Is That Gatorade Flavor As Good As Anthony Edwards and Karl-Anthony Towns Made It Look? SI Investigates.

What did Gatorade get when they smashed together Glacier Cherry with Glacier Freeze? Some earned media, at the very least.

Karl-Anthony Towns reacts to a sip of Gatorade. | @NBA_NewYork / Twitter

There’s a new star on the NBA scene.

This star is not putting up epic numbers for a championship contender, or playing lockdown defense on one of the toughest assignments in the league. This star is doing one thing and one thing only: quenching thirst.

In an amusing turn of events, not one but two NBA players were taken aback by a flavor of Gatorade that they were delighted to find on the postgame podium this postseason.

After Game 1 of the Timberwolves’ series against the Nuggets on Saturday, star Anthony Edwards examined the bottle up close before trying a sip and deciding, “I f--- with this one.”

Anthony Edwards on the Gatorade:

“I f*ck with this one.” 🤣 pic.twitter.com/NhlI6A8vwM

— BrickCenter (@BrickCenter_) April 19, 2026

Just a few hours later, Knicks big man Karl-Anthony Towns went full kombucha girl after taking a swig, eyeing the bottle with intrigue and delight, before giving a look that indicated he was quite pleased with the flavor profile.

"This mf good"

–– KAT can't get over the Gatorade pic.twitter.com/RUJXflqDOg

— New York Basketball (@NBA_NewYork) April 19, 2026

The flavor in question in both cases appears to be, going by its full legal name: Gatorade Mashups Glacier Cherry/Glacier Freeze.

Based on some reviews found elsewhere on the internet, it appears that the flavor made its debut some time late last year. Whether this was the first time it made its way to the NBA podium, or Ant and KAT’s reactions were a happy coincidence (or a coordinated play for media attention), remains to be seen.

But if I have an excuse to get a Gatorade review onto Sports Illustrated dot com, I’m going to take it.

Gatorade Mashups Glacier Cherry/Glacier Freeze lives up to the promise of the premise

The first thing I noticed when I purchased my bottle of Gatorade Mashups Glacier Cherry/Glacier Freeze from my local Wawa after walking my dog this afternoon was that Gatorades have apparently gotten more expensive since I was last relying on them as a hangover cure in college.

$3.81 for 28 oz. of hydration? This drink better quench my thirst.

The writer shares a photo of his bottle of Gatorade. | Tyler Lauletta / Sports Illustrated

“2 Iconic Flavors In 1” the bottle excitedly told me in bold font, though the line immediately preceding that one, in much smaller font, read “Naturally Flavored With Other Natural Flavors.” Which didn’t exactly inspire confidence.

What other natural flavors? And where were they naturally flavoring? Above the nutritional facts, the bottle also assured me that it contains no fruit juice, so what nature are these natural flavors coming from?

These questions hung on my mind, but I should have never doubted the Gatorade promise, because this flavor, however natural, does indeed quench the thirst.

Upon first sip, Gatorade Mashups Glacier Cherry/Glacier Freeze hits like a bomb pop, but in reverse order. A tart bit of what can only be described as “blue flavor” chased with a semi-citrus before ultimately leaving a delightful aftertaste of candy cherry across your tongue. As someone who has recently rediscovered his love of bomb pops, this was a delight, especially after being so disappointed by Liquid IV’s recent bomb pop offering (which is a disaster).

Fairly well-chilled after a not-at-all strenuous walk with a rat terrier, this drink was very good. Ice cold after two hours of sweating, I can only imagine it tasting that much sweeter.

Was Gatorade Mashups Glacier Cherry/Glacier Freeze worthy of the reactions it earned from Ant and KAT?

And here is the question.

Immediately upon seeing the two videos of Edwards and Towns reacting positively to the Gatorade flavor, the NBA world was left to ponder—Was this a real reaction by two superstars simply looking to quench their thirst? Or a coordinated media blitz from PepsiCo to incept the nation into purchasing more Gatorade as the likes of BodyArmor and that one that Jake Paul sells battle into its previously dominant hold on rehydration market share?

The answer seemed like it was obviously one of two options.

Option 1) “Of course this is a coordinated media effort. Do you know how much Gatorade pays the NBA to be on that podium? You don’t think they give the stars a little wink-wink, nudge-nudge to put on a show for a new flavor to generate interest and media attention just like you’re currently giving them? Are you seriously falling for this?”

Option 2) “Tyler, come on, are you really so cynical about our current moment of late capitalism to believe that every single action made by an NBA star is curated to a point of feigning delight of a sports drink? You think that these athletes, in the top 0.0000001% of the global population at their craft, took time to do a little skit for Gatorade just minutes after playing a playoff game? Do you no longer believe that any reaction from someone with that level of fame and fortune can ever be trusted because they are too inherently tied to the systems that helped them reach that level of fame and fortune?”

Again, the answer is obviously one of these two, but I can’t really figure out which.

All that to say, this is a pretty good bottle of Gatorade. I am a Lemon Lime guy most of the time, and was a huge Glacier Freeze fan in terms of choosing my favorite blue Gatorade. This is right up there with those two on my internal power ranking.

And to the shareholders at PepsiCo, hey, it’s called earned media and if this was all a ploy congratulations I guess you earned it.

In the interest of proving my neutrality, let me say simply: I still prefer Coca-Cola by margin so wide it cannot be measured.

That said, four stars out of five, would drink again, blue sweat would be worth it.

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