Giannis Antetokounmpo is set to make his debut in the NBA’s Disney bubble league on July 31, when the Milwaukee Bucks will take on the Boston Celtics in a matchup of two Eastern Conference juggernauts with NBA Finals aspirations. While Antetokounmpo will have his trusty Zoom Freak 1s on his feet, the reigning league MVP has something new in the pipeline, too.
The Bucks star became the latest Nike athlete to get a signature sneaker last year. His latest kick in that line debuted on Thursday, as Nike announced the Zoom Freak 2 in a collection of colorways.
Official look at @Giannis_An34's second Nike signature shoe, the Zoom Freak 2. pic.twitter.com/smDgTa9QgD
— Jarrel (@_JarrelHarris) July 16, 2020
Harris spoke to Ross Klein, the Senior Creative Director for Nike Basketball. Klein explained that Antetokounmpo’s three brothers — Alex, Kostas, and Thanasis — were all part of the process of creating and deciding on the various elements of the sneaker, which led to a number of nods to their family.
On the shoe you can find nods to their parents, Charles and Veronica. On the sockline you will find the words, “I am my father’s legacy”, and on the traction is a print of their roots and Giannis’ journey to the NBA.
“I am not gassing anything up at all. He is a joyful type of athlete to work with. So are his brothers,” says Klein. “What is so cool to me as a leader in basketball is that they are not following anything else. They are not seeing and saying we kind of want a little bit of this or that, they work within themselves to be creators and they are going off of this like there is nothing else in their life besides this and it is so refreshing. I think that makes the process of working with four people easier because they are all really at the same place. There is no differential components outside of them. The cool thing is for someone like Thanasis who we don’t talk about enough, but he is a crucial factor in all of this. Giannis and Thanasis go back and forth all the time but they are very authentic, and they don’t hide anything that they think and they are very nice people.”
According to Sole Collector, while Antetokounmpo will not wear these at the outset of the Bucks’ time in Orlando, the possibility exists that he will break them out at some point. As for when you can get your hands on the pair, the Zoom Freak 2s will drop in their green “Naija” colorway on July 25 for $120, with the black and white colorway coming on August 7.
