In the rush to sign players early, some mistakes are made. But as Shai Gilgeous-Alexander reaches basketball’s biggest stage, he is taking his shoe company with him.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s year could not have gone better — for Converse.
The 26-year-old point guard, now in his seventh season, led the N.B.A. in scoring. He won the league’s Most Valuable Player Award. And his team, the Oklahoma City Thunder, had the best record in the N.B.A.
On Thursday, Mr. Gilgeous-Alexander and the Thunder will face the Indiana Pacers in Game 1 of the N.B.A. finals, trying for the franchise’s first championship since 1979 (back when the Thunder were known as the Seattle SuperSonics).
So when the Shai 001, Mr. Gilgeous-Alexander’s first signature sneaker, is released by Converse this autumn, it will be a fitting coda to a triumphant season — and, for the brand, the ideal moment to capitalize on its marquee star’s success.
What’s remarkable is that this confluence of favorable conditions was not some brilliant marketing stratagem — it was, in essence, a stroke of luck. And with the time and money invested by shoe companies in upcoming N.B.A. players, who are sometimes signed before they have played a single minute in the league, things could have easily gone another way.
Adrian Stelly, the director of sports marketing for Converse, met Mr. Gilgeous-Alexander more than a decade ago, when he was in high school in Hamilton, Ontario. He signed him to the brand in 2019 during Mr. Gilgeous-Alexander’s rookie season with the Los Angeles Clippers, when he averaged 10.8 points per game — long before he made the leap to All-Star levels.