Milwaukee Bucks vet Bobby Portis goes grassroots with AND1 sneaker deal

Milwaukee Bucks forward Bobby Portis has a Nike Kobe collection that’s coveted even among the NBA’s sneaker elite.

It includes Undefeated collaborations with Nike that fetch four figures on StockX, Michigan State exclusives only seeded to the Spartans, and Black History Month colorways that were never released at retail.

For the past five seasons, Portis has played in the expensive pairs like clockwork. What the world didn’t know was that Portis was no longer under contract with the footwear giant.

“I got cut from Nike for starting my own brand,” Portis, 31, told Andscape.

In 2019, the 6-foot-10 Arkansas alum launched his Underdog clothing line of T-shirts, sandals and hats.

The entrepreneurial endeavor endeared Portis to his growing online fanbase but caused behind-the-scenes friction with his longtime footwear sponsor.

All the while, his impassioned play spoke directly to the ethos of Dexter Gordon, AND1’s global brand director and head of sports marketing.

“My mindset is, if I were to drop this person in any hood in America, could they get busy on that streetball court?” Gordon told Andscape. 

Not only was Portis’ game asphalt-approved, but his underserved upbringing aligned with AND1’s broader approach to growing the game.

Since its 1993 founding, AND1 has existed as an industry disruptor rooted in streetball and community connection. 

Over the course of the ‘90s, AND1 infiltrated popular culture through its bold Trash Talk tees and inventive Mixtape series: a VHS mixtape-turned-nationwide tour that brought streetball superstars such as Rafer “Skip to My Lou” Alston and Philip “Hot Sauce” Champion to local pickup games.

“I think the guys from the Mixtape Tour should be in the Hall of Fame for what they did for basketball culture,” Gordon said. “AND1 took the bus into the neighborhoods. Every kid has a mixtape now with highlights and music. AND1 started that.”

By the 2000s, the likes of Latrell Sprewell, Chauncey Billups and Jason Williams were all wearing AND1 sneakers in NBA games. At one point, AND1 had its own ESPN reality series and its own video game.

While AND1 has remained active for 33 years, the brand has been at its best when platforming inner-city superstars the traditional basketball hierarchy has often overlooked.

“We want to make basketball accessible to everyone,” Gordon said. “We love everything about Bobby. He’s a real humble guy who wants to give back to the community.”

That’s why at All-Star Weekend in February, Portis participated in the NBA 3-point Contest, not wearing Nike Kobes but in his own AND1 sneakers.

The big-stage debut came midway through a season in which Portis is averaging 13.7 points and 6.4 rebounds per game while shooting 45.6% from behind the arc on 4.4 attempts per game.

Switching shoes may have come as a surprise to fans following Portis, a Nike athlete since his AAU ascent on the Nike EYBL circuit, but it didn’t happen overnight.

According to Gordon, conversations with AND1 began three years ago, when the Bucks’ forward was representing Team USA in the 2023 FIBA World Cup.

“I’d been trying to work with Bobby for a minute,” Gordon said. “We like working with those guys who got it from the mud.”

Raised in Little Rock, Arkansas, Portis began his basketball journey as an unranked prospect with an unrivaled work ethic, one inspired by the grind of his single mother, Tina Edwards, who raised and supported four boys.

“I lived in 18 houses growing up,” Portis said. “I know what being an underdog is. I live by that.”

That mentality, paired with his humble home base, all played into AND1’s decision to align with Portis as its sole NBA ambassador for the 2025-26 season.

“We were trying to find an NBA player who could connect with Walmart,” Gordon said, referencing the retail giant headquartered in Bentonville, Arkansas. “They love Bobby because he’s from Arkansas and does a lot of community things.”

Over the past two decades, AND1 has pivoted its positioning from big-box sportswear suppliers to budget-friendly supercenters.

This allows AND1 to sell $20 basketball shoes at scale to communities often overlooked by larger sneaker companies.

Portis knows these communities well. He remains connected to Arkansas by hosting summer basketball camps and creating programs and initiatives for local single moms through the Bobby Portis Foundation.

“Everybody can’t afford $120 sneakers,” Gordon said. “We make it accessible. We’re one of the only brands you’ll see from Walmart to Extra Butter. We want everyone to be a part of it.”

Still, including everyone means providing proper performance wear for Portis, an 11-year NBA veteran who plays 24 minutes per night and regularly guards both hulking big men and quick perimeter players.

“He loved wearing Kobes, so we had to find a model he felt comfortable in,” Gordon said.

The answer was the AND1 Racer SE 4.0, a revised retro once worn by Stephon Marbury in the 1998 NBA playoffs.

The model features the upper of the original 1998 AND1 Racer and pairs it with the bottom tooling from the AND1 Attack 4. Priced at $110, the Racer is set to release in June.

“We upgraded the materials and the inner workings of the shoe to make it up to date for today’s player,” Gordon said. “He loved it.”

In only three months as a forward-facing AND1 partner, Portis has debuted four player-exclusive colorways of the Racer SE 4.0. Two makeups match those of Bucks jerseys — the deep green Icons and cream-colored City Editions — while the other iterations draw on the Arkansas Razorbacks’ colors in honor of Portis’ alma mater.

Each installment bears both “BP” and “Underdog” tagging on the tongue, detailing the Nike Kobes that he never had.

“I had a lot of control over how they would look and feel,” Portis said. “Creative control. That’s big for a player.”

In addition to platforming Portis, AND1 has expanded its reach by partnering with the men’s and women’s teams at Wilberforce University — a historically Black university in Ohio — as well as Gratz High School in Philadelphia and Forest Hills High School in Queens, New York.

Portis is the league’s lone endorser of AND1, though New York Knicks guard Jose Alvarado was recently seen wearing an AND1 T-shirt on his way to a game. According to Gordon, the brand plans to make more waves in the WNBA and NBA soon.

Across the NBA, more players are taking chances with smaller sneaker brands, both domestically and abroad, seeking greater input on product development and access to marketing resources.

In 2024, Boston Celtics All-Star Jaylen Brown launched 741 Performance after his Adidas contract expired three years prior. In 2025, Philadelphia 76ers center and former MVP Joel Embiid debuted a signature shoe with Skechers after a four-year run with Under Armour.

While Portis, who won an NBA championship with Milwaukee in 2021, does not have the individual accolades of the aforementioned names, he does carry the distinction of being a top priority at an American brand focused solely on basketball.

“A lot of guys are on merch deals with the bigger brands, and that’s cool,” Gordon said. “But it’s a partnership with us. Now, guys are open to working with a smaller brand where they can get attention.”

Portis, the league’s second-most accurate 3-point shooter this season, is leaning on his underdog status and Arkansas upbringing to give back while achieving his own goals.

It means giving up playing in his coveted Nike Kobes on court — but perhaps having his own Underdog-branded Bobby Portis player exclusives means more.

“I think that nowadays, it’s not about being with a Nike or an Adidas,” Portis said. “It’s about being with somebody who lets you be you, somebody who believes in what you believe in.”

The post Milwaukee Bucks vet Bobby Portis goes grassroots with AND1 sneaker deal appeared first on Andscape.