You must have seen an odd sneaker on the hardwood with a pitch-black shade and a few beats on it. It’s a symbol of resistance from the Boston Celtics‘ star forward Jaylen Brown. After going on a dry spell without a sneaker deal since 2021 and beef with Nike, the 28-year-old introduced his own performance brand, 741. During the launch of the signature sneaker, Rover, he highlighted that “boredom” led him to start the brand. However, months later, the star revealed the real reason. 

We all know that Brown has locked horns with Nike in a long-standing beef since 2022. While we address the issue with the sneaker brand later in the article, let’s look at the current fight that Brown has involved himself in. Firstly, let’s make one thing clear. The star forward isn’t putting up this fight for his own sake, but for the greater good. 

Sitting down with Sports Illustrated for an exclusive interview, the interviewer asked why he started 741. Jaylen Brown instantly hit back, saying, “Why not?” He looked like a man on a mission. Then, the rising superstar went on to list the problems that the athletes are facing because of the $25.6 billion industry run by a few brands. He argued that he has been working with the Vice-Presidency of the Players Association and listened to players’ “strive” with the sneakers brands over the last 7-8 years. 

“There’s a lack of value, it’s a lack of understanding and then recently they’ve even been cutting deals like crazy,” added Brown, decking up the alleged problems with the brands. And following that, he smoothly segued into why started the brand. “Me having resources and also thinking… My brain works to try to create Solutions, I thought like you know I could speak about these things or whatever till I’m like blew in the face.” Thus, formed the alternate sneaker brand, 741.

Will Jaylen Brown win his fight against Nike?

We don’t know. But looks like he’s on the right path. After his deal with Adidas expired in 2021, Brown remained a free agent. The seed for his own brand seemed to have originally sowed here. The very next year, Brown stood up for Kyrie Irving when the brand terminated his contract after Kai found himself in a political drama for sharing an alleged anti-semantic documentary. That’s when the star forward put out the famous tweet, “Since when did Nike care about ethics?” 

Following that, there were multiple back-and-forths until it reached the ultimate showdown. Last year, Team USA famously snubbed Brown from the Paris Olympics and picked Derrick White. Guess what? Nike was one of the sponsors of the team. When asked if the sneaker brand was involved in his snubbing, Brown said, “I do, for sure. There’ll be more stuff to come with that.”

While he has delivered some of the “more stuff,” he has a piece of advice for his fellow athletes. He has spoken. He has asked the players to stand up, not for him, but for themselves. Criticizing the billion-dollar sneaker brands, he said, “Maybe my brand won’t be that (successful) but maybe it sparks somebody else for theirs to be. And for them to start the journey because it’s 2025, I think things can look different than they have in the past and athletes being able to create some of their own brands and have ownership.” 

So, what do you think? Can we see more brands coming up in the future? Let us know in the comments.