The imaginable break-up between Kyrie Irving and Nike officially happened, and now the athletic shoe brand is preparing to roll out its next star player, Ja Morant.
via: SB Nation
We all felt like this was coming eventually, but The Athletic’s Shams Charania reported that Ja Morant is in line to receive a signature shoe with Nike in the “near future.”
Memphis Grizzlies All-NBA star Ja Morant is in line to receive a new signature shoe at Nike in the near future, industry sources tell @TheAthletic @Stadium. The parties have been working on this for several months. https://t.co/RzKf9JEIf1
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) December 5, 2022
Morant’s signature shoe has felt inevitable for quite some time, but the speculation really heated up last year when Nike launched a commercial with the Memphis Grizzlies star at the forefront. He had that commercial and has appeared in various sponsorship features — including BodyArmor, Beats by Dre, Sony, and more.
So now will come the questions everybody wants to find out. What will his signature shoe look like? And when will it release?
Devin Robertson wrote a feature for GBB roughly a year and a half ago on what it could possibly look like, basing it around elements of sneakers he’s worn in his career. Lately, Morant has worn the Nike Kobe IX’s to provide better support after another ankle tweak.
With this being on the heels on the announcement of Kyrie Irving’s departure from Nike, it begs the question on whether or not we see Morant’s signature sneaker launched sooner than planned.
Nonetheless, questions aside, this is just another reason why it’s an exciting time to be a Memphis Grizzlies fan. The franchise has never had a mainstream phenomenon like Ja Morant, and there hasn’t been a sports superstar in Memphis to this degree since Penny Hardaway in the 90’s. This announcement is just another milestone in Ja Morant’s journey, and receiving a signature shoe is something every young athlete dreams about.
The speculation around Ja Morant’s signature shoe will ultimately grow directly proportional to the Nike sneaker sales in the city of Memphis.
