It’s been a bit of an open secret that there are plans for Giannis Antetokounmpo to get a signature sneaker from Nike. These were rumored to be on the way at some point in 2019, with Antetokounmpo even taking to social media last May to ask fans if they were excited about his upcoming kicks.
Months later and it looks like Antetokounmpo is the frontrunner for the league MVP award. His status as a superstar has exploded this season, and in response, Nike reportedly has plans to bring the Freak 1 to the world sooner rather than later. Twitter user @djfolk posted a pair of tweets earlier this month saying that a black/white colorway will come in June or July, followed by a white and red colorway in August.
https://twitter.com/DJFolk/status/1101959420135817221
https://twitter.com/DJFolk/status/1101945725141860353
It’s a fun rumor, but there hadn’t been any confirmation about whether this was true. That all changed on Thursday during Nike’s Q3 Earnings Call. According to the call’s transcript as compiled by the site Seeking Alpha, Nike CEO Mark Parker revealed that the sneakers are on their way.
“Building on the energy of the NBA playoffs, Giannis will cap off his incredible season with the reveal of his first signature shoe,” Parker said.
Parker didn’t announce exactly when we can expect to see the sneakers — it was part of a rundown of stuff we can expect “in the next few months” — but the timing couldn’t be better considering Antetokounmpo’s monster of a year. With this news, Antetokounmpo joins Kevin Durant as the stars on Nike’s hoops roster to get a signature sneaker this time of year.
(Via Sole Collector)
