This season has been exceptionally rewarding for Converse, thanks to the extraordinary rise of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
The 26-year-old point guard, now in his seventh NBA season, topped the league in scoring, earned the Most Valuable Player award, and propelled the Oklahoma City Thunder to the best regular-season record.
On Thursday, Gilgeous-Alexander and the Thunder will face the Indiana Pacers in Game 1 of the NBA Finals, aiming to secure the franchise’s first championship since 1979, a time when the team was still known as the Seattle SuperSonics.
Converse plans to release Gilgeous-Alexander’s inaugural signature shoe, the Shai 001, this fall — a timely tribute to his standout season and a strategic moment for the brand to leverage his growing prominence.
What makes this success story notable is that it was not the result of a calculated marketing plan, but rather a fortunate alignment of events. Given the significant investments shoe companies make in young NBA talent—often before players have even logged their first minutes—the outcome could easily have been very different.
Adrian Stelly, Converse’s director of sports marketing, first encountered Gilgeous-Alexander over a decade ago while the player was still in high school in Hamilton, Ontario. He signed the young athlete to Converse in 2019 during Gilgeous-Alexander’s rookie year with the Los Angeles Clippers, when he averaged 10.8 points per game—well before reaching his current All-Star status.
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