In their highly publicized matchup against the Los Angeles Lakers, Boston Celtics forward Jaylen Brown laced up a pair of “Reverse Grinch” Kobe VI Protro. While this act, in and of itself, does not differentiate Brown from the scores of NBA players, who have taken these sneakers to the court, however the fact that Brown wore were Swooshless put him in a class by himself.
Brown, who is reportedly a sneaker free agent rocked the Kobes, sans the branding due to his current status. He had previously been with Adidas, and has been wearing largely Nikes since then, but also has worn offerings from Puma, New Balance, Adidas and other brands.
His signing with a major brand may not be a forgone conclusion, if his stance on the state of basketball sneakers not changed. On an October episode of Sneaker Shopping, Brown referred to contemporary designs as “trash.”
“There needs to be some disruption in the sneaker game because everything is kind of getting boring,” Brown said. “The designs are getting lazy. There’s no creativity. There’s no authenticity. Some of the sneakers that are out right now, even for athletes, are trash. We gotta come with the originality and bring it back to the ’90s.” Brown also floated the idea of the signing with multiple brands simultaneously.
