With the Conference Semifinals in full swing this week, we decided to highlight some of the best sneakers we saw in the First Round of the NBA Playoffs. Check out the photos below.
The King Gets Dethroned
The Lakers had a rough year due to injuries and Anthony Davis aggravating his groin was salt on the wound in the series against the Suns. LeBron primarily wore the Nike Ambassador 13s and breaking out the Nike Lebron 15 “SVSM Air Zoom Generation” in Game 6. Devin Booker showed in the series that he’s a bonafide superstar and wore a PE version of the Nike Zoom Kobe IV Protro for all 6 games and continues to wear them in the Suns series against the Nuggets. Anthony Davis wore different PEs of the Zoom Kobe VI Protro, primarily wearing a red and black pair or a gold and grey pair shown above.
New Kids on the Block
We got to see Trae Young, Luka Doncic, and Ja Morant play in their debut playoff series against their respective teams, and they absolutely showed out. Trae revealed his first signature sneaker with adidas, the adidas Trae Young 1, and wore a Peachtree colorway and a 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games-inspired colorway shown above.
Ja Morant had to get through the Spurs and Warriors in the play-in games to get to the Jazz in the first round and broke out a custom pair of Memphis-inspired Nike Adapt BBs done by Sierato. Ja and the Grizzlies stole Game 1 from the #1 seeded Jazz with Donovan Mitchell out, but Spida came back with a vengeance for the rest of the series wearing his third signature sneaker, the adidas D.O.N. Issue #3.
Although Luka ultimately ended up coming short against the Clippers, the Jordan Brand athlete put the Mavs on his back wearing a PE version of the Jordan React Elevation and Air Jordan 35 Low pictured above. With Zion having a signature sneaker with Jordan Brand, we’re sure Luka is on his way to his own shortly.
Dame Time
Damian Lillard did all he could against the Denver Nuggets and went off for 55 points fittingly wearing the “Opponent Advisory” adidas Dame 7 EXT/PLY in Game 5. The adidas Dame 7 EXT/PLY tapped into Dame’s rap persona Dame D.O.L.L.A. and had colorways inspired by the Reebok Shaqnosis and the Blazers rallying cry #RipCityOnTheyAss.
Jordan Brand PEs
There’s no short of Jordan PEs that we got to see so far and even got to see the Air Jordan 36 thanks to Tim Hardaway Jr. and Jayson Tatum. Speaking of Tatum, he wore a mix of the Jordan 34 and 35, most notably the “Taco” 34 PE. His teammate Kemba Walker broke out a Jordan 5 Laney-inspired 35 and Mike Conley got into the mix with City Edition Jordan 35s.
Ky-D
Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving were speculated to have a collab and Durant broke out the Nike KD 14 “Ky-D”, inspired by the Dream colorway of the Nike Kyrie 1. Meanwhile, Kyrie broke out the other half of the pack with the Nike Kyrie 7 “Weatherman” which takes from Durant’s Nike KD IV colorway. The two dominated the Celtics and looked good doing it.
P.J. Tucker
No NBA sneaker list is complete without P.J. Tucker and he didn’t disappoint. He broke out a pair of Kobe 6 Protros which took influence from his time playing ball overseas in Ukraine with Donetsk Tigers. Tucker also went to the vault and broke out the Nike KD 5 “All-Star Area 72” and Concepts x Nike Kyrie 4 “Green Lobster”. I’m sure P.J. has more to show as the Bucks face off against the Nets in the second round.
Did we miss something? Let us know your thoughts on the list on Twitter and Instagram and stay tuned to Nice Kicks for more as the NBA Playoffs continue.
