​Just minutes after the Los Angeles Lakers clinched their 17th NBA Championship, Nike, with help from its ad agency Wieden + Kennedy, released the above spot celebrating the team and its two star players, LeBron James and Anthony Davis, both of whom are sponsored by the sports brand.

Like everything else in 2020, the win is bittersweet. The NBA season was the first to be put on hold and then delayed due to the pandemic until finally it could be played out under the Orlando bubble. Before the pandemic even set in, the Lakers lost legendary player Kobe Bryant, his daughter Gigi, and seven other people in a helicopter crash. During the pandemic, such people as Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery and Jacob Blake lost their lives due, at least in part, to systemic racism and police brutality. And finally, some 215,000 people and counting have died in the U.S. due to coronavirus.

As the spot states: “Because we lost so much, this win means so much more.”

Tags: anthony davis lebron james los angeles lakers nba nba championship nike wieden + kennedy portland


  Save as PDF