Converse Takes Shot at Anthony Edwards, Adidas After SGA’s Thunder Defeat Timberwolves
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the Oklahoma City Thunder moved past the Minnesota Timberwolves in the Western Conference Finals Wednesday night, and Converse took the opportunity to stir the pot with Adidas and Anthony Edwards.
In a video posted to its Instagram and Basketball account, Converse showed an ant crawling across sand along with the text “Nothing left 2 say?” before adding “Unbelievable.”
Edwards, nicknamed “Ant-Man,” and Adidas haven’t shied away from his antagonistic nature in the campaign spots for his first signature sneaker, the Adidas Anthony Edwards 1, which has included the tagline “Believe That.”
In the first commercial for his shoe, Edwards pulls out signature models from rival brands and detracts them compared to his own. Another features him declaring his shoe the best in the game and the top dog in the league during a lie detector test.
Adidas also got into it with Kevin Durant, a Nike athlete, on Twitter/X when Edwards said Durant was the player he’d most like to see wear the Anthony Edwards 1. In response to Durant saying people “won’t EVER see me put a big toe in them Mfers,” Adidas said, “u dusty bouta retire soon anyway.” After deleting that tweet, Adidas then said, “meant to send that from the burner account,” a reference to Durant’s own burner account being exposed in 2018 for defending himself and criticizing figures in the Thunder, his former team.
Gilgeous-Alexander’s own signature sneaker, the Converse Shai 001, will debut this fall. The OKC superstar designed the sneaker himself and has largely drawn praise ahead of its release.
During the series, which the Thunder won in five games, he averaged 31.4 points, 5.2 rebounds and 8.2 assists. Edwards averaged just 23.0 points, bellow his season mark of 27.6 points per game, to go along with 7.4 rebounds and 4.6 assists.
The Thunder will face the winner of the Indiana Pacers and New York Knicks series, in which the Pacers are up three games to one, in the NBA Finals, marking the organization’s first such appearance since Durant’s team in 2012.