Jaylen Brown has been a sneaker free agent since the 27-year-old's contract with Adidas expired in 2021, and now after three years of zero affiliation with any billion-dollar corporation, it seems as though the Boston Celtics star has gone independent.
That's not an unusual route to follow, even for a player of Brown's caliber or open-mindedness.
Brown was spotted wearing a never-before-seen pair of predominantly black sneakers featuring iridescent crystal-shaped hits while in Spain, prompting online speculation. It's widely known that Brown's ongoing beef with Nike is alive and well, refueled in fact, after Brown wasn't recruited to join USA Basketball's Olympic team this summer in Paris. Being that Nike sponsors all of Team USA's apparel, and a good chunk of its footwear since LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Devin Booker, and others are brand affiliates, Brown took to social media to publicize (bold) theories involving Nike.
This all started back in 2022 when Nike severed all ties to Brown's former Celtics teammate Kyrie Irving. Brown highlighted Nike's hypocrisy regarding its moral compass and exercised his disdain by wearing a few of its most popular silhouettes -- mostly Kobe Bryant's signature sneakers -- while readjusting them by removing the iconic swoosh. Routinely, and even during the 2023 NBA All-Star Game, Brown sported custom Nikes with deeper messages, sometimes aimed at Nike specifically. In Utah, Brown's custom Kobe 5s read "Just Do Better," which takes a direct shot at Nike's iconic slogan, "Just Do It."
The three-time All-Star, 2024 NBA Finals MVP, and former highest-paid player in league history ($286 million) -- now second to Jayson Tatum ($315 million) -- hasn't confirmed anything yet himself. However, considering Brown is a prideful fashion guru, it's fair to assume, at the very least, we'll see some Brown-designed footwear very soon. Brown has already collaborated on footwear projects in the past, most recently unveiling an unreleased version of the "Bape Sk8 Sta" during All-Star weekend last season in Indianapolis.
"There needs to be some disruption in the sneaker game because everything is kind of getting boring," Brown told Complex in 2023. "The designs are getting lazy. There's no creativity. There's no authenticity. Some of the sneakers that are out right now, even for athletes, are trash. We gotta come with the originality and bring it back to the (1990s)."
