LeBron James's New Sneakers Have Their Own Sunglasses
The sneaker geniuses at Nike who design LeBron James’s signature shoes pay plenty of attention to cushioning. There aren’t many NBA players, after all, with the King’s combination of size, speed, and grace—and there probably isn’t a single basketball player, non-Shaq division, who puts his shoes through as much. The Nike LeBron 17, announced on Thursday, pushes the cushion conversation even further: this sucker is just larded with air. (Air™?) It’s in the heel and the forefoot and basically everywhere in between. This is a LeBron shoe, after all.
But that’s not why we’re here. No, we’re here because, while the Nike LeBron 17 has “the highest-volume Max Air unit in a LeBron shoe,” also has something else: a pair of sunglasses. Well, sort of: the first colorway to be released, a gray-and-orange number, comes equipped with an iridescent shield overlaying the tongue and laces. A pair of Oakley blades, basically, for your feet. The effect is...extremely cool.
It’s unclear whether or not LeBron will take to the court in his sunglassed sneakers; a second, mellower pair in Nike’s press release comes in a comparatively sober gray and black colorway—and sans eyeshield. But it’s not outside the realm of possibility. Last year, the NBA loosened its restrictions on footwear, allowing players to rock basically anything they cared to. And the results were phenomenal: stars and journeymen alike broke out their grails (in some cases showing them off in the pregame tunnel, too). Will LeBron, breaker of so many other basketball boundaries, be the first guy to take to the floor in a pair of shoes with their own shiny shades? The Lakers tip off against the newly reloaded Clippers on October 22nd—and James’s new shoes release on September 27th.
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Originally Appeared on GQ
