Kyrie Irving's Shoes Draw Stares From Collectors and Congress

Playing on his fourth NBA team in his fourth NBA Finals, Kyrie Irving returned to Boston Thursday night with a spring in his step. He also had new shoes on his feet during warmups, before he scored 12 points in the Dallas Mavericks‘ 107-89 Game 1 loss to the Boston Celtics.

Nike ended a nearly 10-year relationship with Irving in 2022—reportedly its second most valuable player deal at the time behind LeBron James’ brand—after the guard shared a link to an anti-Semitic film on Twitter and Instagram. “He made some statements that we just can’t abide by,” Nike co-founder Phil Knight said that November.