As he recovers from his hyperextended knee, Paul George went sneaker shopping with Complex. There, he touched on his history with shoes and the designs that inspire him the most.
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“For me, it was always having this idea of, like, old sneakers back in the day. Air Force 1s, the shoes that you could just pop on and, you know, mold and fit to your foot,” PG13 shared about the influences behind his own sneaker line.
The nine-time All-Star has been a Nike athlete since he joined the league in 2010. In 2017, his first signature shoe, the Nike PG1 released. When he isn’t rocking his own PG line, the 34-year-old is usually in some Kobes. Interestingly, George – in true Californian native fashion – has worn the Kobe IV Protro for much of the last few seasons.
However, he has also rocked a variety of other footwear during his illustrious career. Complex’s Joe La Puma asked the Philadelphia 76er if he could play with casual sneakers too, harking back to Rasheed Wallace, who wore Air Force 1s in-game and still dominated as a TrailBlazer.
When asked if he could have done the same, Paul George replied, “I think I could have. I mean I’ve played in a wide range of sneakers, from like Foamposites to Jordan 12s, 11s, 10s, 4s, you know, 3s. I’ve played in some shoes that people might not expect or fare well in those sneakers. But you know, my early stages in the NBA I was such a sneakerhead that it didn’t matter.”
As varied as his sneaker history is, Paul George probably knows that some of the players who came before him displayed their sneaker affinity in a much grander fashion.
Not every NBA athlete requires performance shoes
Gilbert Arenas stole the spotlight during his matchup against Kobe Bryant’s Lakers in 2010. Not necessarily through his performance – as his Wizards would lose the game that night – but through the bold choice he made with his footwear.
Arenas played 38 minutes of NBA basketball in Dolce & Gabbana lifestyle shoes. They were such an unlikely choice, not just because they weren’t built for basketball, but because they didn’t even feature laces. However, Agent Zero recalled loving them at first sight.
“I didn’t have a shoe sponsor at the time, so I was testing different shoes. That night we’re in Los Angeles and Nick [Young] comes to the camp with these weird shoes under his dress. I look at his locker and think ‘Man, they match our shirt!’ and so I thought about wearing them,” the three-time All-Star revealed on his podcast.
His flamboyant display would later inspire his teammate, Swaggy P aka Nick Young, to play it fast and loose with his own footwear. To be fair, Young was also inspired by Kanye West, who had name-dropped the basketball player in his song ‘Facts’.
The next day, Young suited up for the Lakers in a pair of Yeezy Boost 750s as a way of nodding back at the hip-hop icon. Thankfully, this time he would win the game too.
