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Constantly covered in controversy, NBA superstar Kyrie Irving has had a rocky relationship with his partners at Nike over the last few years - even trashing his Kyrie Infinity silhouette during the summer of 2021. Things came to a screeching halt once Irving shared a link to a controversial film on his social media and received a suspension from the NBA because of it and Nike joined in on this, suspending one of its top stars and canceling the launch of the Nike Kyrie 8. Now, according to Sham Charania (who also broke the news that Kyrie’s Nike deal was suspended), Kyrie Irving is no longer a Nike athlete.
This doesn’t come as a surprise as reports floated around earlier in 2022 that once the Kyrie x Nike deal expired in 2023 The Swoosh was going to let him walk as a sneaker free agent. During his time with Nike, his signature line produced some of the most popular performance basketball models on the market as was worn by many at local courts, rec leagues, and even throughout the NBA.
Going forward, we’ll have to see what Irving plans to do in regard to his sneaker free agency, however, with the likes of Ye being barred from reentering the space it may be tough for another brand to stand behind Iriving at this time. As of this writing, there is a selection of Kyrie sneakers still up for purchase on nike.com (all of which are on sale), although don’t expect to see them available for too much longer. Keep it locked to our Twitter and the Sole Retriever mobile app to stay updated on Kyrie’s sneaker free agency and more in the sneaker and streetwear world.
