When you ask anyone to pick their favorite cover of SLAM, it’s the 15th issue featuring a fold-out cover of rising rookies from the 1996 NBA Draft “set to blow up” that quickly comes to mind for many. One of the deepest classes ever posed in front of a brick wall, and SLAM was right there to stamp the collection of future Hall of Famers as next up. 

Standing amongst the seasoned collegians was an 18 year-old straight out of high school, confidently holding the official Spalding game ball on the cover shot. It would be the first of 19 SLAM covers that Kobe Bryant would grace. 

As SLAM celebrates its 30th anniversary throughout 2024, we’ve teamed up with brands around the industry to celebrate the most iconic covers, athletes and sneakers from throughout the magazine’s three decades through a series of new collaboration designs. 

It was in those early days that Kobe Bryant and Adidas created some game changing sneakers in the late 90s heading towards the turn of the millennium. His signature series went to another level in 2000, when Adidas took design inspiration from Audi coupes and brought a new look to the game entirely. 

As we highlight that Issue #15 cover and Bryant’s start with Adidas, we’re also looking back on Kobe’s final signature model with The Three Stripes. 

SLAM is bringing to life one of Adidas’ most forward-thinking and polarizing designs in company history — the Crazy Two — which is getting the full retro treatment for the very first time. 

“Really, it was all about just doing a new look,” original designer Eirik Nielsen had told me a few years back. 

With the brand looking ahead to the 2000s, design legend and Adidas executive Peter Moore put together a team that aimed to define the futuristic design language that was expected for the new millennium. Bryant would be the vehicle to push Adidas forward into new territory. 

Of the fourteen voters from SLAM’s staff that each named their rookies “Most likely to…” in fifteen different topics, Kobe Bryant was only mentioned three times in that 15th issue of the magazine. Once as an ambitious Rookie of the Year pick — twice as most likely to “piss off Jordan.” 

By 2000 though, he had become a global icon. 

Bryant was on the cusp of helping lead the Lakers to a three-peat, and he was the face of Adidas Basketball around the world. To try and level up, the brand teamed up with Audi designers at the car company’s creative studio in Malibu to concept his next signature sneakers. 

Drafting off of the Audi TT roadster for inspiration, it was an entirely different way of designing a shoe. Shoes were first modeled in clay and sculpted, like a car. The results were proportions and sharp lines that gave the silhouette a stance unlike anything before it. 

“They were very, very different,” joked Nielsen.

Inspired by the vivid shades of teal and yellow on Kobe’s first-ever cover, this new SLAM edition of the Crazy Two comes in two separate base color pairs, all wrapped in suede. 

SLAM’s signature Three Stars are embroidered along the tongue of each shoe — with brick graphic insoles highlighted by SLAM’s 30th Anniversary crest on the heel, tying back to the cover backdrop. 

The sneaker was every bit as boundary pushing as it was polarizing when it originally launched in 2001, and still looks just as futuristic and unique today as it did more than twenty years ago. Adidas is expected to also re-release some of the original colorways as we get into 2025.

As SLAM closes the chapter on its 30th Anniversary series of sneaker collabs to cap off 2024, we’ve looked to celebrate the eras, players and covers that helped to shape the magazine into the Hall Of Fame-awarded definition of basketball culture all these years later. This friends and family retro edition of the Adidas Crazy Two honors one of the most impactful players in SLAM history and one of the most storied magazine covers, all through the lens of an equally forward-thinking and defining sneaker.

The post SLAM’s Adidas Collab Welcomes The Return Of The Crazy Two For The First Time  appeared first on SLAM.

Ever since he was a teenager, LaMelo Ball has been SLAM Fam. 

He was doing full-scale SLAM photoshoots with his brothers throughout his high school run at Chino Hills in California. First covered at just 13-years-old, his starpower and basketball journey have taken him around the globe ever since, even before entering the NBA in 2020. 

“I felt like I could play in the League when I was 14, 15,” Ball told SLAM years back. “I probably couldn’t have, but that’s just how I thought.”

After his Rookie of the Year start in the League, the face of Puma Hoops saw the launch of his first signature shoe coincide with his first All-Star Game appearance the following season in early 2022.

It was on Issue #237 that he pulled up for his SLAM cover shoot in his unlaced infrared MB.01s, hitting the league’s longtime logo pose in a custom LaFrance jersey from his own clothing line.

“It’s a little bit of a reach to say he’s already achieved ‘NBA Logo’ face-of-the-League status, but he’s on his way there, and we’re not afraid of a bold call,” SLAM Ed. Adam Figman wrote at the time. “Consider this our prediction that one day we’ll all look back and realize that this cover made perfect sense.”

As we continue to celebrate the 30th Anniversary of SLAM this year and look even just a few years back — it did make perfect sense. 

Highlighting the most iconic covers, players and sneakers over the last 30 years to tell the story of SLAM’s impact on the basketball world, we teamed up with PUMA for this special edition pair of LaMelo’s latest signature shoe, the MB.04. 

In a loud infrared and metallic silver upper inspired by that Issue #237 cover and his “Out Of This World” game, Melo’s 4th signature model features blue accents throughout, and custom SLAM logos along the heel and tongue label. 

It was in that cover shoot that Melo debuted his iced out UFO chain, with the graphic coming to life once again here on the insoles of each shoe, and on the bottom of the MB.04 model. 

The packaging itself is crazy, featuring a SLAM cover-inspired outer sleeve with a portrait from that 2022 photoshoot, along with custom logos along the metallic shoe box. These joints are as loud as it gets — pure Melo. As he’s shown over the years, being subtle is never his style.

“From the beginning, I always felt like no one was really fucking with me,” Ball said in the cover story. “I just always had that attitude.”

As SLAM continues to celebrate its 30th anniversary, the magazine has been there for every step of LaMelo Ball’s rise. Now, it’s only right that SLAM is officially teaming up with Melo to bring things full circle.

This limited edition SLAM x PUMA MB.04 will be dropping in exclusive quantities on both SLAMgoods.com and puma.com this Friday, December 27 at 10 AM EST.

SECURE YOUR PAIR OF SLAM x PUMA MB.04 HERE

The post SLAM’s PUMA MB.04 Collab Celebrates LaMelo Ball’s “Out Of This World” Game appeared first on SLAM.

Penny Hardaway has never forgotten the first time he saw the Foamposite. 

Nike designer Eric Avar was meeting with him to talk sneakers and show him some upcoming samples, as usual, when a sneaker tucked inside of a Nike duffel bag caught his attention. 

“I was just like, ‘Oh my god! What is that?’” Hardaway told me years ago. 

On the spot, it became his next signature shoe. The molded neon royal shoe was groundbreaking then and ever since, and became an instant classic, stamped by Penny in 1997. 

Even all these years later, the Foamposite One, with its subtle Swoosh along the toe and One Cent logo hits along the heel and tongue, has been one of the most beloved sneakers of all time.

“It was just a crazy shoe,” he added. “And I had never seen anything like it in my life.”

As SLAM celebrates its 30th anniversary this year, we’re looking back on some of the most iconic issue covers and most impactful players throughout the Hall of Fame-inducted magazine’s history. We created some fire collabs for the occasion. 

The 30th issue of SLAM in late 1998 featured Penny Hardaway, just as he was looking to make his return from a series of repeating knee injuries in Orlando. The feature was graced with a Scoop Jackson-penned cover story that perfectly captured his immediate rise with the Orlando Magic and his mission to stay on top of the game that he poured everything into. 

The cover story featured lyric laden bridge paragraphs between the candid Q&A — yet another Scoop masterpiece that broke the mold for formatting. 

“Leave you black & blue like a pair of Penny’s / or Foamposites” 

Even before that first sample made its way to the meeting with Penny, we must first go back to the fall of 1995, when Avar was sketching away in Beaverton, Oregon. It is completely insane to consider the time and era in which the Foamposite was first conceived, as the shoe not only had a viral-before-there-was-social-media $180 price point, but required an all-new manufacturing process entirely. 

The shoe was decades ahead of its time — and still is.

While the “Galaxy” Foams in 2012 instantly shut it down and created an entire era of graphic-printed sneakers, it was years ago in ’95 that Avar actually first imagined a printing process atop the shoe’s Foamposite material. One of his earliest sketches incorporated shaded hues of blue along the upper.

This SLAM collab, for the first time ever, brings that sketch to life.

The Eric Avar sketch, from the fall of 1995.

The SLAM edition’s molded Foamposite upper features a printed graphic inspired by Avar’s concept sketch, with the details dialed in from there. For the first time, there’s a Swoosh along the shank, just as Avar had originally sketched it. 

The tongue and heel logos alternate between Hardaway’s sleek 1 Cent logo and the SLAM logo, inspired by Penny’s longtime insistence to keep his logo in place on collaborative designs. To this day, it’s one of the greatest signature logos ever created, that he instantly approved of when he first saw it.

“Right away I knew that they had done an amazing job with this logo,” he told me. 

“Back to back 40s. Miami Heat. Unforgettable.”

Along the insoles, the graphics from the Scoop Jackson cover story are recreated throughout, along with SLAM’s 30th Anniversary logo crest. The packaging integrates the original Avar sketch, and lyrics from Jackson’s prolific penmanship.

Three vertical stars found on every cover throughout the magazine’s 30 years are woven into the heel tab, while a number 30 honors Penny’s cover and SLAM’s 30th Issue. 

As the magazine turns 30, and the legend of the Foamposite lives on, this Friends & Family limited edition of Penny Hardaway’s most memorable sneaker brings the original design concept full circle.

The post SLAM’s Foamposite One Collab Celebrates Penny Hardaway’s Iconic Original Design appeared first on SLAM.

Stephen Curry had just signed with Under Armour a few months before his first cover of SLAM dropped in December of 2013. When the shoot took place that late September, his new shoe deal hadn’t even become official yet. As Curry told writer Marcus Thompson for his very first cover feature, he was thinking big, both on and off the court, as he was set to begin his fifth NBA season. 

“There is no question I am looking to make my mark in this great league,” the then-25-year-old said. 

It just might be one of the biggest understatements in SLAM history. What a run Curry has had in the decade since. 

He’s now the President of Curry Brand, his own damn brand within the Under Armour umbrella, as part of a new lifetime deal he landed with the company a year ago. Four rings and nearly 4,000 threes later on the court — you know the rest of the accolades — and Curry has cemented himself as one of the most impactful players not only of his generation, but in league history. 

On the original SLAM cover, he’s wearing the Anatomix Spawn, a sneaker that marked a new era of design for UA. It was the first model he wore with the brand to start the 2013-2014 season.

Curry always reflects back fondly on the Spawn, as during his sneaker free agency that summer, his daughter Riley picked it out of a pile of sneakers from a handful of brands as her favorite. 

The real story behind the cover shoot is the shoe that Stephen had on his feet as he sat in the St. Joe’s bleachers in Alameda was actually a mix of blue, purple and teal. In a full circle moment I couldn’t have imagined, I actually photoshopped the original picture, shifting the purple midsole to royal blue, and the teal collar to a Warriors-matching yellow.

This was long before the league let go of their color rules, of course. Now, we’re re-creating that very first Warriors’ hued shoe that didn’t actually exist, in a clean and classic Dub Nation colorway. His newest signature shoe, the Curry 12, is also flooded out in loud yellow, tying back to the original yellow SLAM cover header.

While SLAM #173 was just the starting point of Curry as cover man, SLAM and Curry Brand have teamed up to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the magazine through collaboration editions of both the first and the most recent sneakers headlined by Curry.  

Dubbed “The Can’t Miss Kid” on the December 2013 cover text, both the Spawn Flotro and Curry 12 feature graphics from the magazine throughout. Inspired by readers tearing out the pages of SLAM to tack up on their bedroom walls, each shoe also features an all-over collage print of Curry’s ten different SLAM covers, with torn detailing. 

Recently re-launched through its Flotro filter, the updated Spawn sneaker incorporates the custom cover print along the upper, while the Curry 12 highlights the print along its hero molded midsole piece. 

The cover collage concept is also a nod to the generational impact that Curry has had on the game, inspiring young readers and players around the world to reimagine how they approach the game, extend their shooting range, and experience the joy of hoops. 

Both sneakers include a SLAM woven label tag along the heel, with each pair individually numbered out of just thirty total pairs. A series of three pearls can be found along the bottom lace lock, highlighting the meaningful 30th anniversary gift. 

To celebrate SLAM’s impact on basketball culture and the magazine’s 30th anniversary, Thirty debuted both sneakers on Sunday, fittingly dropping 30 points in a home win. 

Curry in each SLAM sneaker. (Photos by Noah Graham & Jed Jacobsohn / NBAE via Getty Images)

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You already know this was a must. 

As Allen Iverson writes in the foreword of the “30 YEARS OF SLAM” book:

“I AM SLAM.” 

“I say I AM SLAM because together — with me living it and SLAM covering it — we made it OK to be you, to be authentic, in the NBA,” Iverson writes. “Shit, we made it OK for athletes to be themselves in all of sports. Now that might sound cocky, but it’s not. It’s just facts.”

The bond and timeline of the two have been linked ever since Iverson was first featured on the mag’s ninth cover in early 1996, while still in college. When Issue #32 dropped though, the impact reached beyond basketball. 

It’s not just an iconic SLAM cover. It’s an image that kickstarted an entire throwback jersey era for the 2000s, and cemented AI as the most culturally impactful icon that the league has ever seen. 

“In SLAM in the beginning, we would just cover the culture,” founder Dennis Page recently told Iverson. “But after ‘Soul On Ice,’ I like to think that we became part of the culture, because of that cover. Allen gave us the credibility.”

Throughout the detailed Russ Bengtson feature interview with The Answer, there’s a layout graphic featuring Iverson that’s centered around “The 3 of Diamonds.” As we all know, there isn’t much explanation needed to explain Allen’s affinity for ice. 

The throwback “PHILA” jersey he’s wearing in early 1999 was custom made by a local nearby manufacturer named Mitchell & Ness, to highlight the history of the league in an “Old School Issue” as the NBA was dealing with a lockout that year. It was the chain, the tats, the bracelet, the watch and the earrings that let you know this was a modern icon of the next millennium. 

“I fell in love with that magazine,” Iverson told Page. “Just the loyalty, and the way y’all had no problem with letting me be me. It was no situation to where I had to deal with being on the cover and my tattoos are airbrushed off. All authentic. It was, ‘You be you, and we’ll take care of the rest.’”

To celebrate the original cover and the magazine’s 30th anniversary this year, SLAM and Reebok teamed up on a limited edition pair of Iverson’s iconic first signature shoe. 

Throughout Iverson’s career, diamonds were often incorporated into anniversary moments or celebratory launches, like the time Reebok put a $65,000 diamond-laced Question up for sale on Eastbay. When Iverson celebrated his 10th anniversary with the company, Reebok gifted him with a diamond-laced pair of Answers from his MVP season. 

Inspired by “frosted” diamond watches, the midsole of the SLAM x Reebok Question Low features a metallic frosted texture that extends up into the shoe’s unmistakable toe cap. 

The SLAM and Reebok logos alternate on the tongue and heel, while the lettering up the eyelets have been switched out to read Allen’s longtime nickname among his closest friends: “Bubba Chuck.” 

“SLAM was everything to my career,” added Iverson. “Still today, I walk past a magazine stand and I see that magazine — I’m grabbing it.”

Along the insoles and the box, Iverson is featured in alternate portraits from the era where he left a mark on the game for good.  

The “3 of Diamonds” logo from the original cover story layout can be found on both the heel of the shoe and through the clear outsole, bringing one of the most impactful covers in SLAM’s 30-year history full circle, celebrating once again that “Allen Iverson is Soul On Ice.” 

“It was an honor for all of us to be able to embrace the cover, be in it and have our story told, the way that we wanted it to be told,” Iverson reflected. “It was so great for the culture, and so great for basketball. And it’s going to live on forever.”

The post SLAM’s Reebok Question Collab Celebrates Allen Iverson’s Iconic “Soul On Ice” Cover appeared first on SLAM.

A year after being selected #1 overall in the 2020 WNBA draft, SLAM stamped New York Liberty star Sabrina Ionescu as “The Next Queen of NY” for the mag’s Future Issue.

Two years after SLAM #231, Sabrina was launching her very own signature shoe with Nike — just the 12th player in W league history to have her own namesake sneaker — a distinction both historical to reflect on, and aspirational to look ahead towards.

“I know the numbers — only 11 players in 27 years have come before me,” she beamed after the launch. “It’s one of the highest honors in our game and something beyond humbling to be a part of.”

The moment immediately took Ionescu’s starpower and impact on the game to yet another level. 

An All-Star and All-WNBA PG in each of the last three seasons since, the 3-Point Contest record setter is once again running point for a loaded Liberty squad that reached the WNBA Finals a year ago, and aspires to yet again this year. 

Her debut signature model broke barriers and saw adoption at all levels of the game, inspiring “anyone, anywhere,” just as she had hoped. 

“It’s crazy to think about now, but the vision that Nike and I had together has really come to life,” she added.

The momentum around her second sneaker made it one of the most anticipated models of the entire year. It’s led to players of all positions, at all levels and from all backgrounds feeling inspired whenever they’re lacing up their pairs of Sabrinas. 

“That’s been something that we’ve been able to see happen, from NBA players to college players and now young boys,” said Ionescu. “They’ll be able to put these shoes on and feel like they can go out and accomplish anything.”

With the expectations rightfully high as Sabrina entered her fifth season this summer, there were also equally high expectations for her follow-up signature shoe, the Nike Sabrina 2.

Returning a sleek silhouette and versatile colorblocking options along the upper, her second shoe has offered up both a lighter weight sneaker and a more responsive cushioning platform. The recognizable Swoosh placement on the inside of the first shoe returns yet again, angled upwards through a shattered glass graphic to signify Sabrina’s barrier breaking series.

To highlight her impact in the sneaker game and on the signature shoe business, SLAM teamed up with Nike to create a Sabrina 2 that will be unmistakable on court — flooded out in all seafoam.

As SLAM celebrates its 30th anniversary and the magazine’s upcoming induction into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame, we collaborated with a batch of brands to highlight the most memorable covers, most impactful players and defining sneakers that made their mark during the past three decades of SLAM. 

Amplifying the bright seafoam teal throughout, the SLAM x Sabrina 2 features a variety of additional details throughout. The heels of each shoe incorporate SLAM’s logo along with a nod to the 30th anniversary, while the insole also includes our celebratory 30th banner icon. 

The Swoosh logos are elevated throughout, standing out with a mirror finish that speaks to the young girls and boys that can take inspiration from the shoes and “see themselves” in Sabrina’s path.  

“My favorite detail is the Swoosh and being able to see your own reflection,” said Ionescu. “I want everyone to see themselves, what it is that they want to create and what it is that they want to dream — to be able to go out and do that in my shoe.”

As SLAM turns the literal page, with not only 30 years of impact and a Hall Of Fame designation cementing the legacy of “the basketball bible” into hoops lore for good, it’s the future of the game of the game that the magazine is also centered on celebrating and highlighting going forward.

A future that Sabrina Ionescu is helping to define. Both through her play, and the impact of her signature series with Nike. 

“I know what some people might think: ‘It’s just a shoe…’

“But really,” she continues. “I think signature shoes like this can help continue to push the game forward, for all.”

As SLAM celebrates 30 years in the game, our newest Sabrina 2 collaboration looks ahead to The Future, linking back up with one of the magazine’s iconic cover athletes that is sure to continue to pave the way for the next generation of the game. 

The post SLAM’s Nike Sabrina 2 Collab Celebrates The Future Of The Game appeared first on SLAM.

When SLAM #41 dropped in April of 2000, we had just witnessed perhaps the greatest Dunk Contest performance of all time. Vince Carter was famously a sneaker free agent in just his second season, and he laced up the white and red AND1 Tai Chi on the fly for that instant classic array of dunks. 

AND1 had been around for a few years as a rising apparel company by that point and their transcendent streetball Mixtapes were moving major, but now, their footwear was taking off too. 

The Tai Chi became the first shoe in company history to sell more than a million pairs.

“Not only was that maybe the best series of dunks I’ve ever seen — because it was just dunks that you’d never even seen before — but it was almost like the dunks that he had done were tailor made for the colorblocking of the shoe,” said the brand’s former head of footwear. 

The opening reverse 360 perfectly showcased the white and red sides of each shoe rotating through the air. The between-the-legs dunk — off of a bounce pass — immortalized the shoes in mid-air forever.

The iconic photo is so classic that the Raptors’ new unis feature the pose right on the front. Earlier today, Vince and the franchise unveiled a new outdoor basketball court featuring the silhouette at half court.

As the buzz back in 2000 after that mid-February All-Star Weekend continued, on the very next SLAM cover slot that was available, VC laced up a simple black and white pair of the Tai Chi for the cover shot.

The header text was straightforward:

“The Greatest Show On Earth” 

As SLAM continues to celebrate its 30th Anniversary this year, we created a new version of the AND1 Tai Chi to honor the 2000s era of AND1 and the impact of the Tai Chi on sneaker culture.

The timing couldn’t be better, as both SLAM Magazine and Vince Carter will be inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame next month in October. 

Our AND1 Tai Chi collab features SLAM’s heritage colors of white, grey, black and orange, fittingly the exact shades from that Issue 41 cover shot. 

The white-to-black mesh fade is a nod to the brand’s unique materializations from the start of the decade, and a way to bring the Tai Chi’s original yin and yang inspired split read to the side of the shoe.

As always, the shoe looks best with a suede color along the inside panel — a bright orange suede is seen here on the SLAM edition. 

The contrast stitching, split color laces and chrome shank all tie back to the added touches that initially made AND1 footwear such a force in hoops during the turn of the millennium.

To layer in more detailing, our 30th anniversary crest can be seen along the inner right collar, opposite of the three vertical stars on the left collar that signify each issue’s edition number.

The 3M hits throughout tie back to the bright lights of All-Star Weekend, and the impact that The Greatest Show On Earth has had, all these years later, on both AND1 and SLAM Magazine. 

The post The Greatest Show On Earth // This AND1 Tai Chi Collab Celebrates SLAM’s 30th Anniversary  appeared first on SLAM.

By the time the already-dubbed “King James” appeared on the cover of SLAM #78 at the midway point of his rookie season, the most hyped prospect in league history was already meeting, and even exceeding the hype.

“It’s only the beginning,” read the cover text. 

He was lacing up his first signature shoe, the Nike Air Zoom Generation, throughout his historic 20.5.5 rookie year. Only Oscar Robertson and Michael Jordan had tallied up those kind of points, rebounds and assists totals during their debut seasons by that point. 

It wasn’t just the League that had stamped him as the future — Nike coined him “generational” off top, with a record-setting $90-million rookie shoe deal and a signature series.

To celebrate SLAM’s 30th Anniversary year in 2024, we teamed up with brands around the industry to highlight the players, the covers and the sneakers that have made their mark on hoops culture during that time. We created some fire collabs as a result, layering in the details and memories that have led to SLAM making its mark as a Hall of Fame inductee all these years later for the Class of 2024.

One of the most frequent cover athletes in SLAM history, LeBron James has undoubtedly made a generational impact on the magazine.

The history between SLAM and Bron is also long stamped. SLAM was there early, shooting a young James in Akron during his SVSM High School days and throughout his time as a perennial “Mr. Ohio” player of the year, where he led the Irish to three state championships.

The text behind the tongue of the new SLAM x Nike Air Zoom Generation is updated from the cover and says as much: 

“Since The Beginning…” 

Flipping the hues of his first shoes, a rich red takes on the base color, while a series of design details celebrating his debut signature silhouette all come to life.

The red and black colorway ties back to the original cover shot and the shoe’s iconic first print magazine ad imagery, where James is wearing an era-specific pair of red velour pants.

There’s also a nod to his very first PE, the “Laser” Generations worn on Christmas Day, which was also the first lasered hoop shoe to hit the NBA hardwood.

We created a detailed lasered graphic highlighting the SLAM logo, James’ upbringing in Akron and his first year with Nike that tells the story further.

“I created the hype myself, by playing the way that I play,” reads the inner laser print.

It’s a reference to a standout James quote within the cover feature, when he was asked about what caused the circus and expectations that surrounded him at the time.

In January of 2003, when Nike first wanted to fast-track the design process of creating a signature shoe for LeBron — who was in the middle of his senior season at SVSM — a few potential shoe names were floated. 

“Air King James” was an option on the very first email that proposed the rushed timeline to design and develop the shoes in order to make a December launch.

When the original developer Jeff Johnson entered the shoe into Nike’s internal factory development system, he came up with an (admittedly easy to crack) code name instead, since LeBron hadn’t yet officially even signed with Nike:

“Air Zoom Norbel.” 

There’s a variety of easter eggs and details from the early days of LeBron’s generational starting point with Nike layered into the lasered side panel graphic, box sleeve design and insole throughout. 

While the full Nike track suit and Nike headband may have given it away, when he showed up to a news conference on May 22nd in 2003 to announce which brand he’d be signing with, a simple declaration was all that was needed:

“I’m a Nike guy,” said James.

That statement, his original ‘LJ23’ logo, the ‘KING23’ graphic from his first apparel collection and his then-viral ‘CHOSEN1’ back tattoo are all incorporated into the lasered graphics along the sneaker.

The molded parts on this SLAM Zoom Generation that draft off of his much-discussed silver Hummer H2 are all in chrome, to honor his 18th birthday gift. Along the heel, “SLAM” is also embroidered in the Hummer font. Both the original ‘LJ23’ logo and SLAM ‘S’ can be found stitched along the tongue tabs.

For the very first time, there’s a collar Swoosh placement, just as designer Aaron Cooper originally sketched them up. The logo location was a big debate throughout the year leading into that late 2003 launch, with the Swoosh “bouncing back and forth” on a variety of samples, according to “Coop,” up until the very end.  

“That was constantly the question, ‘Is it a Nike shoe, or LeBron’s signature shoe?’” Cooper told me last year.

“If he was already established in the NBA and it was a more bold signature shoe, it would’ve been directly called ‘The Air LeBron,’ had the Swoosh up on the collar and said ‘KING’ on the side instead of ‘NIKE.’”

With Nike plunking down the aforementioned $90 Mil, and pressure mounting on the shoe all along, a larger logo would only help to better establish the brand and the player together from the start, so the thinking went.

Before even getting to a Phil Knight or Mark Parker call from up top, the logo dilemma simply came down to a vote from LeBron.

“In our conversations, LeBron felt like he hadn’t proven himself,” continued Cooper. “He said, ‘Because I haven’t played yet, it needs to be a Nike shoe first.’”

Towards the very end of the sample process, Cooper grabbed Whiteout to cover up the collar Swoosh, and drew a new logo placement along the middle of the shoe. 

As we all know, LeBron more than proved himself, with this updated logo placement edition of the Air Zoom Generation speaking to the truly generational impact he has left on the game, and standing as a “more bold signature shoe” with his legacy long cemented. 

As SLAM turns 30, LeBron has also left an impact on the magazine, the readers, and the sneaker game all these years later. 

This special edition Air Zoom Generation made for friends & family links SLAM back up yet again with Bron, for one of the most detailed editions of his first signature sneaker to date. 

BUY YOUR COPY OF 30 YEARS OF SLAM

The post SINCE THE BEGINNING // This Nike Air Zoom Generation Collab Celebrates SLAM’s 30th Anniversary  appeared first on SLAM.

Ever since I can remember playing the game, watching the game, loving the game — SLAM Magazine has been right there. I’ve been wearing a rubber band ever since that first KICKS issue.

It was the foundation. The blueprint. The culture. All along. For both basketball and sneakers. For the last thirty years, and however many years it runs from here…

I knew I could also contribute to the anniversary in a unique way. 

To celebrate the impact of SLAM and its 30th anniversary, we’ve partnered with footwear brands across the industry. We’re looking back at some of the most iconic covers and players over the last 30 years, to tell the story of SLAM’s impact on the basketball world, all through some fire collaborative sneakers. 

My favorite part about SLAM is the chapters. The eras. The way that the magazine and the platform meant different things to different people along the way — each decade — but always made an impact and left its mark.

Tonight in New York, we’ll be previewing some of our upcoming SLAM 30th Anniversary footwear to come at the magazine’s 30 YEARS OF SLAM party, with a runway spanning throughout the entire rest of 2024 of more heat on the way. Here’s an early look at what to expect all year long. 

SLAM x LEBRON x NIKE

By the time the already-dubbed “King James” appeared on the cover of SLAM #78 at the midway point of his rookie season, the most hyped prospect in league history was already meeting, and even exceeding the hype.

“It’s only the beginning,” read the cover text. 

He was lacing up his first signature shoe, the Air Zoom Generation, throughout his historic 20.5.5 rookie year. It wasn’t just the league that had stamped him as the future, but Nike coined him “generational” off top with a record-setting $90 Million rookie shoe deal. 

The history between SLAM and Bron is also long stamped. The text behind the tongue of the SLAM x Air Zoom Generation is updated from the cover and says as much: “Since The Beginning…” 

Flipping the hues of his first shoes, a rich red suede takes on the base color, while a series of design details celebrating his debut signature all come to life. There’s a nod to his first PE, the “Laser” Generations worn on Christmas Day, which was also the first lasered hoop shoe to hit the NBA hardwood. A detailed lasered graphic highlighting the SLAM logo and James’ upbringing tells the story further.

For the first time, there’s a collar Swoosh placement, just as Aaron Cooper originally designed them. The molded parts on the shoe that drafted off of his much-discussed Hummer H2 are all chrome to honor his 18th birthday gift. We’re only just getting started with this one.

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SLAM x AND1

When SLAM #41 dropped in April of 2000, we had just witnessed perhaps the greatest Dunk Contest performance of all time. Vince Carter was famously a sneaker free agent in just his second season, and he laced up the white and red AND1 Tai Chi for that instant classic array of dunks. 

AND1 had been around for a few years as a rising apparel company by that point and their transcendent streetball Mixtapes were moving major, but now, their footwear was taking off too. VC laced up a simple black and white pair of the Tai Chi on the very next cover slot that was available. The header was straightforward:

“The Greatest Show On Earth” 

To celebrate the 2000s era of AND1 and the impact of the Tai Chi on sneaker culture, we’re creating a new version that brings to life SLAM’s heritage colors of white, grey, black and orange, fittingly the exact shades from that cover shot of Issue 41. 

The mesh fade is a nod to another model from the era that I always loved, the Finger Roll, and a way to bring the Tai Chi’s original yin and yang inspired split read to the side of the shoe. As always, the shoe looks best with a suede color along the inside panel — a bright orange suede is seen on the SLAM edition. 

Our 30th anniversary crest can be seen along the inner collar, along with the three vertical stars found on the cover text. The 3M hits throughout tie back to the bright lights of All-Star Weekend, and the impact of The Greatest Show On Earth all these years later. 

***

SLAM x CURRY BRAND

Stephen Curry had just signed with Under Armour a few months before he was on his first cover of SLAM in December of 2013. And man, what a run he’s had in the decade since. He’s now the President of Curry Brand, his own damn brand within the Under Armour umbrella.

On the original cover, he’s wearing the Anatomix Spawn, a sneaker that marked a new era of design for UA, and the first model he wore with the brand to start the 2013-2014 season. 

The real story is the shoe that Stephen wore for the cover shoot was a mix of blue, purple and teal. In a full circle moment I couldn’t have imagined, I actually photoshopped the original picture, shifting the purple midsole to royal blue, and the teal collar to a Warriors-matching yellow. This was long before the league let go of their color rules, of course. 

A decade later, and Curry Brand has recently launched the Anatomix Spawn through its Flotro filter, remixing the company’s innovative Flow midsole with a modernized version of the original upper. 

While SLAM #173 was just the starting point of Curry as cover man, the SLAM x Spawn Flotro celebrates all of the covers that the 4-time champ has appeared on in the years since. 

The design incorporates a collage of his covers across the entire upper, with torn edges inspired by everyone’s childhood ritual of tearing out the pages of SLAM to tack up on their bedroom walls. 

The concept is also a nod to the generational impact that Curry has had on the game, inspiring young readers and players around the world to reimagine how they approach the game, extend their shooting range, and experience the joy of hoops.

The heel hang tag features the SLAM logo, while a pearlized midsole references the common 30th anniversary stone. The lace tips are a nod to both the milestone and Curry’s iconic jersey number, simply reading “THIRTY.” 

Stay tuned for more on the full SLAM x Curry Brand pack to come. We’ve got another model on the way, too…

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SLAM x SABRINA x NIKE 

A year after being selected #1 overall in the WNBA draft, SLAM stamped Liberty star Sabrina Ionescu as “The Next Queen of NY” for the mag’s Future Issue. 

The following year, Sabrina was launching her very own signature shoe with Nike, taking her starpower and impact on the game to yet another level. An All-Star and All-WNBA PG in each of the last two seasons, the 3-Point Contest record setter will once again be running point this season for a loaded Liberty squad that reached the WNBA Finals last year.

The expectations are rightfully high yet again as Sabrina enters her fifth season. There’s also equally high expectations for her follow-up signature shoe, the Nike Sabrina 2.

After her debut signature model broke barriers and saw adoption at all levels of the game, inspiring “anyone, anywhere,” the momentum around her second sneaker makes it one of the anticipated models of the entire year.

We can’t wait to share how SLAM x Sabrina comes to life in New York later this year.

***

SLAM x LAMELO x PUMA

Since he was a teenager, LaMelo Ball has been SLAM Fam. He was doing full-scale photoshoots throughout his high school run at Chino Hills, with his starpower and basketball journey taking him around the globe ever since. 

After his Rookie of the Year start in the league, the face of Puma Hoops saw the launch of his first signature shoe coincide with his first All-Star Game appearance during his sophomore season. It was on Issue #237 that he pulled up for the cover of SLAM in his unlaced MB.01s, hitting the league’s longtime logo pose in a custom LaFrancé jersey from his own clothing line. 

With an iced out, 3D UFO pendant on his neck, the cover declared him “Out Of This World.”

With more to come later this year, look for SLAM and LaMelo to bring to life his “rare” and “1 of 1” personality in the loudest way possible, as we team up with Puma to celebrate Ball’s impact on the sneaker industry and his place in the future of both the game and SLAM’s next chapter ahead. 

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SLAM x PENNY x NIKE 

As we looked back through the decades of SLAM covers over the years, we also looked at the various milestone issues since the very first cover went to print in ’94.

The 30th issue of SLAM featured none other than Penny Hardaway, with a Scoop Jackson-penned cover story that perfectly captured his immediate rise with the Orlando Magic and his mission to stay on top of the game that he poured everything into. 

Around that same time in the late ’90s, Nike had just unveiled one of their most innovative sneakers ever with Penny as the headliner. The Foamposite One has been one of the most unique and iconic sneakers across the industry ever since, with its molded upper and clear bottom making for an unmistakable look and a global following. 

The SLAM x Penny Foamposite takes it back to one of the earliest sketches from designer Eric Avar, who somehow saw the future when first crafting the shoe in the mid-90s. The molded Foamposite upper found here features a printed graphic inspired by Avar’s concept sketch, with the details dialed in from there. 

For the first time, there’s a Swoosh along the shank, just as Avar had sketched it. The tongue logos alternate between Hardaway’s sleek 1 Cent logo and the SLAM logo. The heel tabs feature the three vertical stars found on every cover throughout the magazine’s 30 years, and a number 30 that also honors SLAM’s 30th Issue. 

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SLAM x ADIDAS 

When you ask anyone to pick their favorite cover of SLAM, it’s the 15th issue featuring a fold-out cover of rising rookies “set to blow up” that quickly comes to mind for many. One of the deepest Draft classes ever posed in front of a brick wall, and SLAM was right there in 1996 to stamp the collection of future Hall of Famers as next up. 

In partnering with Adidas, we’ll be bringing to life one of the brand’s most forward-thinking designs in company history. Yes, that means the Crazy Two is retroing in the future, for the first time. 

With a molded silhouette drafting from the automotive industry, the sneaker was every bit as boundary pushing as it was polarizing when it originally launched.

You’ll be seeing the outsized proportions of the sneaker come to life in an entirely new way later this year, as SLAM looks back to the shades found along the classic “Ready Or Not…” cover from the earliest days of the magazine.

***

SLAM x BUBBA CHUCK x REEBOK 

You already know this was a must. 

As Allen Iverson writes in the foreword of the “30 YEARS OF SLAM” book:

“I am SLAM.” 

The bond and timeline of the two have been linked ever since Iverson was first featured on the cover, while still in college. When Issue #32 dropped though, the impact reached beyond basketball. 

It’s not just an iconic SLAM cover. It’s an image that kickstarted an entire throwback jersey era for the 2000s, and cemented AI as the most culturally impactful icon that the league has ever seen. 

Throughout the detailed Russ Bengtson feature interview with The Answer, there’s a layout graphic featuring Iverson that’s centered around “The 3 of Diamonds.” 

As we all know, there isn’t much explanation needed to explain Allen’s affinity for ice.

The throwback “PHILA” jersey he’s wearing was custom made by a local nearby manufacturer named Mitchell & Ness, to highlight the history of the league in an “Old School Issue” as the NBA was dealing with a lockout that year. It was the chains, the tats, the watch and the earrings that let you know this was still a modern icon of the next millennium. 

Inspired by “frosted” diamond watches, the midsole of the SLAM x Reebok Question Low features a metallic frosted texture that extends up into the shoe’s iconic toe cap. The SLAM logo appears on the heel, while the lettering up the eyelets have been switched out to read Allen’s longtime nickname among his closest friends, “Bubba Chuck.” 

The “3 of Diamonds” logo from the original cover story layout can be found on both the heel of the shoe and through the clear outsole, bringing one of the most impactful covers in SLAM’s 30-year history full circle, celebrating once again that “Allen Iverson is Soul On Ice.” 

***

The post SLAM Celebrates 30 Years With Upcoming Sneaker Collabs  appeared first on SLAM.

“What’s up with the rubber band?” 

People ask me all the time. Explaining that I’ve worn one on my left wrist every day since middle school is always more awkward than I expect. 

But that’s when I saw KG on the debut cover of KICKS. 

“What’s up, dog?” it read. 

I was 13—and that magazine changed my life. 

The youthfulness of the League’s first prep-to-pros player in 20 years was understood. A 22-year-old KG was also fresh off his very first signature shoe with Nike, had just inked the lockout-inducing $126 million contract and was re-defining the concept of positionless basketball for a new generation. 

He represented the future of the League as it evolved into a post-MJ era—and seeing him grace the first-ever cover of SLAM’s offshoot KICKS magazine was a perfect fit. 

“Kevin said he wanted to be remembered as the one player that had fun every single time he went out there,” former Nike exec David Bond recalled on page 11, of KG’s very first Swoosh meeting.

I’ve always loved that quote. Hoops is fun. Sneakers are fun. I’ve tried to carry that same youthfulness with me ever since.

It’s been a long ass time, but the rubber band—from an endless supply of 3 1/2” x 1/4” bands that I switch out weekly—has been a daily reminder ever since of why I do what I do. And I’ve got KG and SLAM to thank for that. 

When the issue dropped in the fall of 1998, there had never been anything like it. 

“You can write about sneakers?” I remember thinking, while reading about sneakers. 

It was all new territory, and seeing and holding a tangible extension of that meant everything to me. The SLAM team might not have even realized it, but that single issue opened the doors to what kids around the country even thought was possible. 

Our understanding of “working in sneakers” at the time was that working at Foot Locker would be cool, off the strength of just getting a discount. No one even knew an entire world surrounding the game that we all loved existed as a career path. Whether that meant working in the sneaker industry at a brand in design or marketing, or writing about the players and pairs that moved the needle, that first KICKS issue was eye-opening. 

Multiple sneaker magazines, dozens of footwear-centric blogs, and seemingly millions of Instagram pages—focused just on kicks—all followed.

The issue was also insanely informative, providing every reader with a foundation of footwear knowledge that would basically supercharge the generation of kids hopping onto the Niketalk and Sole Collector forums at the start of the 2000s. 

It was one thing to think “the patent leather Jordans” were a sick shoe or to have heard the legend of the Air Jordan XIII being inspired by MJ’s “Black Cat” nickname, but when KICKS dropped, there was a full lineage of every Air Jordan model, all together on a two-page spread. 

The 10-page stretch that followed it was a literal encyclopedia of “every Nike Basketball sneaker ever,” as the cover promised. Listed out in order were product shots of all 378 of the Nike models that had hit retail by that point. (No. 278 is the greatest hoop design of all time, by the way. The very next one, the Air Thrill Flight at No. 279, was the first pair of Nikes I owned, thanks to my $40 budget growing up.)

Later in the mag, there were actual features and interviews with sneakers designers—another first. The only industry name that anyone knew was Tinker Hatfield, and here was a three-page spread, each on Eric Avar and Aaron Cooper—both with hair! The duo designed Nike Basketball’s most iconic silhouettes of the ’90s for the likes of Penny Hardaway, Scottie Pippen, Jason Kidd and Gary Payton. 

On page 87, I found myself staring at not only Avar for the very first time, but also the shoes I had just finished my seventh grade basketball season in—a black and green variation of Dennis Rodman’s Air Shake NDestrukt that I snagged for $19.99 at Ross. (Our team colors were also green—so it’s quite possibly my all-time favorite find.) 

The exaggerated grooves of Avar’s sketch, along with a reversed Swoosh and “NIKE” text over the heel Air window were all different details than the shoe sitting in my bedroom, sparking my curiosity and imagination for what else I could uncover from Nike’s archives of what-if designs and concepts. 

Cooper’s first-person penned piece on Pip’s second shoe connected how an athlete’s insight and involvement could drastically shift where a design is headed, after Coop admitted he worked up the first, more bulky, Air Pippen model without much input from Scottie. 

Both of Russ Bengtson’s features and framing laid the foundation of how I envisioned a designer profile reading. So I started to develop a roadmap of how I could get there. I became the sports editor of my high school’s paper a few years later. Russ pointed out that Nike was located in Oregon—so I went to the University of Oregon, studied Magazine in the School of Journalism, and would make the drive north often to try and make connections in Beaverton. 

From my very first “Focus: Artist” article in a 2006 issue of Sole Collector that highlighted an undiscovered talent named Justin Taylor, to the countless designer interviews I’ve conducted ever since with the likes of Jason Petrie, Leo Chang and the rest of the team that carried on the torch at Nike Basketball, KICKS was the blueprint all along. 

Each of the first times I interviewed that celebrated trio of Hatfield, Avar and Cooper during the late 2000s, I remember thinking back to the pages of the first KICKS issue a decade earlier. Talking to Coop about his Garnett 3 design, a vibrant, fading black and blue sneaker that I wore in high school, was an all-time moment. 

A handful of years after that first issue had dropped, in 2003, I have a pretty distinct memory from around 4 am on a spring Friday night. I was at my high school’s “Grad Night,” and they had a standard exercise for all of the students to participate in.

A massive white paper roll waved out in front of us over the auditorium floor, and I remember one of our teacher chaperones yelling out “Grab a Sharpie, and write down what you’ll be doing in 10 years!” 

I didn’t hesitate for a second. 

“I’m gonna write about sneakers, for SLAM,” I told myself.    

And it all started with a picture of Kevin Garnett and a rubber band. 

KEVIN GARNETT: Anything Is Possible is a feature-length chronicle of Kevin Garnett’s remarkable career and the pivotal moments that defined it. Stream the documentary on SHOWTIME. 

Photos via Getty Images.

The post How Kevin Garnett’s SLAM Presents KICKS Vol. 1 Cover Changed One Sneaker Insider’s Life appeared first on SLAM.

A five-year, $500,000 cash per season deal with his own shoe and a national commercial campaign? It was unprecedented. Three decades later, the Air Jordan line is the gold standard in basketball sneakers, thanks to MJ’s HOF career and a perfect marketing plan.

By the early ’90s, the Air Jordan had established itself as the pinnacle signature shoe in all of footwear. Year by year, the “game shoe” led the industry in design, materials and innovation, all while setting the bar from a storytelling standpoint by injecting Michael’s sense of style. Designer Tinker Hatfield had done such a tremendous job of incorporating cues from Michael’s life into daring new silhouettes that people were all of a sudden taking note of who the shoe designer actually was. Jordan became the sport’s first global icon. Hatfield became a star himself.

By late 1994, Nike was celebrating a full decade with Air Jordan, even though Michael’s NBA career was technically done. With three consecutive NBA championships, countless scoring titles and the League in the palm of his hands, the challenge for Michael had faded, and he walked away from the game. The internal debate among Swoosh executives was ramping up: Is the Air Jordan line over?

For Howard “H” White, then Michael’s sports marketing rep for the brand, the conversation with Jordan was brief. The upcoming Air Jordan X’s outsole design purposefully encapsulated all of Michael’s accomplishments by literally writing them through the lines of the shoe. It was designed with the understanding that it could be the final model of the series.

“You know Michael, if nothing happens, it’s been a great run,” White told MJ, leveling expectations.

“[There was] a lot of uncertainty,” H reflects. “I remember even feeling like the world was done. It’s over—it’s been a great run.”

As many execs doubted the line’s longevity, wanting to turn the focus to young players like Penny Hardaway, Tim Hardaway, Gary Payton and Charles Barkley, Tinker toiled throughout Michael’s “retirement” and kept designing. And White used some high-level convincing to keep the brand alive.

“I remember telling Phil [Knight], You know, I just saw a Mercedes-Benz go right down the street in front of campus,” White says. “He said, What? I’m not quite sure I get your point here. I said, A Mercedes. A Mercedes-Benz was riding down the street. And he said, And your point is? I said, I think Mr. Mercedes has been dead a long time, and it is amazing to me that the Mercedes-Benz could be riding down the street after that man’s been dead. So, really, this can live on ad infinitum. This can keep going, because I’ve never seen it as [just] basketball.”

Indeed by that time, Air Jordan had come to signify the highest degree of design, both in performance innovation and in styling, and it represented Nike’s ability to continually redefine where the industry was headed.

“[Michael] kept telling everybody that he wasn’t going to come back to basketball, and Nike wanted to stop the Jordan line,” says Hatfield. “They didn’t want to do any more Jordans, and their thinking was that he wasn’t going to be playing basketball and we wouldn’t be able to sell Jordans. I disagreed with that, even though the people higher up than me tried to stop me. I didn’t stop.”

Hatfield never truly believed Michael was done with the NBA—he knew his passion for the game of basketball was just too strong. It just so happened that the 11th Air Jordan model, with its iconic patent leather rand, cordura mesh upper and futuristic clear outsole, would immediately become one of the most iconic designs the industry had ever seen. More than just a single shoe, the legacy of the Air Jordan was back, and here for good.

“I think Michael provided something. I don’t think you could do this if it was just about basketball,” says White. “Hope is something that the world needs every day, and they need it in large supplies. And I think Michael Jordan represented that to a lot of people. I think he represented that you could be bigger than your situation.”

Just after Michael and the Bulls won their second consecutive championship in ’97, Nike coined “Brand Jordan” (later flipped to Jordan Brand, and now known simply as Jordan). Having surpassed every other signature shoe in the marketplace, Air Jordan was its very own lane now. A full line of complementary team shoes, casual sneakers and a range of clothing would be added to the catalog.

“I have been involved in the design of everything I have worn from Nike since we began our relationship in 1984,” Jordan said at the news conference held at New York’s then-dubbed NikeTown store. “The launch of the Jordan Brand is simply an extension of that process.” Joining Michael on stage in now-hilariously similar baggy and over-the-top tan tailored suits was the first class of Team Jordan endorsers, including Eddie Jones, Vin Baker, Ray Allen, Michael Finley and Derek Anderson.

In many ways, while he wouldn’t outwardly admit it at the time, the Brand Jordan formation at the start of the ’97 season set the stage for what would become Michael’s final year with the Bulls. The business structure foreshadowed Jordan’s post-career aspirations and how he planned to stay involved with the sport to this day.

Expectations were high right out of the gate. Nike projected Brand Jordan would gross $250 million during the 1998 fiscal year, its first full year in the market. As we’d go on to see into the next millennium, the Brand would blow past those projections with exponential growth into the 2000s.

Having played his final game as a Chicago Bull, surely not even Tinker Hatfield could have predicted MJ’s return to the NBA in 2001 as a Washington Wizard. By that time, though, Brand Jordan was fully afloat on its own.

As Michael’s second unretirement saw him matching up against new foes like Allen Iverson, Vince Carter and Kobe Bryant—and being treated like royalty at every stop along the way—the brand’s visibility was reaching new heights. Jordan agreed to outfit several of the NCAA’s top college powerhouses, including Georgetown, Kansas, Cal Berkeley and of course, his alma mater, the North Carolina Tar Heels. It would also continue to extend its reach across the NBA, adding Hall of Fame veterans in Gary Payton and Jason Kidd to the roster, along with 2003’s No. 3 draft pick Carmelo Anthony.

It was also in the early 2000s that product manager Gentry Humphrey looked to accelerate the Brand’s retro business. The brand not only re-released some of the most sought after original Air Jordans, but Humphrey also put a plan in place to create new “Retro+” colors of the line’s iconic early models, hitting color hues outside of the familiar Bulls uniforms and cementing a connection to a new generation of young consumers. No longer just Nike’s top annual shoe, the brand was now giving its parent company, Nike Inc., a run for its money.

“We still have our connection with Nike. In some ways we are competition,” Jordan told the Associated Press at the time during a product launch at NikeTown Chicago. “But that is the best type of competition you can have. You are competing with your brother instead of competing with the enemy. I am pretty sure Nike is not going to worry about us until we get in second place.”

Just as White affirmed, Jordan’s legacy was always bigger than basketball. His brand has lived on to showcase his relentless quest to be the best, and that aura and message has still connected and hit home for players and consumers alike just making their way into their own basketball journeys. All this despite the fact that today’s high school kids hadn’t even been born yet when he played his last NBA game as a Bull.

Each year, the Air Jordan signature game shoe is still the brand’s pinnacle model, offering up those same key initial principles and goals of being the best collective showcase of design, innovation and styling. Through the years, the Air Jordan has transitioned from the feet of Ray Allen and Michael Finley, to J-Kidd and GP, to Melo, Chris Paul and Dwyane Wade. Now, Russell Westbrook, Kawhi Leonard and Jimmy Butler are each proudly carrying the torch. Just last year, Jordan experienced its highest revenues yet, topping $2.6 billion in sales.

“When you look at players post-retirement, Michael now has an incredibly iconic brand in Brand Jordan,” says agent David Falk. “They’re approaching $3 billion in sales, and their goal when they signed him was to hit $3 million after the fourth year [laughs]. It’s been an incredible success, probably the most successful athletic endorsement in history.”

And while the brand had danced through an array of technologies and naming conventions from the 2000s to now, by all measures, the Air Jordan signature sneaker is back.

With a nod to the signature line’s traditional Roman numerals, the Air Jordan XX8 represented a refocused initiative to re-establish the game shoe as the Brand’s statement level shoe. That was always Tinker Hatfield’s starting point and end goal early on, and as he’s re-engaged with the annual shoe’s design process, it’s his approach that is helping to push the brand into yet another generation of relevance.

“The reason for concept cars is to push for new technologies and new performance. Also, to generate a lot of excitement,” says Hatfield. “In the world of basketball shoes, you can say that it’s pretty much the same thing. We’re looking to push for higher levels of performance and actually change the way a basketball shoe, not only performs, but change how it looks.”

With the XX8 representing that “concept car” mentality most overtly, each subsequent Air Jordan model has featured the Brand’s still-bar-setting Zoom Air technology, along with ongoing woven and knit material evolution that’s centered around improving both fit and lockdown.

“When you think about the power of Michael Jordan’s persona, and the strength of his brand, I think that kind of gives us a little bit of license to push for change and try and get people to come along for the ride,” Hatfield continues. “That’s not easy to do, it’s a little bit risky, and it’s a heck of a lot of fun.”

Michael is now a full 13 years removed from his playing days, but he’s still closely connected to the game as majority owner of the Charlotte Hornets. Though he entered the League a full generation before the NBA’s salary cap aggressively spiked (for which he was largely responsible), MJ earned just over $90 million in salary for his career. Mike can thank his Jordan Brand royalties for his ability to enter into team ownership, as his 4 percent royalty rate earned him more than $90 million from Nike Inc. in the last year alone. As Nike preps to take over the NBA uniform designs beginning with the 2017-18 season, there’s a widespread assumption within the company that the Hornets—and possibly additional teams, such as Toronto and Washington—will actually feature the Jumpman logo on their jerseys. And going forward, Air Jordan will live beyond the hardwood, having recently partnered with the University of Michigan’s iconic football program and with stars from the other football, like Brazilian soccer star Neymar.

As waves of players and future icons continue to enter the NBA, Jordan’s imprint on League history and his connection going forward gives him a unique foothold in the industry—one that isn’t going anywhere.

“If you added up the sales of every signature player in the NBA today, you’d have to aggregate them all together and still multiply it by two or three, and they don’t sell what Jordan sells,” Falk notes. “Every single guy. LeBron, Kobe, Curry, Durant, and you add them all up. Those are all great players. Michael’s just had a very unique impact.”

For both Jordan and Falk, it’s a legacy over 30 years in the making, but something they believed the power of his transcendent career could carry from the start. “When Michael was 22 years old, I used to tell him, One day, you’re going to get married and have a son. Can you imagine if your son is 14 and he can walk into a Foot Locker and buy a pair of Air Jordan?” Falk recalls. “His kids are in their mid-20s now, and it’s still going strong.”

Jordan has established not only over 30 editions of a signature shoe, but a signature brand that’s provided consumers with endless innovations, and provided his family with endless opportunity. Marcus Jordan runs Trophy Room [more on that soon! —Ed.], while Jordan’s oldest son Jeffrey now works at the Brand, and his daughter Jasmine works for the Hornets.

“People needed to believe that. They needed to believe, Michael Jordan, CEO. Wow, he’s the CEO of his brand. Oh my goodness, you can be anything in life,” White says with a smile. “And those are the building blocks that started it.”

CLICK HERE TO ORDER YOUR COPY OF JORDANS VOL. 3!

—

Photos via Jordan Brand, Getty Images

The post Up To Something appeared first on SLAM.

Wexler, currently the adidas VP of Global Entertainment & Influencer Marketing, has become used to a never-ending stream of texts, Twitter notifications and emails from agents, celebrities and adidas fans alike over the years, but this was different.

It was from Kanye West, and the, well, Kanye-esque gravity and boldness of the message has stuck with Wexler ever since. On Wexler’s office wall there’s a blown-up screenshot of his phone’s lock screen, with the declarative 4:14 p.m. message from November 6, 2013, reading:

Kanye West: “The world changes now.”

Seconds later, a copy of Kanye’s signed adidas contract paperwork popped to the top of Wexler’s inbox.

For “Wex,” as he’s known in the industry (and on Instagram and Twitter as @wex1200, of course), he knew that officially signing ’Ye would be unlike any other deal before. This wouldn’t be a one-off rapper collabo or a simple capsule release. The discussions to that point had been much grander, much more ambitious.

“The thing that really came across in those first conversations is he’s just truly a world builder,” Wexler says. “He didn’t want to build a shoe—he wanted to build Rome. He was thinking on such a big scale.”

In part, Kanye was undeniably fueled by his bitter departure from Nike, but also by a relentless thirst to create, one that he felt had been limited. His vision of himself as a “performance athlete” has served as the foundation for the partnership, as he’s looked to blend the worlds of style, design and innovation through his long-standing Yeezy line of sneakers.

At Nike, Kanye was allowed to grow in small steps, still earning unparalleled success and energy. Over the course of the five years that he and the Swoosh worked together, they released six colorways total of his two Air Yeezy models. He was looking for more, specifically wanting to create expanded footwear and apparel launches, and sought out a conversation with adidas.

“That’s always controversial, when people change sides,” Wex admits. “We put it through the evaluation filter, and I remember our CMO [Eric Liedtke, above with ’Ye] coming to the office, being like, ‘Based on the factors we’ve laid out, we believe this is the right thing for us.’ From that point on, that was the mission: To make sure we were able to make it happen.”

Since Kanye signed with adidas, there have been a few distinct moments that have helped to shift the trajectory of where the brand is now headed. We’ve seen the release of four colorways of the Yeezy Boost 350, three colorways of the Yeezy Boost 750 and four colorways of the Yeezy Boost 950, but it’s been the impact across the entire adidas portfolio—beyond those models—that helped give the brand such confidence in the project.

“It was very evident from the beginning that he was going to be a game-changer for us,” Wexler says.

As his Yeezy sneakers have helped showcase the brand’s bar-raising Boost technology, Kanye has also been a regular wearer of the Ultra Boost running shoe, helping to carry that model into modern classic territory all on his own. Now that there’s a built-in equity in the Boost platform, the brand’s NMD and Uncaged Ultra Boost silhouettes have been selling out in seconds. Adidas hadn’t experienced that kind of frenzy with any of its in-line sneakers before signing Kanye. “There’s no question the halo effect that he’s had on everything for us,” Wexler says with a smile.

Because of that success—the brand’s stock has since doubled—adidas has grand plans to not only expand the Yeezy family of products, but they’ll begin to showcase Kanye much in the way we’ve more traditionally seen the world’s biggest athletes positioned.

In reaching an agreement for a long-term extension in June, Kanye will now be pulling in an endorsement rate on par with Kobe and LeBron. That number may go exponentially higher, too, with royalty incentives for not only Yeezy products, but bonuses and triggers for certain overall brand sales thresholds. “He can become very wealthy, just like Michael Jordan has,” says one brand source.

There will be a team of 20 employees based in Portland who will be solely dedicated to the Yeezy business, designing a full range of sneakers and apparel for men and women. There are even plans to launch stand-alone Yeezy retail stores in key markets around the world. After the brand listed the batch of Yeezy job openings on its Careers website at the start of July, they received over 20,000 applicants in the first week.

“Kanye is a true creator who has the ability to see things others don’t,” says Liedtke, the aforementioned adidas CMO. “We are exploring new territories by opening up the sports world to Kanye’s creativity.”

For the first time, adidas will launch non-athlete signature product crafted for performance on the court and field. There will be Yeezy Basketball models slated to debut in early 2017, worn by an increasingly impressive roster of emerging adidas Basketball players in the NBA. Basketball has long operated under a “Court to Street” premise, but adidas will now be looking to flip that approach. The braintrust at the Three Stripes has realized that Kanye is influencing the whole League now. By this time next year, you’ll likely see a full range of hoop shoes bearing the Yeezy nickname featured throughout the pages of this magazine and others.

We’ll also see Yeezy iterations primed for football, baseball and soccer, as the brand continues to enjoy storied success in global soccer and looks to ramp up signing more NFL and MLB athletes. After sponsoring only around 20 players in each stateside league in recent years, the brand is planning to sign up to 250 players in both the NFL and MLB within the next three seasons. With Kanye in the fold, athletes have never been more open to signing with adidas.

In addition to expanded footwear silhouettes, the Yeezy brand will also introduce performance and lifestyle apparel in ’17. Yes, they’ll be priced in reasonable tiers accessible to the average person, unlike the astronomically expensive first few seasons of gear that launched a $2,200 “distressed” sweater, among other items.

“The beauty of this partnership is that there really is no ceiling now,” says Wex. “I think we’re all exploring different ways that we can maximize it. Knowing that we want this partnership to last forever, we don’t want it to be one of those flashes in the pan.”

Kanye has often stated his goal to “jump over the Jumpman,” and with a full category team of dedicated designers, marketers and strategists now in place at adidas, he’ll have his chance to take on the industry’s most dominant brands. “We’re the challenger brand, and [Kanye] is the challenger right now,” says Wex, “and he wants to really break through.”

—

Photos via adidas

The post Yeezy Season Approaching appeared first on SLAM.

His on-court resume is already extensively comprehensive: Summer League MVP; rookie record for most made three-point field goals; unanimous Rookie of the Year (only the fourth player to do so). In just his second season, not only was he named to the All-Star team, but he also became the first player to ever compete in all five of the League’s All-Star Weekend showcase events. An All-NBA Third-Team nod soon followed, as he led the Blazers back to the Playoffs and into the second round for the first time since the 2000 season. His series-clinching buzzer-beater in the opening round against the Houston Rockets has defined his career to this point.

His off-court endorsements and obligations, with the help of both his play and his reps at Goodwin Sports, have been ramping up at an equally rapid pace: He has a featured role at adidas Basketball as headliner for the new Crazy Light Boost, with a signature shoe on the way. He landed a spot on the cover of the new NBA Live 2015 video game and a cameo in Madden NFL ’15’s overly grandiose commercial. He’s got local deals with Moda Health and Hannah Motors, with at least three more deals that’ll soon be announced.

His #4BarFriday Instagram movement is steadily growing, and he’s also a Special Olympics ambassador and the face of the “Respect” anti-bullying campaign. The weekend before Portland’s training camp, he spent his own money to host free clinics for Special Olympics of Oregon and Self Enhancement.

For even the game’s biggest stars, who’ve over a decade in the League seemed to balance both the on- and off-the-court game, that’s quite a lot.

What’s gotten Damian Lillard to this point though, and what makes his trajectory toward being one of the League’s very best guards a foregone conclusion, is that he hasn’t let any of the accolades or obligations weigh him down. He’s still got the same chip on his shoulder that helped him rise from an unknown and unranked Oakland high school player to a college scholarship, to ultimately being the sixth pick in the Draft out of small conference Weber State University.

“Nothing gets in the way of basketball for Damian,” Blazers GM Neil Olshey confidently says. He’s not remotely worried about any of Lillard’s newfound fame becoming a distraction for him.

Even though he’s already surpassed all expectations thus far, Lillard still likes to dig for slights, look for areas to improve and keep a keen eye ahead on simply winning. Not making this summer’s USA Team for the FIBA World Cup, as the very last cut, hit no player harder.

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This is team USA letting me go. My head up, spirits up, and I'm going back to work. #TeamAdidas #JustGetBetter #WoodOnTheFire

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“It was them telling me that I wasn’t good enough,” Lillard flatly said at Blazers media day. “I’ve always been one to throw wood on the fire any time I got the opportunity. Once I was turned away from making that team, I basically took it as, ‘You’re not good enough.’ That was just another reason for me to go back and keep trying to improve as a player.”

Back in my natural habitat! Throw more wood on the fire . Thankful for the opportunity And guys please don't feel sorry. I'm always Good!

— Damian Lillard (@Dame_Lillard) August 23, 2014

He’s put up averages of 20 points, 6 assists and 3 rebounds per game in his first two seasons—while playing in all 164 games—but he hasn’t let the successes linger. He’s learned to enjoy the moment, quickly move on, and focus on the weaknesses that he can still correct. After nailing the cold-blooded three-pointer at the buzzer that instantly ended Houston’s playoff aspirations, Lillard joked about reading some of the comments on Twitter that night, got a good laugh out of watching this reaction video from Rockets fans, and then was on his way to prepping for the second round against San Antonio.

As he soon quickly learned, the League’s leaps of highs and lows can be a roller coaster. He went from feeling on top of the world after hitting “The Shot,” to seeing firsthand just how tough the journey can be, as the Blazers were admittedly dominated by the Spurs in a quick five-game series. “We got a taste of winning in the postseason, and then we got a taste of what it took to be a Champion,” he sighs.

While his summer travels had him bouncing around from L.A. to Portland to Ogden, UT, to Las Vegas, home to Oakland and even to Manila, that second-round playoff exit and the eventual rejection from Team USA fueled his fire all offseason. He re-watched the entire second-round series—twice—and made sharp changes to both his summer workouts and his diet as a result.

Already known for his relentless work ethic and grinding gym workouts that helped him rise to the top of the 2012 Draft boards, he added even more emphasis on strengthening his lower body this summer. “I think last year, I ran out of gas,” Dame admits. “My legs were really tired in that San Antonio series.”

He’s also looking to use that added strength to overcome two of the last remaining criticisms of his poised and near-polished play: his defense and finishing more accurately around the basket. There were noted improvements in his post defense in just one year during his second season, but it’s his pick-and-roll defense where teams look to most exploit him. He’s still learning how to get positioned just right when fighting over screens on the ball handler, and as teams more closely scouted him as a sophomore, they specifically ran an average of 2 additional pick-and-roll sets against him per 36 minutes.

During the Spurs series, Tony Parker used a repeated series of both high and wing pick-and-rolls, with Tim Duncan and Tiago Splitter often catching Lillard to free TP for a barrage of mid-range jumpers and floaters in the key. Lillard has certainly seen the film enough, and he’s hoping that the added leg work can help him explode up and around screens quicker, rather than fighting directly to the side of a screen and getting caught as his man dribbles on by.

The avid Wing Stop and Benihana fan has also committed himself to entirely revamping his diet, which is impressive because those places are both amazing. He’s completely ditched fast food. No more soda. No salt. The only sugar he gets is from fruits. After 90 days of sticking to the strict diet and even enlisting a personal chef, he’s already feeling the benefits of the added layer of focus. “I feel great,” he beams. “I wake up in the morning and I got a lot more energy just from paying attention to my diet. I’ve been amazed by some of the things I’ve seen change with my body and how I feel, just because of my diet.”

All of that work, focus and drive to outwork his competition, despite the growing star profile, the added off-court endorsements and the accolades that keep piling up, has Lillard looking to carry the Blazers right back into the postseason and toward being considered an elite squad. “You look at teams like the Spurs and Oklahoma City, and you see that they do it every year,” he notes. “We’ve only done it one time. Before we can say we are an elite team, we gotta keep proving it up.”

As with anything, tasting those successes and incremental leaps forward can push the League’s greatest competitors even further forward, and as Dame looks back on it, hitting “The Shot” against Houston might just be the springboard that allows him to grow, and the Trail Blazers to ultimately advance even further this upcoming year.

“There’s always times where you question yourself a little bit,” Lillard now admits, when discussing his outlook in clutch moments before he hit that series-clinching jumper. “Not that you don’t believe in yourself, but you’re just like, What if this happens? What if that happened? In that moment (against Houston), nothing crossed my mind. I never doubted what could happen for a second.”

The scary thing for the League is Lillard was already one of the game’s very best in clutch situations. Now he’s saying he’s got zero fear. To the eye test, nearly no one looks more confident and laser-focused when hoisting a last-second jumper with the game on the line. A closer look at the actual clutch stats from last season, which NBA.com classifies as taking place during the last five minutes of a game where neither team is up by more than 5 points, shows Damian’s 47.3 percent mark from the field ranks only second to LeBron James’ 48.4 percent.

“I didn’t fear anything going wrong,” Lillard says four months later of The Shot. “Now, going into those situations, or if the game is on the line, or if in our season we lose seven games in a row, I won’t be worried. I think it changed me in that way, that I’ll always feel like I can do better or I can help our team turn things around.”

As they head into the 2014-15 season, now he and the Blazers just gotta keep proving it up.

 
Rankings are based on expected contribution in ’14-15—to players’ team, the NBA and the game.

The post #SLAMTop50: Damian Lillard, no. 17 appeared first on SLAM.

Those were the words of Kentucky’s Coach Cal, just before the 2010 NBA Draft. The master recruiter of talent, frequent manipulator of the media and one of DeMarcus Cousins’ most outspoken supporters through all of the ups and downs, he’s long known all about Big Cuz’s raw talent. In a Draft that also included his explosive point guard John Wall, Calipari was certain his two one-and-done stars were the best players in the crop.

At the time of the Draft, teams at the very top of the board all shied away from nabbing Cousins. Players far less talented, but each without any distinct character issues, heard their name called before him: Evan Turner. Derrick Favors. Wesley Johnson. Cal tried to warn any GM that’d listen—a big-time mistake.

Four years later, Cousins is now entering the first year of a max contract in Sacramento and inching closer to his first All-Star nod, with his sights set on finally putting it all together this upcoming NBA season. The road ’til now hasn’t always been easy—with fired coaches, inept owners and countless fines and suspensions along the way—but Cousins is easing into his role as face of the franchise and a leader on the team. For the first time in his career, he seems to have some structure and support around him to depend on.

With constant coaching, encouragement and guidance from head coach Michael Malone, along with the mentorship of respected fellow big man Reggie Evans, Cousins is looking to shift the narrative that’s followed him all throughout his career, starting with his attitude.

“In order for me to be a better leader, I can’t be getting ejected, getting these technicals,” Cousins said at Kings media day. “Without me on the floor, it’s hard for this team to win games. [Reggie Evans] challenged me and told me no more than five this year, so I’m accepting the challenge.”

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Myboi @boogiecousins goal for this year. 5 Technical this season. I feel like he can do it.

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Evans even posted an actual sign of the lofty goal in Cousins’ locker to drive the point home, grammar be damned, reading “5 Technical.” After leading the League in the dubious category each of the last two seasons, with 16 last year and 17 in the 2012 campaign, it sounds like an awfully unrealistic number. Boogie has never gotten less than 12 techs.

As often happens with media days, guys will throw out half-hearted talking points knowing that’s simply what the media wants to hear. Of course every player wants to do all that’s asked of them, make the Playoffs and concentrate on defense. When Nick Young is saying he plans on winning MVP, and maybe even Defensive Player of the Year, you can pretty much not blankly trust everything said at a team’s media day.

As for dwindling his barrage of techs, who’s to say that DeMarcus will actually be changing his approach, demeanor and reactionary death glares toward the nearest referee in overnight fashion? For now, it’s all talk, with an arbitrary goal set by a mentor in Evans that Cousins loves.

“That’s the guy I go to when I’m ready to vent,” he admits. “Whenever I’m having a problem, I go to Reggie. I’m a vet, but he’s my vet.” Since Evans was traded to Sacramento at last year’s deadline, those around the team have all noticed a more focused and sharp Big Cuz, thanks in part to his vet constantly keeping him on track.

To find out for myself just how much a new Boogie is on the horizon, I made the straight shot drive from Portland up to Vancouver this past weekend, to take in the Kings pre-season opener against the Toronto Raptors on Sunday. Literally from the second the game tipped off, Cousins was in standard form, frequently complaining about calls, looking around in bewilderment when things didn’t go his way, and throwing in an overly sarcastic laugh and smile every so often to switch things up and not be overtly negative the entire time.

In a game that featured a brutal battle in the paint between Cousins, Reggie Evans, Ryan Hollins and the Raptors’ equally bruising frontline of Jonas Valanciunas, Greg Stiemsma and Tyler Hansbrough, things got as physical and chippy as it gets right from the jump. Stiemsma fouled out in just 17 minutes, after absorbing endless elbows from Cousins, who himself picked up five fouls in 21 minutes. In customary Cousins fashion, he let everyone in sight know how he felt each and every time.

But after picking up his fifth foul with 1:07 left in the third quarter, DMC showed a restraint and a calmness we’ve rarely ever seen. As he walked toward the decisively stubborn nine-year ref Mark Ayotte moments after the whistle, Reggie Evans ran over and literally arm barred Cousins away form Ayotte’s direction.

Calm down, Reg, he motioned—as Cousins simply walked along to the scorer’s table to dap up Carl Landry as he checked in to replace him. DeMarcus then calmly headed past Ayotte to the bench in silence, and a night’s work was in the books.

As everything unfolded, the entire crowd figured there was a 100 percent chance a T was moments away. The scene was vintage DeMarcus. Ayotte even stood stationary on the wing, and noticeably was prepared for a confrontation that never came.

Who knows if “5 Technical” is actually possible over an expectedly up-and-down 82-game season, but for a physical and intense exhibition, Cousins showed great poise at the moment he normally loses it for good. The only other time I can distinctly point out Cousins holding back from an inevitable tech and/or dustup was just weeks ago, when he held back a punch against Valanciunas at the FIBA World Cup.

Perhaps he’s turning the corner. It’s a start.

Being around fellow team leaders, a no-nonsense coaching staff and some of the world’s best players all summer long for that aforementioned World Cup has had a noted impact on Cousins as he enters the year. In just two summers, he went from specifically being called out by USA Basketball Chairman Jerry Colangelo for his immaturity and antics in practices to earning “an A+” from Coach K for his engaged energy and presence inside. While he often didn’t play outside of spurts here and there at time during this year’s FIBA run, he was called upon during the team’s Gold Medal game against Serbia, and came up with huge rebounds, stops and poised play under pressure.

“I feel like I added a lot to my game, especially defensively,” said Cousins. “I have the confidence to know I really can do it on the defensive end as well as the offensive end. I learned a lot from [the FIBA World Cup], it was an incredible experience. I want to share some of the knowledge I got with some of my teammates.”

While the attitude knocks have been a constant criticism of his, his detractors have also enjoyed pointing out his conditioning through the years. It’s not uncommon to see him casually trotting back across halfcourt to join a play, well behind the rest of his teammates. Cousins has gotten noticeably more toned and slim than when he entered the League in 2010, but there’s still room for improvement. While the leadership lessons and his ability to execute a precise role during the World Cup may have been the key takeaways, there’s no discounting the potential impact that a summer of constant practices and games will have for Cousins and his conditioning as he enters the month of October in his best shape yet.

“I’m a little more banged up, a little more tired, but the advantage I have is more of a game-ready shape than I usually am coming into a training camp,” he admitted.

As he’s gotten settled into Sacramento for training camp and the onslaught of games ahead, Cousins has also been constantly picking the brains of Evans and new teammates Darren Collison and Ryan Hollins. The four recently went to lunch together in Sacramento, with Cousins peppering each of the Playoff-experienced vets with questions about traits and characteristics of the more successful teams they were on. How do certain stars and leaders approach a game, or even an off day? What is the culture and atmosphere like for a team with stellar chemistry? He’s only 24 years old, but DeMarcus is already looking to expand his understanding of the game, dynamics of the team, and progress toward a more serious day-to-day approach.

Whether or not he ever keeps to just five techs remains to be seen, but the numbers he’s been having entirely no issue with have to this point made him one of the League’s most dominant bigs. 22.7 points, 11.7 rebounds and 3 assists per in 71 outings last season puts Cousins in rare air, and he was right back to his dominant ways at the opener in Vancouver, at one point even knocking a screw out of the basket after a thunderous dunk.

With the season now in full swing, and a Kings pre-season roster featuring 10 new teammates, Cousins is looking toward truly stepping into a leadership role that his new max contract affords him. Through the missteps he’s had to correct over the past four years, the knowledge he’s quickly soaking up from Evans, and by channeling the momentum from his irreplaceable summer with the US National Team, Cousins is on track for his best pro season yet, and an undisputed place among the very top of the League.

“In the locker room after our win over Serbia, DeMarcus in particular was emotional,” recalls USAB’s Colangelo. “He hugged me and thanked me for putting him on the team, and I told him, The past is the past. This is the beginning of your career. Take everything you learned back to Sacramento. You can build on this and have a tremendous career.”

 
Rankings are based on expected contribution in ’14-15—to players’ team, the NBA and the game.

The post #SLAMTop50: DeMarcus Cousins, no. 20 appeared first on SLAM.

For Andre Drummond, the beast of a man child almost immediately moved beyond the “potential bust” tag that’s trailed countless UConn lottery bigs before him. Thanks in part to his physically dominating style of play in an era marked by few true bigs, his summer with Team USA spent learning from some of the League’s most dedicated players and a much quicker learning curve than many expected for the ninth pick from the 2012 Draft, this upcoming NBA campaign already has the makings of being his breakout year.

Perhaps more than other player featured in this year’s #SLAMTop50 rankings, it’s the leap we’re anticipating Drummond to make that has him rising quickly through the League’s depth charts. Luckily for Pistons fans, the 21-year-old has the same lofty and sudden expectations for himself this year.

“I’ve been in the League for two years now, and it is time for me to step up and become a leader here,” Drummond said boldly and without hesitation this past week at Pistons media day. “That has to be my role now.”

The great news for the 6-10, 270-pound force in the middle is that the franchise is looking to immediately turn the corner from the rocky display of inconsistency over Drummond’s first two years in the League. Owner Tom Gores made swift changes once the season ended, and appointed Stan Van Gundy to dual roles as both Pistons President of Basketball Operations and Head Coach.

“He’s 21 years old and he’s already an elite defender and rebounder,” Van Gundy recently beamed to the Detroit News.

The former Magic head coach’s experience building around franchise center Dwight Howard in Orlando saw them make the Playoffs in each of Van Gundy’s five seasons there, along with a trip to the NBA Finals in 2009.

In just his first year with his new squad in Detroit, Van Gundy is hoping to reach similar heights with Drummond as his franchise player.

“There’s nothing about Andre Drummond that doesn’t appeal to me.” Van Gundy raved at his introductory press conference. “I was very impressed with my first phone call with him. He was asking questions like, ‘What do I do? What do I need to do?’ He’s a guy that wants to be great.”

In his first two years amid a dysfunctional offense and lethargic team defense, Drummond has already established himself as a game-changing defensive presence all on his own, also eager to flush lobs and expand his offensive game on the other end of the floor. In just 32 minutes a night, he posted 13.5 points and 13.2 rebounds per game last season—Shaq (a fellow SVG favorite) is the only other person in league history to post averages of at least 13 and 13 before turning 21.

“I think we have two responsibilities to Andre Drummond that will help our team,” outlines Van Gundy. “Number one, to do everything we possibly can to develop him as a player. And secondly, we have a responsibility to put a system and personnel around him that allow him to thrive.”

As both coach and President, Van Gundy is very transparently referring to his own responsibilities from a personnel standpoint, and adding shooters to a roster that finished as the second-worst shooting team in the League last season. He’s since added vets Caron Butler and Jodie Meeks to round out the perimeter, and plans to move Kyle Singler from the 2 to his more natural position at the 3 to better space the floor around Drummond in the post. (Pistons fans are probably also hoping this means far, far fewer jumpers for Josh Smith.)

“Stan and I talk literally every day,” Drummond happily told SLAM earlier this summer. “He’s one of those guys that, he will call your phone every day if he has your number, just to check on you. It doesn’t even have to be about basketball. He’ll just call you to say, ‘Hey, I’m thinking about you,’ just to say ‘Hi.’ I feel like that constant communication can be so beneficial for us—you know that he’s always thinking about us, thinking about the next move to help our organization get better. I’m really excited that he’s our coach, and that he’s doing the things he’s doing.”

Drummond has already got the shot blocking, defense and dunking down (and the occasional insane highlight finish), and in order for him to take that next leap toward being elite, he’s looking to make strides on his moves around the basket to become more of a threat on offense.

“This summer, I’ve been working on my back-to-the-basket game,” he begins. “I’ve gotten a lot more comfortable with it, both my right and my left hand. Stan is going to put the ball in my hands this upcoming season. So I have to really work hard on being comfortable with it, and I feel like I’ve done a good job of that this year, staying well-conditioned and becoming a lot more comfortable with the ball in my hands, making the right decisions.”

So far, the Pistons couldn’t be more happy with the progress Drummond is quickly making on his game, and if all goes well this season in Detroit, you can expect to see big Dre taking on more ownership of the team, making more plays on both ends of the court, and soon affirming himself as one of the League’s elite players for years to come.

 
Rankings are based on expected contribution in ’14-15—to players’ team, the NBA and the game.

The post #SLAMTop50: Andre Drummond, no. 33 appeared first on SLAM.

Since shoe brands first set foot in the Rose City over four decades ago, they’ve had a close connection to the local pro team and its biggest players. One year after the Portland Trail Blazers joined the NBA as an expansion team in 1970, University of Oregon grad Phil Knight officially launched the Nike brand in nearby Beaverton.

By the following NBA season, Nike was on its way to establishing itself in footwear through a series of running models, and Knight pegged the local team’s first-ever Draft pick, a scoring wing out of Princeton named Geoff Petrie, as the Swoosh’s first hoops endorser. The debut hardwood shoe that Petrie headlined for the 1972-73 season? The aptly-titled Nike Blazer. As a young startup mostly selling sneakers out the back of Winnebagos across Oregon at running events, the ’70s were humble times for Nike. At one point, the brand had fallen some $40,000 behind to Petrie and offered to settle their debt by giving him stock in the company. According to Petrie, he and his agent fought for the cash instead, turning down shares that some have since estimated to be worth tens of millions today.

The growing pains of the industry’s early days are now long forgotten, as Rip City played host to some of footwear’s premier stars. From Petrie and fellow early Nike endorser Sidney Wicks, to Bill Walton’s Championship-winning adidas Pro Models in the late ’70s, both Nike and adidas have long been repped by the Blazers.

As the millennium wound down and after some slow years on the footwear front, it was the throwback-inspired Rasheed Wallace and his strap-dangling Air Force 1s that helped put the Blazers back on the KICKS map, while LaMarcus Aldridge has done work in a variety of Nikes since arriving in ’06.

The Blazers’ newest star, PG Damian Lillard, is the latest to carry the shoe torch. He’s gone from little-known Lottery pick to All-Star Weekend headliner in just two years, and he even hosted his own launch event this past spring with adidas Basketball for a special quickstrike of the Crazy 1, all themed around the city’s nickname.

“Portland is the Rose City, and I love that whole thought process of the roses, the color and it being tied into Portland,” says Lillard. “It’s fun to be able to interact with people in the city, because they don’t always get the opportunity to meet us and see who we are. To have a shoe that’s dedicated to the city and for people to come out and support me the way they do, I feel like I owe it to them to show up and let them see who I am off the floor.”

Dame may be headed toward joining the long line of NBA greats to call Portland home, but he’s also eager to put people onto the Three Stripes. “Representing adidas in Portland is a lot of fun,” beams Lillard, who is just as excited about the Blazers’ bright future in the wake of a shockingly successful  54-win, second-round-of-the-Playoffs season. “I’ve come along as a player and contributed to our success as an organization the last two seasons, and it’s helped me shine some light on adidas.”

INDUSTRY CITY

Nike was the first major footwear brand to call Portland home, but companies have been flocking west since the early ’90s, notably because of the hotbed of design talent, the state’s lax tax laws and the (relatively) short flying proximity to factories in Asia. After kickstarting their own Portland headquarters in 1990 with the hiring of former Nike marketing execs Rob Strasser and Peter Moore, adidas has based their North American design and marketing operations in the Northeast region of the city for the past 24 years.

Soon after, several brands followed suit. AND 1, then based in Philadelphia, launched its own design and development satellite office in downtown Portland for a decade-long stay that began in the late ’90s. Li-Ning, one of China’s premier sportswear brands boasting nearly 8,000 retail stores of their own in Asia and a sprawling Beijing-based corporate campus, also launched a design space in Portland in 2008 to service its NBA athletes, like Baron Davis and, eventually, Dwyane Wade. More recently, Baltimore-based Under Armour opened its own Portland innovation center, picking off longtime footwear vets to lead new materials and construction methods.

“Portland is an interesting and diverse city that has great art exhibits, nature all around, extreme sports, and a music and design scene,” says Marc Dolce, Nike Sportswear’s Design Director. “The city is all about connecting creatives, bright minds and people looking to do things different.”

One of the major benefits of having so many brands centrally located in the city is undoubtedly the impact that current Blazers and visiting NBA players alike can have on future product. Brands generally meet quarterly with their biggest out-of-town endorsers, while Nike and adidas also take advantage of close relationships with Blazers just a short drive away. “It helps a lot having the HQ here, because I can be more hands on with everything I’m involved with,” admits Lillard. “What shoes I wear, the colorways and patterns, and also to shop at the adidas store.”

BMOC

When it comes to the homegrown talent in the Northwest, Seattle has been stealing the spotlight lately with its collection of pro-level players, but Portland’s own crop of high-school players can hold its own. While players like Terrell Brandon (Grant HS ’88), Damon Stoudamire (Woodrow Wilson, ’91), Mike Dunleavy Jr (Jesuit, ’99) and Kevin Love (Lake Oswego, ’07) have each enjoyed their own windows of time atop the city’s hoops scene through the years, the town’s powerhouse program through it all is Jefferson High.

Nicknamed “The School of Champions,” Jefferson’s winning tradition has been upheld by current head coach Pat Strickland since ’09. His squads have won four of the last six Class 5A state titles. “We’ve been blessed to have some of the best basketball players in Portland want to come to Jefferson,” Strickland says. “In order to have a good program, you’ve got to have good players.”

The standouts Strickland modestly refers to have included Brandon Brooks, Thomas Gardner, Aaron Miles and Ime Udoka. More recently, both Terrence Jones and Terrence Ross helped to keep the Democrats at the top of the ranks. In addition to the tradition of excellence and the school’s proven track record of sending players to DI schools, Jefferson also has another unique tool up its sleeve.

“Since 1999, we’ve been sponsored by Jordan, and that’s a big selling point for the kids that are into the gear and Jordan Brand,” says Strickland.

During his first season as Jefferson’s head coach, just before taking on Seattle’s Kentwood High School in 2010, Strickland got a sense of how much joy and pride the sneakers could bring his players as they were each surprised with custom pairs of Jordan Icons before their nationally televised ESPN2 game tipped off. “It wasn’t a retro, but it was still a patent leather blue shoe and the kids were very excited about it,” remembers Strickland. “It was nice to see an All-American like Terrence Jones get so excited about a team shoe.”

Jones put up a versatile statline that night (20 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists and 4 steals) and the Demos returned to Portland in their rare PEs and Jordan tracksuits with a three-point win to add to their eventual championship season.

Collegiately, Portland residents typically support Corvallis-based Oregon State or the U of Oregon, which is located in Nike-loving Eugene.

RUNS

The city’s hoopers are at the unfortunate mercy of rain, which falls throughout the year, leaving the summer months of June, July and August as the best time to try and get consistent outdoor runs in. Even then, the weekend can still be rained out at a moment’s notice.

Wallace Park holds down games in the Northwest on weekends, and both Irving Park and Woodlawn Park in the Northeast historically have served as proving grounds for the area’s best. Around town, the games have come and gone over the years, with the city’s best young players opting for gyms and the AAU circuit instead.

“Irvington Park was definitely a hotbed for the talent back in the day, and playing at the parks, that’s where you learn to get an edge in playing basketball. You learn how to be competitive at the parks,” says Strickland. “If you can shoot at the parks, then you’re going to be shooting a high percentage in the gym. That’s a lost art these days with the kids not really playing at the parks anymore, though.”

As you can imagine, that shift from outdoor to indoor in the last decade has led to a huge rise in runs held at the more polished 24 Hour Fitness and LA Fitness gyms all over town instead. Plus, who wants to scuff up their limited-edition sneaks on the blacktop?

HOW WE DO

Besides the slept-on hoops scene, the Portland community has received an influx of industry talent in recent years who hold down a vast array of skill sets, creating a vibe and energy that’s largely driven by people working at each of the footwear brands. As additional brands enter the scene, the increased competition and depth of the workforce around town only continues to grow the industry.

“You may not find the culture and fashion that you’ll see in New York, L.A., Paris or Milan, but in many cases, we’re not chasing trends, we’re looking to create them,” Dolce says. “It’s about leading the industry and trying to define the next innovations for both sport and life, and Portland is at the heart of influencing that.”

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