Basketball and sneakers. Sneakers and basketball. They go together like peanut butter and jelly. But the extent to which sneakers have become engrained in basketball culture may not have been the case had it not been for player endorsements with major shoe companies that eventually lead to dozens of NBA players with signature shoes. Sure, the proper shoe is vital to player performance, but when push comes to shove, the shoe a player wears is often way more about their relationship (READ: contract) with the company. They even feature some of the top sneakers in NBA2k! The most famous example of an NBA player with a signature shoe is Michael Jordan. "Jordans" and the shoes' implications are so big that there was even a major motion picture called Air about the origin of the shoe. Jordans are not the first signature shoe; in fact, almost 50 years ago Clyde Frazier made a deal with Puma to create the first of its kind player-shoe, which is still being released in new color ways today (check out this release from Fan Nation about the latest drop). Deals like those set the precedent for many more signature shoes to come.
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So, how many current pro-ballers have their own shoes in 2024? Here, we are breaking down all the NBA players with signature shoes, in order of when the first version of the shoe was launched.
