7 Best Nike Basketball Shoes in 2025

The LeBron 22 has proved its old aesthetics come with an up-to-date design ready to conquer the court. We enjoyed its top-tier traction and technologies, which come in a really supportive structure that was made to last. Yeah, there was no way we wouldn't give it our number 1 as the best Nike basketball shoes overall!

This pair's cushioning setup is just delightful. There's an Air Zoom unit at the heel that offers comfort and support; a shank at the midfoot that provides stability and structure; and a Zoom Turbo unit at the forefoot that provides some bounce. According to our durometer, all this rests in a 30.5 HA Cushlon 2.0 foam that propelled us back after every landing during our wear tests.

Apart from comfort, this Nike hooper also offers great durability and traction. For a start, its structure scored a 5/5 on our torsional rigidity test, so the foot containment was over the top. Its toebox and heel padding got two solid 4/5 on our durability test, proving the materials are made to last. But it was its outsole, with a dent of only 0.7 mm, that shone the brightest in both sturdiness and traction.

Even though the rubber compound bit the court like a hungry pup, we couldn't move fast because this shoe's tough materials make it pretty heavy. People with quicker footwork who want their shoes to follow their moves should find something else.

The performance and playability of the Sabrina 2 left us open-mouthed both on our wear and lab tests. After seeing how it glued itself to any court, we knew it deserved the throne as the hooper with the best traction among the Nike basketball shoes we’ve analyzed so far.

It features the oldie-but-goldie herringbone pattern that we all know too well. Its multidirectional design let us move side to side easily and confidently. When we took it to our lab and pressed our durometer against it, it returned 71.9 HC. Such a soft result was already a massive hint of the top-tier grip of this hooper!

But the best part is that the material didn't give up its durability. After our Dremel test, the rubber ended up with an average depth dent of 1.1 mm, which is pretty impressive!

Nevertheless, after studying this pair, we believe it’s more suitable for quick guards and small forwards, as its traction and speed suit their playstyle better. Heavier players or big hoopers might wanna pass.

We believe this pair is more suitable for quick guards and small forwards, as its traction and speed suit their playstyle better. Heavier players or big hoopers might wanna pass.

The Nike G.T. Jump 2 made sure we learnt about its heavenly cushioning not only during our wear tests, but also in our lab. This hooper focuses on impact protection, soft landings, and even energy return. That's why it's got the crown among our Nike basketball shoes with the best cushioning.

At 35.6/29.2 mm, its heel and forefoot stacks are impressively high. Whenever we jumped, be it going for a rebound or even fadeaways, our landings felt effortless and stable. These Nikes took all the impact harshness thanks to their dynamic cushioning and dual-density foam, and we kept our balance thanks to the stability features we found once we cut the shoe in half.

Even before we took the G.T. Jump 2 to our lab, we already knew its midsole was the main character. We felt it was soft, stable, and responsive, which is an amazing yet uncommon combination. It features a generous amount of Nike React foam in the heel, which is 60% plusher than average (at 16.0 HA according to our durometer), accompanied by a firmer EVA foam (at 36.6 HA). The first one protected your joints from tough landings, and the second one made sure we didn't lose balance. The finishing touch is a full-length Zoom Air strobel, which makes its ride responsive.

We felt this model was made for centres, as it sacrifices court feel and weight to add shock absorption. We believe quick guards should go for a more agile pair.

The Freak 6 has earned our gold medal as the best lightweight hooper among Nike basketball pairs. Our feet already knew it thanks to our playtests, so we had to take it to our lab to put our experiences into numbers.

Before anything else, our scale returned 12.31 oz/349g, which is way lower than average. For a shoe with great foot containment, as it scored a 5/5 and a 4/5 on both our torsional rigidity and heel counter stiffness tests, we couldn’t believe how quick it felt during our wear tests!

But that’s not all, as this Giannis pair comes with a wide midsole at the forefoot. Our caliper returned 119.1 mm when we measured it, which gave us plenty of space to land comfortably after our jump shots. Integrated in this area, there’s a springy Zoom Air Unit that helped us with speedy cuts and layups. Talk about pleasing surprises!

Last but not least, its padded tongue (at 9.5 mm according to our caliper) protected us from any kind of lace bite and made the whole fit more comfortable. The problem here is that this Nike’s nimble structure lacks support, which we found pretty disappointing.

Our feet enjoyed the incredible comfort of the G.T. Hustle 3 right off the bat even before our lab results could verify it. When we cut it in half, we saw its generously padded interior and stunning midsole. So we needed no further evidence to declare this pair guilty of providing the best comfort among the Nike basketball shoes we’ve reviewed so far.

Its midsole offered us fantastic impact protection and bounce during our wear tests. When we took this pair to our lab and divided it into two halves, we could see it featured multiple Nike technologies. Its two Zoom Air units gave us incredibly soft landings after jumping, as well as energy return. And its soft foam translated into shock absorption and forgiving cushioning, which made the ride incredibly comfortable.

Apart from being padded all over, the G.T. Hustle 3 features an 8.2 mm insole, according to our caliper. It’s an incredible 44% thicker than average, leveling up its already cushioned and comfortable self.

But all these cloud-like features have a price. If you don't want to spend your savings on a new hooper, we believe you should go for something else.

The Nike Cosmic Unity 3 is undoubtedly an outdoor-worthy shoe, so it easily takes the crown as the best for outdoors among Nike’s basketball shoes. The enhanced court feel and stability that the midsole afforded made our experience with it even better.

The outsole rubber registers a good 86.5 on the HC durometer when the average is only 81.5. This means that the rubber is hard and is able to withstand abrasion. True enough, the shoe easily endured the harshness of outdoor play during our actual game tests. 

Many of us play as guards, and the court feel that this shoe delivered during our test games allowed us to be quicker on our feet. In the lab, our caliper showed that the stack height of this shoe is only 27.9 mm at the heel and 20.7 mm at the forefoot. These figures are 2.1 mm and 0.9 mm thinner than average. As a result, we felt much closer to the court surface while wearing this basketball shoe. 

What made the experience better was the firmness of the tooling. Using our HA durometer, we learned that it is on the firmer side with a rating of 33.3 when the average is only 26.6. Aside from enhancing ground feel, the firm midsole also ensured stability.

The Cosmic Unity 3 is not a good pick for those who want a lot of tongue cushioning. The padding in this part of the shoe is only 4.9 mm thick, which makes it 4.5 mm thinner than average.

Following our experience in our games and lab tests, we’ve found the Immortality 4 is the best budget pair among the economical hoopers Nike currently offers. Its versatile design and adaptability make its price tag hard to believe, and that’s why it stands at the top of our ranking!

This Giannis pair features a solid structure that offers a wonderful lockdown feel. The perfect 5/5 it earned on both our heel counter stiffness and torsional rigidity tests just confirms the containment we enjoyed during our playtests. And even though we spent hours and hours jumping on the court, the max score (another 5/5) it got on our heel padding durability test proved it’s made to last.

The best part of it all is that its solid structure didn’t make the shoe heavy. At 12.56 oz/356g, it’s lighter than average, and that’s exactly how it felt on foot! It helped us a lot with our nimble footwork, and even though its versatility makes it a positionless hooper, we believe it’s a great pal for players with a quick playstyle.

The cherry on top for its stable yet speedy build is a wider-than-average midsole in the forefoot, as our caliper returned an incredible 124.5 mm when we measured it. The issue here is that, after playing for hours on end, we believe the Immortality 4 doesn’t offer much impact protection.