Nike Took a Petty Jab at Jaylen Brown After Giannis Antetokounmpo’s Season-High Game
Milwaukee Bucks star and Nike athlete Giannis Antetokounmpo scored a season-high 59 points during Wednesday’s overtime win against the Detroit Pistons, and the Swoosh had plenty to say about it.
Antetokounmpo led the way for the Bucks, propelling the team to a 127-120 win while scoring more in a single game than any other player has thus far this season. He added 14 rebounds and 7 assists in the Wednesday win, falling just shy of a triple-double and nearly topping his current career high of 64 points. Antetokounmpo got the job done in an unreleased colorway of his Nike Giannis Freak 6 sneakers in neon green with a patterned upper.
And while Wednesday’s game saw Antetokounmpo and company narrowly topple the Pistons, Sunday’s game against the Boston Celtics — and the fallout from it — was still fresh on Nike’s mind. During the Sunday game, Antetokounmpo was called for an offensive foul after accidentally elbowing Celtics star Jaylen Brown in the head. After the play, Antetokounmpo appeared to offer Brown a handshake, but instead jokingly faked out the Celtics star. Postgame, Brown was anything but amused.
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“Giannis is a child,” Brown told a Celtics reporter. “I’m just focused on helping my team get a win, and that’s what we did tonight.”
Following Wednesday’s explosive performance from Antetokounmpo, Nike was quick to respond on its @nikebasketball X account. “Nothing childish about ‘em. 59 for the Greek freak,” the brand wrote.
In a follow-up post, Nike continued to champion Antetokounmpo. “According to myth Giannis is still scoring,” @nikebasketball wrote.
But Antetokounmpo wasn’t the only Nike player who had a big night on Wednesday. San Antonio Spurs rookie Victor Wembanyama notched a career-high 50 points, while New York Knicks veteran Karl-Anthony Towns had 46 points of his own.
“NIKE BOYS UP,” read another post from the brand.
Brown and Nike have a history of public dust-ups. In 2022, Brown stood by former teammate Kyrie Irving during the latter’s falling out with the sportswear brand after sharing an anti-semitic film on social media. “Since when did Nike care about ethics?,” Brown posted on X, then known as Twitter.
Prior to launching his own sneaker brand, 741, in September, Brown would frequently remove the branding from Nike sneakers when wearing them on court. And in July, Brown insinuated that Nike, the outfitter of Team USA, had a hand in him not playing for the Olympic team.
