“You want to invite me to an event for a man who has not even been to an NBA Finals? In a sport that you don’t even care about? And you’re giving him a shoe?” said Noah Lyles, according to TIME Magazine, in response to when he was invited to an event for Anthony Edwards’ signature shoe launch. The track and field sprinter had already made himself infamous amongst NBA fans after he mocked the league’s championship games by stating, “World champion of what? The United States?”. Therefore, his not choosing to attend an event honoring the Minnesota Timberwolves star’s new shoe did not earn him any love amongst the same fans. Lyles did admit that he respected Edwards, but his feelings towards the player and Adidas were reflected in just a few words: “How could you not see that for me?” A year later, he expanded more on that.
Noah Lyles was the guest on the recent episode of former NFL player Cam Newton’s podcast. During the same, he recalled that, back in 2023, Adidas asked him to come out for a shoe signing. The timing wasn’t right, since the athlete was doing a fashion walk with Hugo Boss at that time. Later, when the time came to sign a new contract with the sports brand, Lyles made it clear that he wanted a shoe deal in there. He revealed getting into this “Because, I said, ‘Anthony Edwards has a shoe’, and I’m already a six-time world champion, and I’m prophesying that I’m going to be the Olympic champion. I believe I’ve done enough to prove that my worth is, you know, given a signature shoe, or at least having the conversation of it.”
Unfortunately, Lyles let go of his chance, and the $44.03 billion brand (at the time of writing), according to companiesmarketcap.com, wasn’t interested in coming back. Lyles took that personally, both against him and his chosen sport. “They said ‘that’s not their department’, yada yada yada, dancing around the conversation. At the time, I was frustrated with them. Still am. That’s another story. About how they didn’t even want to have the conversation of it,” said Lyles.
“And the point that I wanted to show America, leading off of that ‘World champions of what’ is this is the difference of how we track and field athletes are treated in the US. We’ve come back with world championships, Olympic golds. We’re seen by the world. They don’t even want to entertain the conversation of having a shoe.” Yikes!
Noah Lyles does have a point when he claims that track and field athletes are underrepresented in the signature shoe area. Usain Bolt got his own signature shoe line from Puma back in 2024. While Allyson Felix was associated with Nike during the majority of her career, she had to leave the brand and establish her own footwear company, Saysh, in 2021, which allowed her to wear her own spikes during the Tokyo Olympics. Other than that, however, there are no reported claims of track and field athletes having signature shoes.
Meanwhile, Nike has 15 basketball players with signature shoes, the Jordan Brand has 11, and Adidas has 9, including Edwards. Therefore, it makes sense for Lyles to want to bring attention to the plight of the athletes in his sport. Unfortunately, there would have been a better way of doing so than making the critical remarks about the NBA and dragging Anthony Edwards into the conversation.
As he predicted (or prophesied), Noah Lyles did win the gold medal in the 2024 Paris Olympics. Despite this, there are no updates about a potential shoe deal that might be lining up for him. However, signature lines continue to make waves in other sports, especially the NBA. Case in point: Anthony Edwards’ AE 1, which made a much-anticipated return last month.
Anthony Edwards’ 1 Low “Year of the Snake” made a return last month
The 2024-25 NBA season could have turned out better for Anthony Edwards. After all, he and the Minnesota Timberwolves made it to the Western Conference Finals for the 2nd year in a row, only to once again be eliminated by losing 4 out of 5 games. Nevertheless, it was still a good season for the 23-year-old. There are several ways to inform the player about that fact, but reintroducing the new colorway for his shoe is certainly among them.
Edwards recently went from breaking records to breaking the internet, after it was announced that his Adidas AE 1 Low was set to be launched under a new colorway: the “Year of the Snake”. Inspired by Edwards’ Chinese zodiac, the “Year of the Snake” colorway contains Core Black, Almost Pink, and Lucid Fuchsia to create a snake aesthetic on the shoe. According to a report by Sneaker Bar Detroit journalist Mario Briguglio, it was designed for explosive hoops and tunnel fits alike. It has been described as a product that combines lightweight agility with MVP swagger.
FIRST LOOK: Anthony Edwards’ upcoming adidas AE 1 Low Year of the Snake
January 17th, 2025 pic.twitter.com/QkNQMgxisK
— Sole Retriever (@SoleRetriever) June 12, 2024
This sneaker was originally launched during the Lunar New Year 2025. Now, it has been brought back by popular demand and was announced to drop on May 30, 2025. The retail price for the same was listed as $120, which makes it a steal compared to the Air Jordans one would find out there.
Do you believe that Noah Lyles will ever have his own signature shoe line? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section down below.
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