🏀 SGA, Converse, and the power of a good NBA partnership

Converse made the right bet on the right NBA player

I'm watching the Indiana Pacers and Oklahoma City Thunder face off against each other in the NBA Finals. I'm also paying attention to the shoes that everyone is wearing.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (SGA) leads the Thunder and was just named NBA Season MVP. If the Thunder win, SGA will become the face of the 24-25 NBA Season. And he will also help Converse sell more sneakers!

Converse is the ugly stepchild of the sneaker market but they now have a winning bet with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who first signed to the brand in 2020 as a relatively unknown young player.

Converse took a risk with SGA, who was picked 11th in the 2018 NBA draft, but they also didn't have the same leverage as Nike or Adidas. Converse had to approach collabs differently and make a bet on SGA's uniqueness and potential.

Converse made $2 Billion in revenue last year, but that's significantly smaller than Nike, Jordan or Adidas and they're much less relevant than buzzy brands like New Balance or ASICS. Converse is a brand that needs help.

Now that SGA has become a bigger star than ever, this positively affects Converse's business. While Shai's NBA career was slowly growing over the last few years, he also became Creative Director of Converse Basketball in 2024.

And right before the NBA Finals, he announced the launch of his new Converse signature shoe, the SHAI 001.

For brands that aren't Nike, picking what athletes to work with is an incredibly important mixture of art and science to accomplish your business goals. Both brands and players need to think about culture fit, commercial terms, tone and personality, mutual expectations, creative control, reputational risks, audience preferences and a million other factors.

At PWR House, we spend a lot of time helping both talent and brands make these types of decisions around collaborations and partnerships.

The sneaker landscape is now more competitive than ever and being able to find your own version of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander could mean the difference between life and death for your brand.