that Nike had, to some extent, orchestrated his exclusion. To be fair, Nike was Team USA’s apparel sponsor, and 9/12 players on the team were affiliated with them.

This, in combination with Brown’s vocal criticism of Nike, could be the reason he feels blackballed by the $120 billion company.

Over the last year, Brown has taken a page out of Kyrie Irving’s book to deal with Nike. Between 2022 and 2023, Irving was a sneaker free agent. The controversy surrounding Kyrie’s tweets in 2022, would lead to Nike dropping the guard. Frustrated, Irving began to wear his signature Nikes with the swoosh logo covered up.

Brown has been seen doing the same thing as early as February 2023. During last year’s All-Star Game, Brown covered the Nike logo with the words ‘Liberation’.

With their beef over the Olympics, the door to a potential collaboration between Nike and Brown seems indefinitely closed. As such, it makes sense for the forward-thinking hooper to look for a brand where he can exercise more creative control. Following the recent developments in South Korea, we’ll soon find out if Brown’s sneaker free agency has ended and if his signature line will be released by Baraq Co.

With no official announcement yet though, fans in the Celtics subreddit translated the video to figure out the details. Some think the shoe brand will be titled “74.1”, while others shared how the CEO was enamored by Brown’s emotional intelligence.