No, Nike didn’t announce it’s ending its partnership with basketball star Brittney Griner

Phoenix Mercury center Brittney Griner signed a deal with Nike in 2013 after she was selected as the No. 1 pick in the WNBA draft. 

More than a decade later, a viral Facebook post claims the Nike deal has ended. 

"Nike announces termination of contract with Brittney Griner after ‘strong backlash’ from online community: ‘We need more athletes like Riley Gaines and less woke Brittney Griner!’" an Aug. 14 Facebook post said, referring to former University of Kentucky swimmer Gaines, who opposes transgender athletes’ participation in women’s sports.

This post was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and Threads.)

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stated on September 3, 2018 in in a blog post

"Colin Kaepernick immediately loses Nike endorsement after anti-white rant."

We found no evidence, such as credible news reports or public statements from Griner, Gaines or Nike to support this claim. 

Neither Nike nor Griner’s representatives immediately responded to PolitiFact’s questions about the post. But a spokesperson for Griner told Reuters the claim is false and that the Mercury player still has an active partnership with the company. 

As of Aug. 26, Nike was selling Griner jerseys on its website. Two weeks earlier, the brand featured Griner in a video shared on its X account celebrating the U.S. women’s basketball team’s gold medal victory in the 2024 Olympics. Griner also was named in Nike’s press release about the win the same day. 

We rate claims Nike announced it’s ending its contract with Griner False.