Basketball is back, but who has been making waves in Kicks On Court since way, way back? Much like last year, we’re counting down the 25 most important NBA players ever from a sneaker standpoint. Retooled, re-listed and remastered, check out our picks below and look for the countdown to continue with five more players each day.
25. Rasheed Wallace
Select imagery by Getty Images via Zimbio
Rocking retros to hoop in may be the norm in 2015, but it wasn’t during the 1990s, or even the 2000s for that matter. Leave it to Rasheed Wallace to break the rules. After an All-American campaign in Chapel Hill, #30 stepped onto the hardwood of the nation’s capital in all-black Nike Air Force 1 Highs. The rest? History.
Mostly avoiding the forward-thinking Air Max and Zoom Air assisted models that his contemporaries would push, Sheed started sporting Air Force 1s consistently on court around the 1999 season. A trend-hopper? Nah, this was three years before Nelly would make them splash on radio and 17 years after they originally released. Perhaps it was being an old soul or maybe it was lockout angst, but the Portland power forward would ditch performance pairs and essentially make the Air Force 1 his own. Nike would soon follow suit, releasing rare renditions with Sheed branding and team themed color combos.
Even as a veteran with the New York Knicks, Sheed still made Kicks On Court headlines by breaking out suede PEs in the Garden. He remained relevant at retail, too, launching Lunarlon Forces in NYC colorways. While footwear fads come and go, Rasheed Wallace not only endorsed a retro model over the course of his career, he also embodied it by being the grizzly guy at the gym who knew what he liked and stuck to it.
-Ian Stonebrook
