The Olympics remain just over a week away as Team USA nears the end of their exhibition games. So far, the squad has been dominant as expected, but the floor seems void. Kevin Durant, who has been off the court due to injury has yet to make his tentative return. Yes, he will be in Paris with the team but then again, it would only be a comfortable run in the group stage once KD is back healthy and in form. The three-time Olympic gold medalist wasn’t exactly quiet the whole time. He recently shared a post on his Instagram story featuring Nike’s Olympic Campaign.

For the most part, Nike had a pretty creative tagline to start their campaign. The tagline ‘Am I a bad person?’ caught KD’s attention, following which he posted the story of the same captioned, “tell me, Am I a bad person?????” Well, there are a lot of reasons why the Slim Reaper made such a comment. For starters, the Nike post did not include any clips of Durant. LeBron James, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Victor Wembanyama, and the Mamba, were the only players from the Association in the short video. Did Durant feel a certain level of disrespect? Yes, there is a possibility and it might lead to a ‘How the tables have turned’ moment for Nike.

Back in the 1992 Olympics, Michael Jordan covered the Reebok logo on his Team USA jacket during the medal ceremony. The Dream Team dominated in Spain cruising through every game. They had MJ, Magic Johnson, Chuck, Pippen, Ewing, Bird, the Mailman, and other NBA legends. Of course, it was the greatest basketball team ever assembled at the time and Reebok was not going to sit this one out. The company paid $4 million to have its logo on the medal ceremony jackets. On the other hand, Nike was struggling to gain respect in Spain during the Olympics.

The reason for this was a sock manufacturing company in Spain, already owned the trademark for the name Nike. Sadly, ‘the real Nike’ had to remove all the MJ posters they had in the country. But when it came to the medal ceremony, the executives at Nike were on the edge of their seats. They already had an unsuccessful campaign being the biggest athletic footwear and apparel company in the world. But here came the great Michael Jordan with a clever plan.

The Black Cat covered his right shoulder that had the Reebok logo, with the American flag. Those close to him knew that MJ would have to somehow deal with the tiny logo and when he did, the gesture was all over the news.

Years later, the same jacket was sold for $1.5 million. Nevertheless, coming back to the present day, Nike may find themselves on the other side of the fence. Durant has three Olympic gold medals under his name. Apart from that, he’s also a true winner, respect their trending tagline ‘#WinningIsntForEveryone’. The seven-footer made a dominant comeback after recovering from an Achilles tear and is on his way to winning yet another gold for his country. But then, why would Nike forget to add one of their greatest basketball athletes? At the end of the day, Durant may have taken an offense and it could be a nightmare for Nike.

Kevin Durant might consider rocking his former teammate’s kicks

Now, the Team USA jerseys are made by Nike. KD can’t do much about the same nor can any non-Nike athlete on the squad. However, if he wants to pull a Michael Jordan move from 92′, he can look to rock Under Armour kicks. Stephen Curry, the MJ of Under Armour, can definitely help KD with the same. Not only that, but Durant’s biggest fan, Anthony Edwards can help him with the Adidas gear. This would be far worse than covering any Nike logo, either on the jersey or the medal ceremony jacket.

Given how serious Nike is with its athletes regarding their outfits including other brands, Kevin can be as strict in this scenario. And why not? The 90s had Jordans, the 2000s were hyped with Kobes, and following that timeline, Nike was popular for KDs and LeBrons. Durant has signed a lifetime deal with Nike and has already helped the company make hundreds of millions of dollars.

The Slim Reaper has a lot of respect in the endorsement industry and leaving him out of an Olympic campaign video knowing he has the most Olympic golds as a basketball player was not a wise move. Not to mention, he led Team USA in points per game in all his Olympic appearances.

It will be interesting to see whether Durant looks to tease Nike in Paris. What are your thoughts on this? Do you think Kevin Durant should pull an MJ move? Let us know in the comments.