KICKS 26 – SLAM

The 2022-23 KICKS Awards: First Team, MVP and MORE!

Max Resetar — Fri, 29 Sep 2023 16:44:24 +0000

Ahead of this upcoming NBA season, we’re taking a look at the best of a very long list of SLAMKICKS-approved footwear giants.

This story and so much more is featured in the latest issue of KICKS 26. Get your copy here.

First Team

P.J. Tucker

As sure as the sun rises in the eastern sky, P.J. Tucker is back on our First Team. There’s nobody in the League more versed, more versatile and more willing to play in any pair. He cemented himself long ago on this list, yet he keeps on proving himself over and over.

James Harden

James Harden is a fairly uncommon human being in general. He did, after all, help to rewrite the NBA rule book with his singular style of play. His seventh signature silhouette, the best of the 2022-23 campaign, is particularly exceptional. It’s got a funky shape, it’s got an upper that looks like a puffer jacket, it’s full of the best tech the Stripes has to offer and it had incredibly hard colorways throughout the season.

DeMar DeRozan

It’s not a shot at P.J. to say with confidence that DeMar DeRozan has the best Kobe collection in the League. As has been printed in these pages many times, he’s played in every Nike Kobe silhouette throughout his career and continues to add Kobe PEs that look more like art pieces than sneakers to his collection.

Ja Morant

Before his signature sneaker debuted on Christmas Day 2022, Ja Morant had been hooping in high quality Kobes and original versions of the early Kyries. Then he stomped into the signature game with a handful of unique colorways. And because he moves differently than just about everybody in the League, there’ll be more originality in his future.

Stephen Curry

The best shooter ever had variety in 2022-23. Curry 10s, FloTros of the 1 and 2, some sprinkling of the 4 FloTro all got court time with No. 30. There aren’t many others who tell stories with their footwear like Stephen. His nonstop commitment to the underrated and underrepresented often gets communicated through his footwear.

Second Team

LeBron James

Flavor after flavor after flavor. LeBron James’ 20th season will be remembered for the multitude of colorways he played in. Both the Nike LeBron 20 and the Nike LeBron NXXT Gen appeared under the bright lights in equally subtle and outrageous makeups, night after night.

Paul George

Even though his signature line has wrapped up, Paul George didn’t miss a step. Each game brought a new chance for him to show off his unexpected appreciation for basketball sneakers, like, for example, wearing the “All-Star” Nike Kobe 6 while playing in the City of Angels. You get the connection?

Malik Monk

Malik Monk very much understands how to properly apply hues to footwear. All of his Kobe PEs, be it 5s or 6s, are consistently fire. None of them are really that similar, either. There’s a ton of variation from pair to pair, with browns and blues and purples and blacks and pinks
showing up throughout his stable.

Trey Lyles

Look, let’s be honest here, yeah? Kobes are this generation’s Jordans. Trey Lyles has a stockpile of rare heat that he’s amassed over the years and most of them aren’t protros. He’s on this list because he consistently hoops in heavy hitters from the game’s most cherished line, oftentimes reminding people about pairs or colorways they’d previously forgotten.

Jayson Tatum

Another visual storyteller, Jayson Tatum started the season with many versions of the Air Jordan 37 and Air Jordan 38 Low that let the public in on what matters most to him. Once ASW rolled around and he got to unveil his first signature with Jordan Brand, the storytelling door flew clean off the hinges. Tatum tells us a whole lot about himself without ever saying a word.

MVP: P.J. Tucker

LeBron James only has four MVPs. Michael Jordan only has five MVPs. What in the hell is good with that? That’s not the truth. Both deserve a minimum of 10. In the context of basketball sneakers, P.J. Tucker is LeBron. He is MJ. In our pages, he will continue to get his shine until he hangs up his sneakers for good.

We’ve called him a lot of things over the years, like the Michael Jordan of wearing Jordans. We’ve compared his conquering of basketball footwear to passages in Sun Tzu’s The Art of War. Now that we’ve finally gotten him on the cover and had a chance to listen to him speak openly about sneakers, he’s the MVP because he loves it all more than anyone else. We hear you, P.J.

Rookie of the Year: Jalen Williams

The list of Stripes silhouettes that Jalen Williams played in is mighty long. It includes the Harden Vol. 7s, Crazy 97s, Dame 5s, Top 10 2000s, D.O.N. 4s, Agent Gils, Harden Vol. 4s, D Rose 1.5s and Dame 8s.

Williams maintained a steady rotation throughout the season, varied with many colors. He seems to be a student of the sneaker game. He joined the likes of Tracy McGrady, Nick Young and Jaylen Brown when he rocked mismatched adi joints. The young star popped out to All-Star Weekend in Salt Lake City with one white Harden Vol. 7 and one pink Harden Vol. 7. His name will most definitely show up again in these pages next year.

Most Improved Player: Paul George

The Swoosh decided to end Paul George’s signature line at the PG6. It went out with a bang, concluding after the drop of his collab with Hot Wheels.

The ending of one thing is the beginning of another. Freed up from being required to play in his latest signature model, PG hit the ground running by wearing Kobe 4s, Kobe 5s and Kobe 6s. He dug into the closet for the return of the PG1, the PG2 and the PG2.5. Strategically, he secured this spot when he played in the “Draft Day” Kobe 4s in Charlotte. That was a wakeup call signifying there was another knowledgeable sneakerhead ready to show out.

LeagueFits Arrival Sneaker of the Year: Russell Westbrook

Michael Jordan’s retirement in 1998 gave the first class of Brand Jordan athletes the full sneaker spotlight. They were getting to play in retro colorways made just for them. Guys like Ray Allen, Derek Anderson, Vin Baker, Eddie Jones and Michael Finley are the reason every sneakerhead knows what PE (player exclusive) stands for. Retro PEs continued for the next couple of Jordan athlete generations, with guys like Mike Bibby and Joe Johnson gaining fame for their heat.

But Jordan Brand changed up the overall thought process a few years back. Retro PEs are far more rare now.

Their scarcity is why Russell Westbrook’s Air Jordan III colorway is getting the nod for the LeagueFits Arrival Sneaker of the Year. Seeing these IIIs in the wild is like seeing the Loch Ness Monster finally reveal itself.

Best of the Brands:

Curry 10

adidas Harden Vol. 7

Jordan Tatum 1

New Balance TWO WXY v3

Nike LeBron 20

PUMA MB.02

Celebrating 50 Years of Hip-Hop with the Kicks That Have Impacted the Rap Game

jordan Wilbon — Thu, 28 Sep 2023 21:44:22 +0000

This story is featured in KICKS 26. Shop now.

During the 50 years since hip-hop was born, there have been more kicks in the game than a baby in a mother’s stomach. Take a brief look at the sneakers that have impacted the soundtrack to our lives.

1970s: PUMA Suede

The Suede formed its first relationship with hip-hop as a breakdancing sneaker. Breakdancing was created when DJ Kool Herc—widely considered the creator of hip-hop—elongated his instrumentals allowing for people to dance longer. Breakdancing, and the PUMA Suede, took over the Bronx scene. The 1984 movie Beat Street featured the B-Boy groups Rock Steady Crew and the New York City Breakers, where they could be seen breakdancing in the beloved silhouette. The film gave the PUMA Suede a global audience that forever associated the shoe with hip-hop culture.

1980s: Nike Cortez

N.W.A. was one of the most internationally known rap groups of the late ’80s and early ’90s. Despite their rather short stint, the group wore some extremely memorable footwear, most notably the Nike Cortez, which was and still is a West Coast staple. The members of N.W.A., in particular Eazy-E, were often spotted wearing the timeless silhouette since the release of their debut album N.W.A. and the Posse. The Cortez was one of the first Nike models produced and served as the foundation for many of their subsequent styles.

Air Jordan I

LL Cool J has his own extensive sneaker history to coincide with his nearly 30-year rap career. From Jordans to Reeboks to Filas, he rocked a ton. LL graced the back of his debut album Radio in the original Jordan I ’85 “Bred.”

1990s: Fila

Tupac Shakur provided Fila with a timeless sneaker moment when he wore the Fila Grant Hill 2 on the inner album sleeve of his critically acclaimed album All Eyez on Me. Seated next to his Jaguar XK and between the picturesque California palm trees, Pac sported the same Hill 2s that Grant was rocking on his way to four consecutive All-Star appearances.

According to Grant himself, he gave Pac the very pair seen in the picture and was shocked to see that he actually wore them.

Wu-Tang Clan

One shoe that is synonymous with the Wu-Tang Clan is the Clarks Wallabee. Originally released in 1967, the Wallabee has been a staple in the hip-hop scene since the ’80s but did not hit the peak of its notoriety until it was co-signed by the Staten Island group. Another shoe that created instant bedlam was the “Wu-Tang” Nike Dunk Hi, released in 1999. The Wu-Tang symbol on the lateral ankle made the Dunks a collector’s item with a resale value in the many thousands.

NAS

As one of the most notorious New York rappers to ever do it, Nas had a responsibility to come correct with the best kicks at all times and was often seen in the Nike Air Force 1, a New York staple. In his song “Halftime” from his 1994 debut album Illmatic, Nas raps “And I’m a Nike head/I wear chains that excite the feds.”

2000s: Nike Air Force 1

While the ’90s were dominated by Jordans and Nike Air Maxes, the Air Force 1 had a serious resurgence within the hip-hop community during the ’00s. Nelly is widely regarded as the king of the Air Force 1, largely due to his hit (yeah, you guessed it) “Air Force Ones.” Jay-Z was granted two pairs of Air Force 1s, one for his record label, Roc-A-Fella, and the other for the release of The Black Album. The rap group Terror Squad was also gifted with an Air Force 1 that was made exclusively for the boys from the Bronx.

Bape

Synonymous with the early 2000s, The Bapesta was the first shoe created by Japanese designer Nigo and his brand, A Bathing Ape (Bape for short). Bapes were one of the hottest and most worn brands among rappers due to many of them having a personal relationship with Nigo. Pharrell Williams, a close friend of the designer, received three colorways of his own Bape Roadsta while Kanye West received a Bapesta inspired by his album The College Dropout. Soulja Boy dropped a song, “Bapes,” about his love of the sneaker.

Reebok: G-Unit and S. Carter

During the early 2000s, Reebok reclaimed the hip-hop scene with some memorable projects, partnering with rappers to release the S. Carter and G-Unit G-6 in 2003. They also collaborated with Pharrell Williams in 2004 to launch a skateboarding sneaker, The Reebok Flavour, under his line ICECREAM, a subsidiary of his brand Billionaire Boys Club.

2010s: Travis Scott

If you use resale value and the media frenzy surrounding sneakers as a measurement of success, then Travis Scott has likely had the most successful collaborative sneaker releases ever. Nearly every Travis Scott Jordan has sold out in mere seconds and has an outrageous resale value that has only continued to ascend. His Air Jordan Is in particular, both lows and highs, have been among the most popular sneakers of the last 20 years and worn by almost every athlete and celebrity imaginable. Nike granted Travis unprecedented freedoms like manipulating the Nike Swoosh and inserting pockets into sock liners.

Drake

Starting in 2015, Drake and his brand OVO partnered with Jordan and released white and black pairs of Air Jordan Xs, XIIs and VIIIs. Most recently, OVO and Jordan produced an Air Jordan IV outfitted in the Toronto Raptors team colors. There are countless OVO PEs and samples, like the OVO Air Jordan XI with snakeskin replacing the patent leather and the “Charles Oakley” Air Jordan VIII that Jordan used to conjure a buzz around the released pairs. Drake also had two pairs of Air Jordan VIIIs made dedicated to Kentucky’s basketball coach John Calipari.

An entire issue dedicated to sneakers. Get your copy of KICKS 26.

SHOP NOW

Photos via Getty Images.

Graphic designed by Damon Bomar II. Follow him on Instagram, @itsdamegotvisuals and for design work, @damonbomarmedia

The post Celebrating 50 Years of Hip-Hop with the Kicks That Have Impacted the Rap Game appeared first on SLAM.

The Air Jordan 38 is Woven Through History by Expert Craftsmanship

Max Resetar — Wed, 20 Sep 2023 22:15:00 +0000

Michael Jordan, six-time NBA champion and Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame inductee.

Kiki Rice, the number two overall recruit in the class of 2022 and 2021 SLAM Summer Classic participant.

Rhyne Howard, two-time WNBA All-Star and 2022 WNBA Rookie of the Year.

Jeff Green, one-time NBA champion and 16-year vet.

Those names spring to mind for the public when the Air Jordan 38 gets brought up. The man whose fadeaway inspired the sneaker, the UCLA star that debuted it and two of the pros that have gotten to hoop in it before its worldwide release.

Jacqueline Lefferts, Expert Materials Designer, Performance Footwear at Jordan Brand.

Joël Greenspan, Global Senior Performance Footwear Designer at Jordan Brand.

Chad Troyer, Global Senior Product Line Manager, Performance Footwear at Jordan Brand.

Kris Wright, Global Vice President, Jordan Footwear.

Those names don’t spring to mind when the Air Jordan 38 gets brought up. But they should. That quartet represents some of the leaders on the continent-sprawling, years-encompassing project.

Legendary Nike designer Eric Avar didn’t work on the 38, though he has a famous quote that applies to it.

“Good design is a balance between art and science,” Avar once said.

Lefferts and Greenspan are artists and scientists. They’re meticulous and self-described obsessives and nerds.

“[Lefferts is] very curious, Joël’s very curious,” Troyer tells KICKS about his teammates. “The way they filter performance insights and marry that with their amazing artistic skillset is what really sets our team apart.”

Included in the performance insights for the 38 was the modern hooper’s desire to feel the court. Major throwback to what that six-time champ asked for with the Air Jordan I. That guy wanted to get low to the floor. Jordans would grow to be synonymous with flying through the air. What’s known as the “game shoe” internally at the Brand is known as the main Air Jordan line externally. Historically, most game shoes have been informed by the universal fascination with flight. Everybody wants to go up high in the sky. The 38 is a return to the ground and a revisiting of Mike’s most patented ground-based skill—his fadeaway.

“The thing that we focused on with 38 is separation and MJ’s ability to create separation with one move,” Wright says.

Greenspan and Troyer also confirm that their pitch to His Airness centered on a video showing his fade, Luka Doncic’s fade and Jayson Tatum’s fade. Sneaker technology has improved so much since Mike was hitting fallaways that “a ground game shoe is still possible with great cushioning and propulsion,” Greenspan explains.

The video that the team showed to No. 23 featured an audio clip of His Airness explaining the fadeaway. It was from an instructional video he filmed shortly after the end of his career.

“In shooting a fadeaway, one thing that you try to do is create space between the defense,” Mike said in the video, an echo of what Wright said. “You try as much as possible to square your shoulders up so you’re shooting towards your target. But you also gotta be able to go both ways. That’s a key component in terms of an offensive player, you wanna be able to use all aspects of the shot. That’s another instance of trying to keep the defense off balance so they cannot limit your options. You can make your adjustments shooting the basketball moving away from the target, which is kind of opposite of what you were taught.”

“Opposite” has really always been Mike’s preferred direction, both as a ballplayer and as a sneaker magnate. Through that now-mythical work ethic, he found different paths to walk down during his playing career, paths that he took while wearing his unique footwear. The mindset translate to how Wright approaches his work at the Brand.

“We make informed decisions,” Wright says after sharing that he lives fearlessly in the context of work. “We make informed decisions because we go out and we source the insights and we extrapolate the insights from athletes, from our consumers. Then we’re able to put an objective point of view into the format of a brief and actually get really, really focused on what problems we’re trying to solve for them. We’re constantly and intentionally being disruptive and not being so prescriptive to the point where we can’t surprise and delight consumers.”

Lefferts is also disruptive. Greenspan notes that since Tinker Hatfield stepped aside at Jordan Brand, only the prolific Tate Kuerbis has worked on more game shoes than Lefferts. Simply put, she’s worked on a lot of sneakers for JB.

“Jacqueline has this board of experiments,” Greenspan tells KICKS. “They seem completely unrelated to basketball shoes until you start pulling them down and understanding the properties and there have been more than one moment where, like, a very random swatch from some experiment that Jacqueline’s done long ago finds its way perfectly into a shoe now.”

The 38’s embroidered upper is a product of her mind and her nonstop experimentation.

“Most people think of embroidery as a decorative process, but we realized that we can actually use it to make a material,” Lefferts says. “The embroidery machine can make the component any shape and it also means we can make a material fully from Flightwire. And Flighwire is super, super strong. In, like, every Nike shoe, even from a running shoe or a basketball shoe, if you look inside, you’ll see around the quarter, there’s always Flightwire to give you that harnessing, cinching feeling. For us to have a material entirely made from Flightwire was pretty exciting.”

Lefferts says she’s not actually a Jordan consumer. She thinks that fact works in her favor. Her background as an artist aids her ability to be disruptive and continue to push and push and push.

“I’m always searching for better ways of making, whether it’s with the backless embroidery, where it’s zero waste and making the process better, to evoking some sort of emotion,” she tells KICKS. “I’m super passionate. I want to advance footwear within basketball, but I also, in terms of the emotion it evokes, even from a taste level, I’m always thinking about basketball players, I’m always thinking about Michael.”

Her lasting memory from the 38’s creation process involves Michael.

“We had a moment where the toe was actually different and Joël and I were really set on it,” she says. “We thought it looked amazing. In terms of our theories why it was better than a normal toe, we were like, ‘Our theory is solid. It’s gotta work.’ But MJ was really adamant about switching it so it was just a clean overlay. Which sometimes can feel devastating because you put so much of yourself, so much of your life, like, two years goes into these products. So as a team, we were like, ‘Let’s test both.’ His whole reasoning for wanting to change it was around protecting your toes and not injuring your toes. We tested our option and what MJ said would work better and MJ’s actually did work better.”

This team had two objectives with the 38. One of them was to get back to focusing on MJ as the signature athlete. Check.

“He was definitely more involved in this one than I had ever experienced,” Greenspan says about Mike. “He stepped in a little more heavily on this one.”

The other objective was the aforementioned aspiration to make a lower and more agile pair. To accomplish this, infrastructure of the 38 was the starting point. Greenspan and Troyer knew they wanted to engineer the sneaker around the movements of a fadeaway. They studied the biomechanics of that physical action. Data was compiled on the laterals forces that those extreme turns generate. Players have to be kept on the footbed while performing that intricate footwork. Sliding within an unstable pair was a big concern for the design team. Their research brought them to the innovation of the X-Plate. It also gave them an unexpected way to pay homage to the Air Jordan VIII.

“We were really just trying to push, finding a functional way to tell a story that referenced a really iconic nature of the VIII, but we didn’t want to do a strap on the upper,” Troyer tells KICKS. “That wasn’t how we were trying to get after mobility or the MJ insight around fadeaway. The X-Plate is really underfoot to contain that movement, but it’s really approaching flight in a new way when you see MJ fadeaway.”

The VIII is also referenced in more subtle ways. Lefferts and Greenspan teamed up to use the embroidery as a vehicle to celebrate the ’93 season, the year that Mike wore the VIII to win his third straight chip. They ingrained the embroidery near the collar with 41 crosshatches as a callout to the 41 points per game he averaged in the ’93 Finals.

Cushioning on the 38 is a team effort. A full-length Zoom Strobel sits on top of Cushlon 3.0 that’s housed inside of a slightly firmer foam. Everything is then set in the X-Plate.

Rice, Howard and Green will be among the many following in Mike’s footsteps, creating separation, winning, flying through the air. But they can only do so because of the efforts made by Lefferts, Greenspan, Troyer and Wright, the obsessive and fearless.

“Like Joël said, I’ve worked on a lot of game shoes,” Lefferts, the embroidery expert, says.

“Materials have such an emotional impact, especially in Jordan. If you look at the AJXI, patent leather. It also has to feel, like, instinctively like it’s Jordan, which, to me, this did.”

The post The Air Jordan 38 is Woven Through History by Expert Craftsmanship appeared first on SLAM.