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Nick DePaulaESPN
While New Orleans Pelicans power forward Zion Williamson’s regular-season debut was likely the most anticipated first NBA game in 16 years, the 2019 No. 1 overall pick’s debut footwear was equally awaited among the sneaker community.
The most high-profile rookie to enter the league since LeBron James, Williamson’s industry-shifting decision to sign with Jordan Brand saw him officially hit the hardwood in the company’s new Air Jordan 34 earlier this week. Honoring his new home state and styled in an off-brown alligator texture, with bright orange accents throughout, the “Bayou Boys” themed colorway is expected to release in March.
After an admittedly slow start, Williamson’s surge of 17 straight points during a three-minute span in the fourth quarter spawned the exact social media frenzy and lightning-in-a-bottle momentum that made the former Duke star such a coveted signing in the marketing world.
“It was everything I dreamed of, except for the losing part,” Williamson said after the game. “The energy the crowd brought, the energy the city brought, it was electric.”
Just before tipoff, Jordan Brand unveiled a new Zion commercial, officially welcoming him to the Jordan “family” by juxtaposing footage leading up to his debut with a series of vintage NBA and WNBA debuts from 14 of the brand’s new and old faces.
“We were very fortunate that he chose us,” said Michael Jordan, during his media availability in advance of the NBA’s Paris Game. “We look at every opportunity to expand him to the consumers and showcase his personality and his basketball skills. We can’t play basketball for him, but we feel like he does present us an opportunity to showcase his talents. And that’s what our job is going to be. It’s a great partnership.”
Williamson already has been spotted in the “Bayou Boys” 34 during his first two games, along with four additional colorways of the latest flagship Air Jordan model. With home and away Pelicans looks, a white, black and gold graphic MLK Day tribute pair and a Duke-themed black-and-blue variation, Williamson is already helping to draw attention to the industry’s most iconic sneaker series.
“We looked at Zion as being an impact player that would bring energy to the game of basketball,” Jordan said. “We can do it with a lot of different factors and different ways of endorsing and marketing. It’s a great opportunity for us.”
Williamson said the appeal of Jordan Brand was rooted in not just the rich history of the Nike Inc. subsidiary company, but also in the family atmosphere of the select group of its athletes and its penchant for crafting performance products.
“When you put on some Jordans fresh out the box, people know what it is. The 34 delivers on all of that,” Williamson added. “I felt the benefit of the Eclipse Plate from the moment I put it on. A shoe that has this much technology, while staying minimal, makes a difference in my game, whether I’m flying down the court or dunking.”
So far, we’ve also seen Zion in these four Air Jordan 34 PEs.
– Home & Away
– MLK Day
– Duke “The Brotherhood”What’s your favorite? 👀 pic.twitter.com/8wugHyO4Od
— Nick DePaula (@NickDePaula) January 25, 2020
While most of the Jordan Brand’s roster of endorsers grew up wanting to be “like Mike,” Williamson was born just before the iconic Hall of Famer’s Washington Wizards stint, leading him down a digital path years later to find vintage Jordan footage to feast on.
“My mom and my stepdad told me about him,” he said. “I remember wanting to know the history of the game. I was like, ‘Who should I go watch?’ Watching and seeing all the stuff he did … nobody’s supposed to float like that or hang through the air!”
Internally at the company, there’s an excitement around his explosive style of play and uniqueness, which could make him one of the first faces of the brand to take the company to new heights after years of headliners who grew up patterning their game after Jordan’s.
“What you saw the other night is a taste of what you’re going to see going forward,” Jordan said. “He’s still got a lot to do, but I think his passion for the game is coming through the way that he plays. That’s great for the league.”
As the brand looks to appeal to a new generation that never saw Jordan play, there has been a sharper focus on greatly expanding its roster of athletes. Williamson, Luka Doncic, Jayson Tatum and Rui Hachimura are looked at as the future of the brand.
Though Zion may be just beginning his journey in the league, James has continued to feel nostalgic throughout his 17th season, turning back the clock in more ways than just his ongoing MVP level of play at age 35.
As the Lakers made their lone stop this year in New York, James packed a past pair from the 2008-09 season, the unmistakable red “Big Apple”-themed Nike LeBron 6. When he last wore them over a decade ago, he dropped 26 points in just 30 minutes, all while Spike Lee sat courtside with his own pair of the gleaming red sneakers on.
“This is probably my favorite arena in the world to play as a visitor,” he said. “Being here in the Garden, it’s my favorite place to play — absolutely special.”
For the third season in a row, James can be found scribbling atop the midsole of his sneakers before each game, adding inscriptions honoring his wife, Savannah, and his three children, along with favorite passages, motivational acronyms and shout-outs to friends.
This week, he added “Big Apple Vibes” and “The Mecca” to the vintage LeBron 6, while also sprinkling in “#WashedKing” and “#RevengeSzn” for an added push.
While working on his own sixth signature shoe, Portland Trail Blazers point guard Damian Lillard wanted to celebrate one of his favorite childhood passions, wrestling, and the career of “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, his longtime favorite wrestler.
“It’s a swagger about that persona that he had that, as a kid, I just loved it. Loved it,” Lillard told NBA.com. “Nobody could tell him nothing, nobody could punk him. He was the man! He was just the man.”
After dressing up as Stone Cold for Halloween in 2018, complete with matching shirt and title belt, Lillard and a team of Adidas designers worked behind the scenes over the past year on a detailed execution of his upcoming Dame 6 inspired by the wrestler. Complete with “Dame 3:16” lettering along the midsole and a rattlesnake textured upper, the layering throughout has made for one of his favorite signature shoes yet.
Oh Hell Yeah!!! RT @BleacherReport: Dame pulled up to the game as Stone Cold 🍻
(via @trailblazers) pic.twitter.com/yfhbeLIRlE
— Steve Austin (@steveaustinBSR) October 23, 2018
“[The] reason I love it is because the colors represent the beginning stages of when he was Stone Cold. It’s not like the peak of Stone Cold,” added Lillard. “Like, with the yellow, the blue and the black and all that stuff, he always wore blue denim jeans and denim shorts, a black T-shirt or a black vest, [and] black knee brace. But the gold was the early WWF, when the logo was actually gold. I like that there’s real detail to what the shoe is about.”
Originally drawn to Austin’s bravado and attitude when he was a kid, Lillard has gone on to identify with that same mentality now as a basketball player.
“He wasn’t a bad dude — his character, you didn’t look at him like a bad dude — but he was a badass,” said Lillard. “There’s something about it that everybody just loved.”
Though Nike Basketball currently releases six signature shoes and the brand is worn by nearly 70% of the NBA, in just a few months, Memphis Grizzlies rookie point guard Ja Morant is already leapfrogging up the totem pole of athletes and warranting his own growing spotlight thanks to his electric play.
The company opted for Morant to debut its latest self-lacing sneaker, the high-tech and futuristic $400 Adapt BB 2.0. With a motorized sync cabling system locking in the foot, the shoe comes equipped with its own phone app to tighten and tune the sneaker’s fit.
Though a Morant signature sneaker is likely still years away, he’s expected to continue to help lead some of the brand’s latest innovations, and wear the Adapt BB 2.0 again during the Rising Stars Challenge at the upcoming All-Star Weekend in Chicago.
To start out the week, Houston Rockets power forward PJ Tucker saved one of his best Kobe sneakers of the season for the Rockets’ marquee home matchup against the Lakers. After wearing the Nike Kobe 4 Protro in a majority of his games this year, Tucker opted instead to start out the game in the insanely rare Kobe-themed Air Jordan Retro 3.
The purple-and-yellow accented colorway of the brand’s classic “cement” 3 was originally made just for Bryant in his Size 14 during the 2002-03 season, as he was playing out the year as a sneaker free agent in between his Adidas and Nike deals.
To celebrate the end of Bryant’s 20-year career in 2016, Jordan Brand remade a small batch of pairs for friends and family during Bryant’s final All-Star Weekend and packaged them in an elevated slide-out box alongside an additional pair of his Lakers-hued Air Jordan 8 PE.
Packs hitting the secondary market have been scarce ever since, and are often listed in the $20,000-$30,000 range whenever they do show up for sale. Just before tipoff, Tucker posted an image of two pairs of the Jordan 3, with a backup on hand, for good measure.
Check out each of the best sneakers worn around the league this week, and vote for your favorite pair in our poll below. For real-time updates on sneaker culture and NBA kicks, follow @SneakerCenter on Instagram.