Over the past few years, the NBA has slowly established itself as the most stylish sports league in the world. It follows, then, that the best basketball shoes combine the latest in sneaker technology with the kind of design that appeals to their increasingly fashion-centric fan base. Which means there’s never been a better time to lace up a pair of hardwood-ready sneakers, from pro-approved designs you can rock on the courts to retro silhouettes that still inspire countless riffs. today. The best basketball shoes prove that you don’t need your own endorsement deal to play like an MVP, or even a passing interest in the sport to appreciate their beauty firsthand. These are all the ones you should know about right now.
In search of the best running shoes Where walking shoes? We have opinions — oh, do we have opinions — on that too.
Best Pure Performance Basketball Shoes
The NBA has come a long way since Puma awarded Clyde Frazier the league’s first signature sneaker in the early ’70s. Since Jordan Brand built a multi-billion dollar juggernaut around a virtuoso Tar Heels graduate , basketball shoes have been big business – and brands like Nike and Adidas have used them to test cutting-edge sneaker technology before refining it for wider release. (Think the Swoosh’s now-iconic zoom air units or the Three Stripes’ bounce pro midsoles. pair of their kicks. Designed to help you hoop like the pros, today’s basketball shoes are the result of countless R&D dollars and years of careful behind-the-scenes courtesy.
Nike’s latest gravity-defying gaming shoe incorporates a who’s who of material innovations to claim its spot at the top of this list. A full-length Zoom Air unit in the heel and forefoot ensure a comfortable ride, while an exceptionally sturdy Pebax frame promises flexibility and responsiveness. The eye-catching zigzag pattern on the rubber outsoles may not serve an explicit functional purpose, but catch an opponent ogling them for a second too long and a lane to the basket suddenly opens up.
Four additional kicks to complete your starting formation
The Best Basketball Shoes for Hardwood Stunts
Before basketball shoes were lauded for their technological advancements and vertical-enhancing features, they were objects of pure desire, designed to help their wearer run faster and jump higher, of course, but also to look cool doing it. Over the years, the genre has produced some of the most coveted styles in sneaker history, from legendary retro silhouettes to futuristic riffs on hardwood classics. None of the items below will offer the same cushioning or ankle support as their contemporary counterparts, but if you’re a sneakerhead with a penchant for ultra-rare kicks, these are a worthy addition. any collection and won’t make you look like a rookie shooting from behind the bow. They might turn heads in a friendly pickup game, but that’ll only make it nicer to breeze past the bozo keeping you in the paint path.
The sneaker world has changed a lot since Nike launched the Air Jordan 1 in ’84, but the style remains the brand’s hallmark, a perennial favorite of design’s biggest names and the perfect canvas for their wildest interpretations. The Air Jordan 1 gave birth to modern sneaker culture, and there’s still no more influential silhouette and few basketball shoes with the same cachet.
Four More Grails to Satisfy Your Domestic Dealer
The best “they played basketball in Those?!” Shoes
When Nike introduced the Blazer in 1973, its fledgling basketball division was far from the powerhouse it is today. But the silhouette launched an epic streak of success for the Portland operation, revolutionizing the game in the process. Like Converse’s Chuck Taylor and Adidas’ Superstar before it, the Blazer and its peers have become so firmly entrenched in sneaker canon that it’s easy to forget – and a little mind-boggling to remember – their humble wood-based origins. hard. (The ubiquitous Dunk, now synonymous with the early skate scene, was once a basketball shoe too, and not terribly popular at that.) Often flimsy or downright clunky by today’s standards, these are shoes you’d never think of lacing up on the court, no matter how laid back the crowd. But basketball greats snagged them for decades before the market evolved to meet their needs, and if the closest thing to physical exertion is throwing an Xbox console at the wall, these shoes are a gamble. sure.
Converse has been making the Chuck Taylor, named after the player-turned-manager of the brand’s proto-NBA basketball league, since the late ’20s, but today the sneaker’s heritage supersedes its athletic heritage. Decades after their debut, Chucks remain a quintessential lifestyle shoe. The revamped version inspired by the 70s features higher quality materials and a more robust construction without compromising the retro charm of the style.
Four more Hall of Famers in first round
