A VARIETY of kicks took the hardcourt during yesterday’s All-Star game. We spotted a lot of Air Jordan 35s — Beal, Zion, Taytum. Zoom Rize 2’s showed up on the feet of Team LeBron’s Gobert and Jokic.
And then, of course, there was the usual parade of signature shoes from different brands: the LeBron 18, the Curry Flow 8, the D.O.N. Issue 2, the Dame 7, the Kawhi, the CP3.XIII, the Kyrie 7 (also worn by Team Durant’s Vooch).
But the best shoes of the game? The Kobe 6 Protro.
That’s according to pop culture site Complex, which cited a variety of sentimental reasons when it selected Julius Randle’s snakeskin sneakers — in the red-and-black All-Star colorway — as its kicks of the game.
The publication admitted that its pick was lacking in “glitz and exclusivity”, but for an All-Star game that was far from normal, the 2021 re-release of Kobe’s 2011 All-Star shoe was the shoe of the game.
“[S]eeing the red and black colorway of what many fans consider to be Bryant’s best model on the court for another All-Star Game was a fitting tribute to the late legend,” wrote the Complex staff.
Randle wearing the shoes made it even more meaningful. The former LA Laker, and first-time All-Star, counted Kobe Bryant as one of his mentors during his time in the team.
While Julius Randle rocked the All-Star colorway, other wearers of the shoe included Domantas Sabonis.
The Kobe 6 Protro was the latest pick in a Complex list that tracked the best All-Star kicks of every NBA year since 1988, where His Airness debuted the AJ3 ‘Black Cement.’
Notables in the list — aside from the solid reign of Air Jordans from 1988 to 1993 — include Shawn Kemp’s Reebok Kamikaze, Kobe’s adidas KB8, Tracy McGrady's mismatched T-Macs, Westbrook’s Air Jordan XX8, and last year’s ‘Mr. Swackhammer’ colorway of the LeBron 17.
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