Giannis' First Signature Shoe Became The Largest Launch In Nike Basketball History

I mean…holy shit. The largest initial signature shoe launch in Nike basketball history? Think about that for a second. Lebron, Durant, Kyrie, etc, none of them had an initial signature shoe pull in more money than Giannis and his Zoom Freak 1s. Gone are the days where you need to play in a big market to be a successful brand, all you have to do is be a basketball freak and MVP. Maybe the best player in the league, no big deal. This isn’t Nike tossing out some hyperbole either, this is an earnings call where I’m pretty sure have to tell the truth and be factual. Not a finance guy but I feel like that’s how things have to be played. Now obviously he has the whole international market and appeal which most likely factored into this, but even still this is pretty crazy. The fact that it wasn’t just his shoe but the apparel as well tells you all you need to know. Giannis is a force both on the court and in the marketplace.

If I’m the Bucks front office, I’m also exhaling a little bit. With Giannis’ potential free agency not that far away, if he realizes that even if he plays in MIL he can still become a global icon, he may not be tempted to head to LA or GS or any other huge market to help further his brand. At this point Giannis is already universally loved to a degree not seen since someone like Dirk. Giannis shits down the throat of my favorite basketball team on the regular and I can’t even hate him. You learn his story, you realize he’s humble as hell, you watch him destroy people on a nightly basis, frankly it’s bullshit how unhateable he is. So his shoe becoming the biggest launch in Nike’s history sort of backs that up. People love Giannis.

It’s pretty common to hear that Giannis is the face of the next generation in the NBA, he’s next in line to take the torch from LeBron and carry it into the next 10-15 years. What’s scary is he’s still so raw offensively and so young, chances are we haven’t even scratched the surface of what he could possibly develop into as a player. Like this dude sneaky can’t even really shoot yet and none of that matters. He’s winning MVPs and becoming a sneaker powerhouse all before he’s 25 years old. What a monster.