Mavs' Kyrie Irving reveals why he joined ANTA, invested in KICKS CREW with Damian Lillard

07/05/2024 22:53

LOS ANGELES, CA — Dallas Mavericks star Kyrie Irving is one of the most gifted basketball players in the history of the NBA. From his incredible ball-handling to his unreal shot-making ability, Irving is an artist on the court. But the Mavs guard is also an artist off of it, and for a while, that outlet has been tough to find.

Irving is a sneakerhead, and once Nike let their deal with him expire without an extension, the eight-time NBA All-Star was a shoe free agent.

Enter ANTA.

After a months-long search for the right partner, Kyrie Irving announced his joining of ANTA, the Chinese sportswear and equipment company, in July 2023, while assuming the role of Chief Creative Officer. A few months later in December 2023, Irving joined the global kicks community and marketplace KICKS CREW as an equity shareholder while also taking on the role of Chief Community Officer.

ANTA, which is also the home of NBA players like Klay Thompson, Donte DiVincenzo, and Gordon Hayward, was founded in 1991 and has been a strong sportswear brand internationally. With Kyrie Irving on board and in partnership with KICKS CREW, the hope is to bring ANTA stateside.

KICKS CREW is an online global marketplace where you can find all your favorite sneakers from the world’s biggest greatest athletes.

Mavs star Kyrie Irving was kind enough to speak with with ClutchPoints during a heated playoff battle against the LA Clippers about his decision to join ANTA, his goals with the brand, his partnership with KICKS CREW, and more.

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Tomer Azarly: How did the ANTA deal come together after everything? When we spoke briefly a little while ago, you said it took like nine to 10 months to come together. Like who approached who? Did they approached you? Were you looking for a suitor at the time?

Kyrie Irving: We were just looking for suitors. Me, Shetellia (Irving’s stepmom), my dad, one of my business managers, and my stepmom’s my agent. So they did a great job representing me. I think it was a partnership that we both kind of came to the table with and it made sense. So I would give both sides a lot of credit for advocating for me. Because it was a very peculiar time. Just negotiating with a new company and trying to get things done. Going into a new season with no signature shoe initially and then just trying to get my team together.

Coming in as Chief Creative Officer, it’s a different role than most of my peers or what I’m used to going into a signature deal. So just approaching it the right way, good energy, making sure everybody was ready to be led. I was ready to be led. Understanding the global market in China as well and what ANTA has already accomplished without me. So that answers your question. Yeah, it was a lot of factors that had to be considered before I even signed with them.

At what point did it click for you like, ‘you know what? This is something that I want to be a part of. I like what I’m hearing. This is what I’m passionate about.’ What part really clicked for you that made you decide this was the right decision and place for you at this point?

Kyrie Irving: I mean, I have a passion for sneakers, man, and creating a lot of great art pieces and I’m an artist myself. So I take a lot of pride, a lot of honor, and also do my best to make sure I’m paying it forward to all the people that came before me. You know, a few years prior to this, 20 years prior to this, we probably weren’t able to get the same signature deals. And that’s why I’ve always hashtagged on Instagram, on Twitter that this is more than a shoe deal. It was never just a shoe deal for me. It was all about family atmosphere created and then me be able to have the liberated and artistic flow to come in and be myself.

So that’s how I approached it. And, you know, I think it’s paying dividends now, you know, because I didn’t go in looking for the biggest deal. Or, you know, I’ve talked to all suitors, you know, but I wasn’t going in looking for the biggest deal, the biggest money play. It was all about investing in myself, investing in my family, and collaborating with ANTA in a way that felt organic.

What can fans expect as far as creativity? Because you’re talking about you’re an artist yourself, wizard on the court and off. What can you expect as far as creativity, colorways, and things like that?

Kyrie Irving: I mean, for this first rollout, I tried to collaborate with our internal team as much as I could and give them that empowering energy for them to create what you see now. The AI stuff, whether it be the drops at sneaker politics, a lot of it was team built and marketed the way that we all wanted to see and market. So if I could elaborate on it, it was just mainly a step in a direction that some people have tried to take before me of creating their own thing, creating their own independent lane, but also while utilizing a big distributor. So if you think of label and artists, ANTA would be, example here, the label, and then me would be as an artist coming in to be able to manage kind of my own team, my own roster.

The thing I’m looking forward to most is being able to bring more people onto the ANTA team, the ANTA roster, and assign more players. That was what I was looking forward to doing because when I was at my previous brand, that’s what I wanted to evolve to, to have the ability to assign more players, sign them under the brand, help them understand the business more, and take more of a mentor coaching role than looking to make as much money as I can by myself. I think I’m only great because of the people around me, and they empower me to be who I am.

Talk to me about KICKS CREW? What is your role with them and why did you feel like you wanted to invest in them?

Kyrie Irving: Well, I’m Chief Community Officer over there. Like I said, we had a deep conversation with [Co-founder] Ross Adrian Yip over there, KICKS CREW, and it just made sense. I saw that Damian Lillard was a part of it as well. I mean, you got two point guards that have their own signature shoe and want to invest as owners into a newer version of almost like a stock exchange for sneakers and gear, and having a place where all of our support systems can land and also doing it where they have the freedom to create as well. So I have a pretty unique support system, whether it be on Discord, whether it be on Twitter, Instagram, and other social media sites. I’ve tried my best to merge and bring them to one site, whether it be KICKS CREW, and then add it on like ANTA.com and KyrieIrving.com.

All of this is just basically getting into the entrepreneurial lane and being able to capitalize behind the scenes rather than just being the face. So I didn’t mind lending my IP because Ross is an incredible guy. He’s an all world guy to me. I’m not just saying that because he helped me get ownership. I just genuinely believe he has the energy to impact the world, and he sees it in a different way, and I think that’s what you get with a lot of international partnerships where people see the world a little differently, and the most powerful thing that you can do is unite with them. It could be a racial difference, it could be a religious difference, but I think unification and going in there with the right energy matters.

We’ve seen that the day-to-day NBA life can be tough. You’ve got kids, a family, you’re in the playoffs, now you’ve got this new deal with ANTA. So how do you balance everything and stay level-headed throughout the journey?

Kyrie Irving: It’s learned experience through life. I don’t know how else to play it, man. I’ve gone through a lot. I’ve been able to put my best foot forward despite some of the things I’ve gone through as well and I’ve been able to grow past them and just realize that there are more important things to worry about than what people are saying about you or kind of not… I don’t wanna go too into detail. But I just think I’ve been able to just turn the next page and you can’t take life for granted and the small things matter.

So cherishing your family, cherishing the people around you, waking up every day with that gratitude, and then everything else is pretty much icing on the cake so the cool things I get to do on the court is like icing on the cake. If I get to manage stuff with KICKS CREW and also Damian Lillard, that’s icing on the cake, everything else. because what I do it for is for my family and for a generation that’s coming after me so they know that they have a place to land as well and they have some real revolutionaries that are looking out for them as well.

You can check out the full collection of Kyrie Irving’s ANTA products on the KICKS CREW website.

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