Kia Nurse is becoming the face of Canadian women’s basketball

Kia Nurse always builds her outfits around her sneakers, especially on New York Liberty gamedays. Because tunnel walks into the arena have become social media phenomena, Nurse knows her selection of kicks will be on display.

The former Nike athlete switched over to Jordan Brand in May, following fellow UConn alumna Maya Moore as the second hooper to sign with the company. When a Nike Canada rep called her to propose the deal, Nurse thought they mistook her for someone else.

“Are you talking to the right person?” Nurse asked the rep.

Make no mistake, Jordan Brand knew exactly who they were talking to.

From their perspective, Nurse is a perfect fit. The Canadian National Team called her up to the squad when she was 16, and she helped UConn win two NCAA titles before she could legally drink. The Liberty drafted Nurse as the 10th overall pick in the 2018 WNBA Draft, and as a rookie Nurse averaged 9.0 points per game. By the time her second campaign rolled around, she averaged 14.2 points per game, earning a WNBA All-Star nod in the process.

“It was a pretty simple switch-over,” Nurse said. “I’m still really excited about it, with some of the history, being able to be with the brand — but also knowing the amount of swag and flyness that I have now because of that. Like, I might not be able to pull it off, but I have it. It’s awesome.”

A slew of shoes now arrives at her doorstep every week. Instead of a shoe closet, Nurse has upgraded to a room solely dedicated to her footwear. Lifestyle kicks go in the front, sneakers in the back, she says. She owns so many shoes — many of them exclusive releases — that her boyfriend admits being slightly jealous.

Jordan has a wide variety of shoes for both on and off the court, and it shows with Nurse’s personal style. It’s both a blessing and a curse, she said, sometimes stumping her as to how to incorporate them into her day-to-day looks.

“So many Jordans are dynamic ... the lifestyle ones especially, and a lot of the new women’s ones that we’re coming out with,” she said. “And it’s New York, so you can be kind of fashion-forward and put some Jordans on when you want to be comfortable.”

Nurse said she first felt like a Jordan Brand athlete during the events surrounding the WNBA All-Star game. The Jordan Brand team equipped her with new sneaker after new sneaker, including a one-of-a-kind pair of Russell Westbrook’s Why Not Zer0.2s which became the centerpiece of her outfits that weekend.

“It was pretty crazy,” Nurse said. “It was absolutely incredible to be able to pull out so many pairs of shoes that I know are strictly for Russ … Seeing his support on it is really awesome.”

Moore signed with Jordan Brand in 2011, but the company hadn’t ventured further into the WNBA market until now when it added Nurse and Liberty teammate Asia Durr into the fold.

“Women have been showing Jordan Brand love for years, and we knew that to show them love in return, we needed to learn everything we could about how to serve them best,” said Andrea Perez, general manager and vice president of Jordan Brand Women’s and Kids, in an interview with SLAM last year.

Not only is Nurse one of the three women signed onto the brand, she’s also the first Canadian to rep the Air Jordan logo. The growth of the game in Canada has previously been slow-moving, with few Canadian professionals on the men’s and women’s sides. Nurse is the first Canadian to start in the WNBA All-Star Game and is just the third to make the all-star roster at all, joining Stacey Dales and Tammy Sutton-Brown.

For a country so passionate about hockey, basketball has continued to grow exponentially in Canada in recent years — especially with the championship success of the NBA’s Toronto Raptors.

“There’s a huge, huge, huge love for the sport right now,” Nurse said. “If a young kid wants to pick up a stick and a puck and some skates, go for it, but I’m all for a kid picking up a ball and going outside and playing.”

Nurse, like most young Canadians, hopped on skates long before she walked onto a court. While her brother, Darnell, continued playing hockey (and now plays for the NHL’s Edmonton Oilers), Nurse’s older sister played basketball, which is what inspired her to follow in her footsteps.

“I wanted to be everything she was,” Nurse said. “And then I just fell in love with basketball really quickly.”

Now, Nurse is trying to spread her love for the game in any way that she can. She even started a Nike-backed AAU team in her hometown of Hamilton, Ontario, help young girls get exposure and recruited in the United States. Nurse hopes to continue being a role model for young hoopers, especially with Jordan Brand on board.

“I think that’s really exciting for us to continue to grow the game, both on the men’s and women’s side, because we are becoming very, very dominant and able to compete on the world stage,” she said. “I think [Jordan Brand does] an incredible job taking care of us from the short time that I’ve been with them. To be able to bring that home to Canada … and bring some of that stuff back home with clinics and camps and all the other projects that they have — I love that and want to be a part of it.”