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The great man of Orlando Magic Jonathan Isaac is launching his new sports shoe, the Judah 2, which will have six biblical verses.
For Isaac, an open Christian with many conservative views, the objective of the shoe is not being afraid to express his opinion. But suddenly, with the murder of Charlie Kirk, that goal means much more.
“It’s about free expression,” Isaac told Pak Gazette Digital in a recent interview. “It is that I am a Christian boy, I think that Jesus Christ is the Lord and the king of the world and the Lord and the Savior of my life, and I want to use these shoes as a tribute to him. And anyone who wants to do the same, joins me.
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Jonathan Isaac said Charlie Kirk was a “respectable man.” (IMAGN/GETTY)
“If I do not agree with me, I have always done my best with the positions I have taken to be elegant and really try to worry and understand the person who is on the other side. We may agree to disagree, but I am never of the guy to try to impose anyone else.”
Isaac became friends with Kirk over the years, appearing in his podcast and sending text messages from one side to another sometimes. Like many others, Isaac strongly took the terrible news.
Charlie Kirk poses at the Cambridge Union on May 19, 2025 in Cambridge, Cambridgeshire. (Nordin Catic/Getty Images for Cambridge Union)
Oregon coach delivers a powerful unity message after the murder of the Ducks Charlie Kirk fan.
“It’s hard to put in words … the only thing I can say is to talk to who Charlie was. Everyone will talk about what Charlie has said and his postures and things like this: Charlie had my respect,” Isaac said. “Not because I agreed with everything I had said or done. Some of the conversations we had was that even I did not agree with the things he said. But we always had a civil speech, and I was always prepared to talk about why I thought what I thought. For me, that is a respectable man.”
One of Kirk’s objectives was similar to those of Isaac with its new sneakers.
“Let’s build this as a brand to unite Christians, the lovers of God, the country’s lovers throughout the country, and give them a point of contact to meet, recognize themselves, but also, to have their faith in them,” Isaac said about his shoe and why he places biblical verses in them. “
Judah 1 was “completely exhausted,” according to Isaac, so he wanted to intensify his game in this place.
Jonathan Isaac looks at the Atlanta Hawks during the third quarter in the Kia center on April 8, 2025 in Orlando, Florida. (Rich Story/Getty Images)
“I was like ‘Let’s take another level’ in terms of design. I wanted to move the verse from the back of the shoe to the front of the shoe …”, he said. “Only those who talk to me and with the team. What would be encouraging as a believer to be in a basketball game? What would you like to read? What would you like to hear?
“One of our shoes, the Judah 2 Mighty Warrior, the verse is the angel who calls Gideon a powerful warrior when Gideon was not considered a powerful warrior to begin with. So that little verse is: ‘I am entering the court, I am whipping my shoes.’ And right there in my tongue, I have a verse that says” I am a powerful warrior.
