Kelly Oubre Jr. flies alone to help Converse break back into NBA

 

Phoenix Suns forward Kelly Oubre Jr. has been signed to a deal with the classic basketball shoe brand Converse for some time now, but his team’s 2019-20 season opener marked a significant jumping-off point for his role with the company.

Oubre rocked a red and white pair of Converse All-Star Pro BB shoes during the game, just months after the model hit the open market this offseason.

He’s the only NBA player repping the brand, unsurprising considering his interest in pushing all fashion boundaries on and off the court.

Oubre has flashed the All-Star Pro BB models before. He signed with Converse, a Nike-owned brand, in 2018. Yet it’s been mostly Nikes on his feet during games as Oubre worked with Converse to test out its newly-released basketball shoes.

The small forward has teased a leopard-print version of the kicks, among other colorways, on his Instagram account.

On Wednesday, he wore Converse from pregame to postgame.

During warm-ups before the Suns took down the Kings, the Tsunami Papi wore a wave version of the shoes.

Kelly went this way in pregame and red-white during the game https://t.co/J9d0W1LDPG pic.twitter.com/Xx4AhTv7Nc

— Kevin Zimmerman (@KZimmermanAZ) October 24, 2019

Complex.com spoke with Oubre about joining the Converse team and his investment into the creative partnership.

Unsuprisingly, the forward said he was attracted to Converse because of how much the company wanted his input into its foray back into the pro basketball space, where its iconic brand got its big start.

“The whole sneaker free agency was was a whole process,” Oubre told Complex. “But I sat down and met with a lot of prestigious brands and I heard their pitches, and Converse was the brand that fit me because they gave me some creative control in what I did.

“It’s just been a great experience from first wearing the shoe to the prototypes of Pro BBs, getting blisters, and kind of going through that, it was just a great process, man, because I actually went through it, so yeah. Now it should be kind of part of the process of a shoe that nobody else has worn. I have to be comfortable in the shoe, because I’m actually wearing it. I’m the only one, so it kind of worked out too to my benefit, man. I’ve been loving the whole process.”