‘Making my mark on the industry’: Kyrie Irving is growing — and thriving — as chief creative officer of Anta Basketball

LOS ANGELES — Days before the 2026 NBA All-Star Game, Anta — the largest China-based company in the sportswear industry — hosted a ribbon-cutting ceremony for its first store in the United States.

With a purchase at the new location in Beverly Hills, customers received a golden ticket granting access to a special event held inside the amusement park on the Santa Monica Pier.

But the real prize was a chance to meet Anta’s chief creative officer, aka Dallas Mavericks star point guard Kyrie Irving, who accepted the unique role three years ago when he joined the brand.

Backdropped by a massive purple banner that read, “Kyrie Irving & Anta Beverly Hills Present ANTALAND,” the brand’s CCO stood for more than an hour on the surgically repaired ACL in his left knee, which he tore in March 2025, forcing him to miss the 2025-26 NBA season. Still, Irving took pictures with fans who waited, collectively forming what he often refers to as his “tribe.”

“The energy is electric,” Irving told Andscape. “Mainly, the foundation [partnership] has been built on communal engagement and listening to what our supporters are saying — listening to what our tribe members are saying. It’s an exciting time.”

Before each photo, Irving crossed his middle finger over his index, holding up the hand gesture next to fans who came to purchase the “KAI MENTALITY” editions of his new Anta basketball shoe, the KAI 3, and lifestyle model, the Hélà Roots Style. Irving’s trademark finger symbol, as he once detailed at a previous shoe launch event, is a sign of peace, love and unity.

That’s the perfect way to describe where the hooper-turned-creative now finds himself, on his third signature shoe with Anta: at peace in his partnership, unified with the team around him, and loving what he and the brand are building.

“I’ve just been waiting for this opportunity — to become a CCO, lead a brand, and also acknowledge and recognize the people that are helping me behind the scenes,” Irving said. “I wouldn’t be where I am without a lot of my teammates, who don’t get the public recognition, but they help me a lot. As a designer and creator, I’m constantly growing. I’m constantly evolving. Anta allows me to do that.

“I’m making my mark on this industry, man.”

Before joining Anta, Irving and Nike abruptly ended an 11-year partnership, officially parting ways in December 2022 after producing one of basketball’s most respected signature shoe lines, widely worn in the NBA and WNBA, as well as across both high school and college basketball.

Starting with Nike, Irving steered his line in a way that catapulted him into rare territory alongside all-time great signature headliners, like Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant and LeBron James, notably for how hands-on he was in designing, marketing, and rolling out each shoe. Unlike most of his contemporaries, the nine-time NBA All-Star has taken pride in being considered — and even calls himself — a sneaker designer.

“I did something that I’ve always dreamt of doing, and that’s being accepted as a designer and as a creator myself,” Irving told Andscape in 2019 while promoting the Nike Kyrie 6. “And I just had a dream as a kid that when I had the opportunity I was gonna do something that was gonna represent myself and my family the right way. And that the sneakerheads in the culture were gonna be like, ‘Oh, you did it.’”

Ultimately, Irving and Nike severed ties, less than a year before the October 2023 expiration date of his contract. Their longtime partnership concluded following the release of eight primary signature models: the Nike Kyrie 1-7 (2014-2020) and Kyrie Infinity (2021). Yet, the legacy of the Nike Kyrie line remains cemented, with multiple players — notably 2026 All-Stars Scottie Barnes and Jalen Johnson — still lacing up Irving’s Swoosh silhouettes on court.

Irving has let it be known that he’s not new to the signature game — he’s true to it. While looking for a new brand to start from scratch with amid his sneaker free agency in the summer of 2023, Irving made brash comments about his former Nike line, responding to a post on X that asked, “Who got the highest-selling signature shoes?”

“My signature line made the previous brand I was with over 2.6 Billion in Revenue the past 7 years,” wrote Irving in a July 2023 post on X, which garnered over 2,400 reshares and 15,000 likes. “I can safely say I am one of them ones out here in the competitive shoe market, dominating. And not to be arrogant, Go Ask around, the kids that grew up wearing/buying my shoes know, respectfully I am that guy because of the Support WORLDWIDE.”

Irving signed off his X post with “Hélà” — the Lakota name, meaning “Little Mountain,” given to him in 2018 in North Dakota by the Standing Rock Sioux tribe of Native Americans, the tribe his late mother, Elizabeth, was born into. As he pitched himself to brands for his next signature line, the NBA star’s Native American roots became a vital creative theme and selling point.

On July 11, 2023, Anta reached a new footwear and apparel endorsement agreement with Irving, who signed a five-year contract with the Chinese company. Yet, according to initial reports, the expectation was that the partnership would last until the end of Irving’s NBA career and extend well beyond his playing days — particularly because, through their “business collaboration,” as the brand’s official press release called it, Irving was named chief creative officer of Anta Basketball.

According to the release, the role allowed Anta’s newest partner the responsibility to “recruit basketball players, independent brands, influential figures in pop culture, artists, musicians, pioneers in environmentalism, trailblazers in humanitarianism, and designers to also collaborate with him to create additional product lines under Kyrie’s line.”

Irving’s elevated and unprecedented position as CCO of Anta Basketball has led to creative moments like “Antaland” — a culture-first, family-centered takeover of Santa Monica’s Pacific Park, as he reacclimates himself to basketball following a career-altering injury.

Inside Antaland, Irving took a brief respite from his “tribe” — adults and children, American and Chinese, NBA fans and sneakerheads — who came to support him. Unprompted, Irving recalled his first meeting with Anta CEOs Samuel Tsui and Wu Yonghua, which laid the foundation for their partnership.

“I think about — constantly — meeting in Sam and Yonghua’s office with Anta initially, and this being something that was a lofty goal,” Irving told Andscape. “And now that it’s here? Flagship store opening, Antaland, releasing the KAI 3. We got so many more products coming. But it’s not just products, it’s — out of a lot of love — designs that are making sure I’m connecting with folks.”

Two days earlier, outside of 330 North Beverly Dr., Irving stood alongside Tsui, Beverly Hills mayor Sharona Nazarian and Mavericks teammate Klay Thompson, an Anta signature headliner since 2015 who just earned a lifetime partnership. Together, with a giant pair of scissors, they cut the ribbon of the first flagship store on American soil in the company’s 35-year history, joining the 11,000 Anta stores in China.

More than halfway through his initial five-year deal with Anta, Irving has four different performance basketball silhouettes. In addition to the KAI 1-3, there’s also the KAI 1 Speed, which released in late 2024. It was inspired by his father, Drederick Irving; Anta and Kyrie pinpointed him as the debut athlete for his brand. It marked the first time in pro sports history that an athlete signed his father to a sneaker endorsement deal.

Irving has also designed a trio of Hélà lifestyle models, including the Roots edition, made with three distinct rows of layered laces.

Now, a domestic storefront exists to push the Anta KAI line.

“It’s been a learning experience,” Irving told Andscape. “A lot of ups and downs. A lot of failures, really.”

Irving is being modest. The figures regarding the impact of his signature brand on Anta since the KAI 1 debut on March 6, 2024, are astounding. According to data from StockX released in late January 2025, Anta became the fastest-growing brand on the online sneaker reselling marketplace in 2024, with Irving’s KAI 1 responsible for 76% of all Anta sales, helping the company achieve a 1,901% year-over-year growth.

Also, according to a StockX midyear trend report from last August, the footwear industry’s largest Chinese brand saw a 51% surge in sales during the first half of 2025, driven by demand for Irving’s signature shoes. Anta’s growth continued despite a super-limited run of Irving lacing up his second signature shoe.

After officially debuting the Anta KAI 2 during the 2025 NBA All-Star Weekend, Irving tore his ACL two weeks later and only played eight games in the shoe. Yet, while recovering from the injury, he remained tapped into seeing through the entire design process of the Anta KAI 3. For Irving, the new shoe solidifies his Anta signature line, even without him playing in it.

Released on January 17 for $135 a pair, the KAI 3 represents a new era of design directed by Irving at Anta, delivering the sleekest silhouette of the line thus far. Drawing its main inspiration from a peregrine falcon, the fastest bird in the world, the shoe features a streamlined profile for speed, with strategically placed air vents on the upper for breathability, and a nitrogen-infused foam midsole for a controlled ride.

Simply put, among all his Anta models, the KAI 3 looks most like a basketball shoe while maintaining the Native American ethos that distinguishes his signature shoes from those of his NBA counterparts.   

“I’m really proud of the way the KAI 3 turned out,” Irving told Andscape, “because there were so many designs that people won’t get a chance to see that I had to say ‘no’ to. But the performance, the tech, the comfortability and also the storytelling behind it of how we arrived at this point. … The KAI 1 and 2 were just prelims to just get everybody excited, and the KAI 3 is us really moving into that basketball direction.”

Immediately, the Anta KAI 3 became a hit with the hardcore performance basketball shoe-wearing community. Weartesters.com, the popular sneaker review platform, crowned the shoe as the best-performing model from Anta to date, while other reviewers on social media and YouTube are questioning whether the KAI 3 is Irving’s best basketball shoe ever.

“We want that basketball community — we strive for that,” Irving told Andscape. “Obviously, we’ll have our lifestyle shoes be prevalent. But when you have the KAI 3, which is a testament to sport, performance and tech-driven, I feel like we can really move into the basketball category without it feeling forced or leaving out some of the notes that our tribe members have been saying over the last few years. Like, ‘We want the tassels. We want the fringes. We want the comfort. We want the wider foot base.’ I’m listening — constantly listening, constantly evolving. And I think that’s what makes our brand great. We can make monumental changes very quickly.”

With Irving still recovering from his torn ACL, this season marked the first time since 2014 — while with Nike — that he didn’t get to debut a signature model. Fortunately, the rollout for his new sneaker continued with one of the biggest names in basketball.

Golden State Warriors star Stephen Curry — who ended his longtime partnership with Under Armour last November to enter sneaker free agency — became the first player to wear the Anta KAI 3. On Jan. 22, he laced up the lead “Chinese New Year” colorway during a game against the Mavericks in Dallas.

“There’s nothing but mutual respect and admiration for what he’s done in his career,” Curry said of Irving after the game. “I [contacted] him before tonight to make sure he was cool with me wearing his shoes, because I know he hasn’t had a chance to debut them himself on the court. And he said, ‘The admiration goes both ways.’”

After dropping 38 points in the shoe’s debut, Curry wore the KAI 3 again several nights later, scoring 23 points in the latest edition of Irving’s signature Anta line.

“I’m grateful to Steph,” Irving told Andscape. “Organically, he ended up reaching out to the brand since he’s a free agent. It was legendary, because we’re two competitors, two point guards, where our branding … sometimes we’ve been aligned, sometimes not, and we go at each other.

“But I feel like [at Anta], we’re making that mark, where not only are we gonna say we have great product, but we have the community to match it, as well — to follow us through.”

Irving paused to give a point-blank endorsement of Curry choosing to sign with Anta. Hours after Antaland, Curry — who was selected as a 2026 All-Star but didn’t play due to injury — wore an all-chrome player exclusive (PE) pair of his former Warriors teammate Klay Thompson’s Anta KT 11 signature shoe while on the sideline during the game.

It’s clear, thanks to Thompson and now Irving, that Anta has Curry’s attention.

“I’d love to have Steph on the brand. I’m just throwing it out there, man,” Irving told Andscape. “We have the best product out there, the best brand.”

Irving teamed up with Team Epiphany, the Black-owned marketing agency, to bring Antaland to life. A few days after the experience during All-Star Weekend, it was officially announced that Irving would miss the remainder of the Mavericks’ season He is expected to return for the 2026-27 season.

Until then, Irving will operate off the court as Anta Basketball’s chief creative officer, leading the design and promotion of his own footwear. He also worked with Team Epiphany on the new cinematic ad campaign, which he stars in for the Anta KAI 3. It is fittingly titled “A Matter of Time.”

After all, it’s been a long time coming —12 years and counting — for Irving as the headliner of a signature shoe line. And with Anta, Chief Hélà has truly hit his stride. 

“I’ve been here for a while — now with a new brand. But, at the same time, it feels like family,” Irving told Andscape. “It feels like this is the right place. I’m ready for the next steps as well.”

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