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THE BEST BASKETBALL SHOES FOR YOU
Hit the court in shoes that match your playing style. Hit the street in shoes that match your threads. Whether you’re looking for men’s basketball shoes or women’s basketball shoes, the best choice to make comes down to you. Choose your kicks to match your pitch. Do you play outdoors or indoors? How much grip and ankle support will you need? What’s your weight and how are you built? Which style, color, brand do you prefer? Maybe you won’t even play basketball with the pair you choose, but for whatever it is, this is the place.
HOW ARE BASKETBALL SHOES DIFFERENT
On the court, you’re switching directions constantly. You’re jumping hard and landing harder, impacting your feet all the time. Basketball shoes have that iconic high-cut design and bulky features to support all those very impacts. Nike, adidas, PUMA and more - they all design their basketball shoes with court performance in mind, optimizing their products for feet that will be making fast transitions and stops, running, and changing direction. These kinds of considerations don’t come into the design process for normal shoes – it’s a b-ball thing.
The basic must-have for basketball shoes? One = ankle support for injury avoidance during steep crossovers; two: extra strong tread for enhanced stopping power and quick bursts; three = top-notch flexibility and impact protection for those hard landings.
BASKETBALL SHOES: THE STORY SO FAR
Both men’s basketball shoes and women’s basketball shoes have come a long way since the first versions of the icons we know today. The Converse Chuck Taylor All Stars hit the market in 1917 with that iconic high-top cut, ankle patch, and signature on the sides. The shoe’s vulcanized rubber sole and great traction became the blueprint for basketball shoes as we know them. Converse dominated the B-Ball scene until the launch of the adidas Superstars in 1969. Funnily enough, both of these are now as emblematic on the street as they are on the court. Come the 80’s, come Nike. Arguably today’s champions of basketball shoes landed on the scene and hit big with the Air Force 1s with their air sole and classic leather look. Then came that collab with MJ and the famous Air Jordans. The ‘80s were the decade of the basketball shoe. Little surprise it coincided with these revolutionary Nike kicks.
In the ‘90s basketball treads became lighter-weight and more high-tech. Brands like PUMA and Reebok hit the limelight but Nike and adidas never went anyway. Converse went quieter but now they’re rocking the court once more. You can be too.