Los Angeles Lakers sneaker watch: Previewing what the Lakers will lace up this season
Before the 2017-18 NBA season tips off, let’s take a look at what sneakers Los Angeles Lakers players will lace up for the upcoming campaign.
The Los Angeles Lakers are less than a month away from opening night of the 2017-18 NBA regular season when they take on their Staples Center partners the Los Angeles Clippers on Oct. 19.
Before we are consumed with on-court topics and play to discuss, I went ahead and compiled a list of what sneakers the main rotation players for the Lakers will wear this season.
The following list pairs the player with the sneakers they wore in the past and used the websites http://nbashoesdb.com/ and http://ballershoesdb.com/ for confirmation. I will update the list throughout the season if players switch their sneakers up for an extended period of time.
Los Angeles Lakers projected on-court sneakers:
Lonzo Ball — Big Baller Brand ZO2 Prime Remix
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope — Nike Kyrie 3
Brandon Ingram — adidas Crazy Explosive Low
Julius Randle — Nike Hyperdunk Flynit
Brook Lopez — adidas Crazy Explosive Low
Jordan Clarkson — Nike Kyrie 2
Josh Hart — Nike KD 9
Corey Brewer — adidas Crazy Boost Low
Kyle Kuzma — Nike Kobe AD
Andrew Bogut — Nike Air Max 2016 Audacity
Luol Deng — Nike KD 8
Larry Nance Jr. — adidas D Rose 773 4
Ivica Zubac — adidas Crazy Explosive
The lone Laker with their own signature shoe, Lonzo Ball, released an updated version of the BBB ZO2 last week. Lonzo rocked the first model of his debut shoe in the Vegas Summer League for one game before ditching them and playing in low-top versions of Nike, adidas and Under Armour.
It remains to be seen how many regular season games Lonzo will play in the ZO2 Prime Remix, but he has the freedom to wear any shoe company he desires as long as he remains unsigned to a sneaker powerhouse. The updated sneaker retains the original cost of $495 a pair. I’m interested to see if they stay in their lane with BBB or jump ship to Nike or adidas (he wore adidas at UCLA last season).
The closeness in numbers between players who wear Nike and adidas shocked me at first, with six players signed with the Swoosh and five rocking the three stripes. This goes against the grain in a league where 347 players wore Nike and only 82 wore adidas. But this follows a trend in the shoe game that’s seen adidas rise in shoe sales above the Jordan brand and close in on Nike.
Brandon Ingram was a big signing for adidas last year. Deciding to sign with adidas after attending a Nike powerhouse school like Duke was shocking to see, especially with how frequent players decide to stay with what they wore in college. But Ingram chose adidas and we will see how his relationship with the shoe company develops over the years.
The Nike-wearing portion of the roster seems set with a version of their signature low-top sneakers. Two players apiece rock a version of Kyries and another pair of Lakers wear a version of KDs. Kyle Kuzma, who signed with Nike after an impressive performance at NBA Summer League, will wear the league’s most worn sneaker in the Kobe AD.
With the shoe business changing and expanding to more companies, this is an exciting time for sneaker heads. As mentioned earlier, I will keep a running tally of who wears what and hopefully can update this list after the first week or so of regular season play.
Next: Top 10 candidates for the 2017-18 NBA Rookie of the Year Award
Thanks again to the team at http://nbashoesdb.com/ and http://ballershoesdb.com/ for their work for this piece.