By
Bloomberg
Published
June 5, 2025
When the NBA finals notify Thursday night, Shai Gilgous-Alexander will be considered by many as the best player in the favorite overwhelming to win the championship.
And as many stars, SGA, as it is known, will use its own characteristic sneakers when your Oklahoma City Thunder face the Indiana Pacers. But the shoes will not have a Nike Swoosh or a Jordan logo, the brands that have long controlled the basketball shoes market. Instead, you will use Converse.
The brand's Chuck Taylor sneakers were a force in the hoops in the 1970s, but then became a casual shoe when Nike Inc. engulfed the market share in basketball. But in SGA, Converse now has a superstar that could help revive the days of glory.
Meanwhile, Nike, owner of the Jordan brand, is in an unknown position. The next largest name of the series is Tyrese Haliburton in Indiana, which has a shoe with Puma Se.
However, Nike is not completely closed from the finals. The largest sports team manufacturer acquired Converse in 2003 to reinforce his lifestyle business. Since then, Converse has had success outbreaks, but the growth stagnated and the income has decreased, including a 18% drop in the most recent period informed. It represents about 4% of Nike's total sales.
Nike's executive director, Elliott Hill, who came out of retirement last year to try to reverse a long sales fall, recognizes the importance of the shoe. In February, Hill flew to San Francisco to be with SGA to debut Shai 001, its new $ 130 basketball shoes in yellow butter.
“Footwear is sponsors and personalities, to be able to identify product lines, and customers know their products by their names instead of simply calling the sneakers,” said Simeon Siegel, BMO Markets Capital Analyst. “Converse knows better than anyone. He returns to what Converse did: Chuck Taylor.”
A Converse representative did not respond to a request for comments for this story.
Long before Michael Jordan played his first NBA game, the Chuck Taylor shoe in Converse was the most dominant shoe on the court. Almost all professional basketball players during the 1960s wore Converse Sneakers, usually Chucks, originally developed for the basketball seller converted into sneakers in the 1920s. Magic Johnson and Larry Bird, the main stars of the 80s, led to converse while fighting for the championships.
In the NBA, rivals like Adidas Ag and Puma confiscated the market share, then Nike accompanied his first Jordans in 1985 and never looked back. Most NBA players wear Nikes or Jordans, and have exclusive shoes with most of the most important names of sport: LeBron James, Kevin Durant and Giannis Antetokounmpo. Converse was forgotten.
SGA, a 6 -foot and 6 Canadian guard from the University of Kentucky, is an unlikely hero for Converse. The Charlotte Hornets chose him 11 in the 2018 NBA Draft and changed it to the Los Angeles Clippers the same day. After averaging about 11 points per game in his rookie year, the clippers changed him to thunder.
The rupture occurred after SGA arrived in Oklahoma, and Converse finally signed it with a footwear agreement and clothing support in 2020 after his second season as a professional. He said at that time that “not having so many men and the ability to express myself on and off the court in many different ways attracts me so much.”
Three star selections and a more valuable player award later, SGA has become one of the league elite talents.
But the time of Converse could have been better. Although SGA began using their shoes in the middle of the season, they will not be available for buyers to buy until this fall.
However, as Converse leans towards basketball, Hill and the executive director of Converse, Jared Carver, they have not yet outlined a strategic plan to change the brand. It is rarely mentioned in the so -called quarterly Nike with investors and analysts.
“Converse as an independent business is very big,” said Siegel. “Like a piece of Nike, it feels like a late occurrence.”
