“If you look good, you feel good. If you feel good, you play good. If you play good, they pay good.”
Despite the grammatical errors, Deion Sanders’s well-known quote perfectly epitomizes the obsession athletes have with style. With basketball season in full swing, players face the challenging task of perfecting the right combination of style and performance. In this sport, shoe game is everything, so there is a lot of pressure for a player to choose footwear that matches his game, while also gaining him style points on the court.
Basketball players have more than a few choices when it comes to the brand of their shoes. Right now, Nike is king; the company’s variety of different shoe lines allows this powerhouse to market to every type of basketball player. Nike’s lineup of shoes includes the ultra-responsive hyper series, player endorsed LeBron, Kobe, and KD lines, the supportive, stylish foamposites, and of course the Holy Grail of them all, Jordans. Nike’s blend of responsiveness and style makes them desirable for players from the NBA to rec-leagues. In fact, 90 percent of the students polled prefer Nike shoes.
“The comfort of Nike really molds to my foot and gives good support,” said sophomore Andrew Storr.
Nike’s extensive marketing and reputation creates hype around the shoe, encouraging people to buy anything donning the famous swoosh. Macklemore expressed this idea in his song “Wings,” saying “They told me to just do it. I listened to what that swoosh said.”
Many other brands have been gaining ground and challenging Nike’s position at the top of the sneaker ladder. Adidas has made a name for itself through affordable, lightweight shoes that maintain durability. The company’s advertising revolves around the lightest basketball shoe ever, the 9.8 oz. “Crazy Lights,” and Derrick Rose’s shoe line. Under Armour has made huge steps forward with their “Micro G” series, scoring endorsements with several young, promising players including Brandon Jennings and Kemba Walker. Reebok has attempted to revive the popularity they experienced during Allen Iverson’s playing days by re-releasing the classic “Iverson Question” and the “Kamikaze.”
No matter what brand they wear, basketball players strive to find the right shoe to match their needs. These needs vary greatly depending on the competition level of a player as well as his style of play. The main factors that influence what shoe someone buys include style, support, comfort, weight, responsiveness, and traction. Players try to find the right balance of these aspects as well as affordability. Forty-seven percent of the students interviewed put the most value on support, while style and comfort pulled 20 percent each.
“The most important features for me with a shoe are comfort and weight, because they affect my explosiveness,” said senior Eddie Kim.
Another decision players face is with the cut of the shoe. Low top basketball shoes are gaining popularity partly because of the popular Kobe line of low-cut shoes, as well as the decision by many NBA players to turn to low tops. Low-cut shoes are especially appealing to guards because they are often lighter and allow players to be quicker on the court. Despite this, almost 75 percent of students polled prefer high tops, mostly because of the extra ankle support they provide.
As a whole, the right pair of shoes can intensify a player’s effectiveness on the court, also allowing him to look the part. From the famous words of “Mars Blackmon” a.k.a. Spike Lee to Michael Jordan, “Money, it’s got to be the shoes.”