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With a market valued at more than $90 billion annually, the sneaker industry has long moved beyond gear worn only by athletes on the court to everyday streetwear that can make — or break — your outfit. NBA games double as a footwear fashion shows. Who is wearing what becomes one of the biggest talking points each night for sneakerheads worldwide. It’s all part of the reason Cleveland Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert’s foundation chipped in $10 million to help D'Wayne Edwards launch his vision of teaching sneaker design at an HBCU. “The culture around sneakers represents creativity, storytelling and self-expression,” Gilbert, who lives in Detroit, wrote in an email to The Athletic.
Dan Gilbert: We took a step ahead this spring, but we are nowhere near where we need to be. I can’t thank the fans enough for the support this year. We will dig in all summer and do everything we possibly can to take the next step. We will grind until we get there. Congrats to the @nyknicks , and best of luck in the Finals.
There are several titles that Dan Gilbert can go by: entrepreneur, philanthropist, billionaire, NBA team owner. But of all the titles, the one Gilbert’s most proud of is that of father. Gilbert, who is the Chairman of the Board of Rocket Companies and is the majority owner of the Cleveland Cavaliers, has five children. His oldest son, Nick, died in 2023 after a long battle with neurofibromatosis, or NF, a rare disease that causes tumors to grow on nerve tissues. NF is one of the most prevalent rare genetic disorders in the U.S., impacting approximately 1 in every 2,000 births, or roughly 170,000 Americans. The condition can cause tumors to form anywhere on the nerves of patients at any point in their lives. There is no cure. Gilbert said his son Nick developed his first tumor shortly after he was born. “The first one was on his optic nerve, between his eye and his brain,” Gilbert said. “It wasn’t growing for the first five years, until he was close to six years old, and then it started growing.”
That tumor led to Nick’s first bout of chemotherapy. But it would not be his last. On his 10th birthday, Nick learned that he would soon need to undergo his first major surgery. Gilbert said his son responded to the difficult news as he did to all challenges in life, with optimism and a sense of humor. ″[Nick] just wanted to know if there was macaroni in the hospital,” Gilbert said. He added, “He always believed that he was going to get through all this. And so did we.”
After the surgery, Nick underwent several rounds of chemo and radiation therapy. But he didn’t let that stand in the way of achieving his goals. Despite his battle with NF, Nick was still able to maintain close friendships, attend Michigan State, and even work as an intern in the business development unit at his dad’s company. But by 2018, the disease was catching up with him. “There were some tumors, that just kind of got away from us,” Gilbert said. “We had two major surgeries that year. And from that point on, until 2023 when we lost him, there were just surgeries and chemo.” Gilbert says they tried everything, but a tumor on his brainstem grew too quickly for them to manage. “These weren’t cancerous tumors. They’re benign, but they can grow and cause all kinds of damage.”
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For Gilbert, who considered his son his best friend, losing Nick was a devastating blow. And he was not alone in his grief. Before he died, Nick had become a symbol of preservation and determination in two cities: his hometown of Detroit, and in Cleveland, where he had become a fixture at Cavs games. “He was loved by everybody. Everybody that met him loved him. He loved everybody.” Gilbert said it was frustrating, having billions of dollars and access to the best doctors in the world, but still not being able to stop this devastating disease from taking someone he loved. “That’s a sobering thing,” Gilbert said. “You can’t fix everything, so you just try to take one step in front of the next, do the best you can.”
Something that Gilbert and his family have worked hard to control is how Nick is remembered. They’ve taken several steps to ensure that Nick’s memory will live on. They opened Gilly’s Clubhouse in downtown Detroit. Gilly was a nickname given to Nick by his friends. The upscale sports bar was Nick’s vision and a project that he was developing before he died. Gilbert’s other children, Nick’s siblings, started The Gilly Project, a community based non-profit dedicated to Nick’s honor. And Gilbert made curing NF a key pillar of the Gilbert Family Foundation, the Detroit-based philanthropy Gilbert and Jennifer launched in 2015. Those efforts — punctuated by an annual benefit event in Detroit —have raised millions towards finding a cure. “We raised $12 million in one night. We keep breaking records. We’re contributing about $50 million a year to research.”
Gilbert, however, maintained his optimism after their bitter defeat. “Hey @cavs fans, that’s as tough as it gets. Hard to find anything good to say about blowing a 22-point lead in the fourth quarter on the road in the ECF. But at the end of the day, it’s one game, and this team has proven over and over again that it can come back stronger than ever,” said Gilbert. “Let’s get Game 2 Thursday night, and all of this will soon be a distant memory.”
Among the advice Dan Gilbert offered Kenny Atkinson, the coach said, was that Jarrett Allen would be a key to Game 7. “He said, ‘You know who the key to this whole thing is,’” Atkinson said. “I’m thinking (James) Harden, (Donovan) Mitchell. He said, ‘The key to this whole thing, the spark for this is Jarrett Allen.’ I said, ‘Really?’ And that sparked me to run the first play for him. … I went to my room like, man, I’ve got to run the first play for him.
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Nick Camino: Dan Gilbert and the @cavs went BIG for tonight’s Game 7 in Detroit. Similar to Game 5 when they took eight busloads of season ticket holders up to Detroit for the game, today they’re bringing up 25 busloads of #Cavs fans, with all expenses covered for Game 7. Yes, TWENTY-FIVE!
The Wine and Gold Podcast: Chris Fedor: Two sources with knowledge of the situation, very close to the situation, say that Dan Gilbert is very unhappy about what is going on. He turns on the games and he hears boos? Four times in the last five home games? Turns on games and sees the Cavs trailing by double digits again. Sees the Cavs leading by one minute in the second half of these games. And he’s paying a huge a luxury tax bill. It’s the highest payroll in the NBA. It’s the only team in the second apron. He’s willing to do that when he thinks the team has a chance to win the championship. When he believes in the group that he has. But it’s not that early anymore. … When you see this 29 games in, you start asking questions if you’re the guy in charge with everything in this organization.”
Cleveland Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert is looking to sell a stake in his NBA franchise, according to a half-dozen sources who asked not to be named because the details are private. He has retained Allen & Company to explore selling up to 15% of the team, according to three of those sources. The transaction could be in one parcel or to several individuals. Gilbert would retain his majority stake in the team he bought in 2005 for $375 million, which was a record at the time for a standalone NBA franchise