Nike Sabrina 4 review

The Sabrina 4 definitely knows ball, and it'll be your perfect partner for the court if:

• You want to enjoy the empowered bounce of a FlyPlate in a basketball shoe (plus a forefoot Air Zoom unit... plus a shank!).
• You're looking for wonderful lockdown, surefootedness, and containment in a Kobe-like hooper designed with really nice materials.
• You need top stability to dribble fearlessly and aggressively past your opponents, and great traction to stop in the blink of an eye and start a play.

The FlyPlate is a running technology that might not be for everyone, even though Nike says it's specially designed for hoopers... it definitely changes things up, so don't expect the same, old Sabrina feeling.

To be honest, the Sabrina 2 and the Sabrina 3 were already top performers. If traction and lightness are at the highest of your priority list, we believe you should have a look at the former. Conversely, if impact protection and energy return are your musts, then the latter would be a better choice.

Even though it'd be unfair of us to ask such a courtfeel-based hoop for great impact protection, we have to say that the ever-popular Sabrinas keep getting better and better at it! At 99/61 SA in the heel and forefoot, respectively, they keep getting closer to our lab average with every iteration.

We believed the energy return would follow the same formula, yet in this 4th version, Nike took a short step back. With a solid 69.1% at the forefoot, the full-length Cushlon 3.0 says hello and the Air Zoom unit and shank prove they're still there, but the result is slightly lower than the Sabrina 3's (70.9% at the forefoot).

The Sabrina 4 felt like a different shoe on foot, yet its low profile remained the same. Our caliper marked 25.7 mm when we measured its heel stack.

And the same goes for the forefoot! At 20.6 mm, it tells us that this shoe definitely favours quick playstyles, just like Sabrina's.

This leaves us with a lower drop of 5.1 mm. Consequently, you won't feel like your heel is way higher than your toes when you put these baddies on.

From the very first moment we put the Sabrina 4 on, we realized it felt way softer than the previous iteration. It was not a definitely-too-plush softness, but more of a "wow, this feels great" softness. Our durometer just verified it, as it returned 30.9 AC.

With an average width of 92.7 mm, we couldn't ask the Sabrina 4 for much more!

Our gel cast showed it perfectly. For a start, this is Sabrina's shoe, so it'll definitely not have the widest of fits! Plus it's made for speedy guards like her, so... there you have it.

The thing is that it tapers quite a lot! Our caliper returned 66.3 mm, which means it has a very narrow fit at the toe area.

The good thing is that, regarding its vertical space, this Nike pair doesn't feel that cramped, as our caliper returned 23.9 mm, a standard reading.

That being said, don't expect its upper materials to give in!

Something that we really enjoyed about the Sabrina 4 was its traction. We can't say it's perfect for dusty surfaces, yet it offers solid grip, perfect for any explosive move we tried (yes, Sabrina, you are an inspiration on the court!).

With an outsole featuring an S pattern and thicker lines, the Sabrina 4 showed improved traction in a very cool, fresh design!

As expected from the Sabrina line, we only needed 18.1N of force to bend this shoe all the way up to 30 degrees. It's a little bit stiffer than the Sabrina 3, yet we believe this is due to the addition of the FlyPlate, a propulsive detail we see in running shoes.

Even though Nike talks about speed and fast breaks in the product description of the Sabrina 4, we can't completely agree. It definitely didn't feel as quick as the previous iteration, and our scale confirmed it, marking 13.5 oz/383g.

The lateral stability of the Sabrina 4 feels solid, which might seem hard to believe due to its streamlined profile. But these have a lower design that prioritizes courtfeel and connection, so it's not like this caught us off guard!

Additionally, one of the reasons why this shoe's lockdown feels fantastic is the ultrastrong midfoot containment. Nike added some rubberized eyelet reinforcements under the lacing system that made sure our feet stayed in place every single game.

At 19.0 Nm, our torsional rigidity machine let us know this Nike pair is as hard to twist as any other hoop shoes.

The structured yet cushioned heel of the Sabrina 4 offered us both support and comfort, earning a solid 4/5 on our stiffness test.

This is one more improvement that we liked: the Sabrina 4 features a wider midsole of 115.9 mm at the forefoot. Even though it might just sound average to some, we see it as a positive change that follows Ionescu's claims of this shoe being "built for everyone, everywhere", as a more spacious landing base is what bigs usually enjoy.

The heel hasn't really changed, as our caliper returned 87.4 mm, it's still narrower than average.

Even though this Sabrina looks a little bit more plasticky, its materials are fairly durable. After attacking the upper with our Dremel, we decided to give it a standard 3/5.

The heel padding withstood wear a little bit better, earning a higher 4/5. To be honest, it's so padded that we wouldn't even worry a little bit about its long-term durability.

The Sabrina 4's new S pattern looks really cool, but its design and material are definitely not as durable as those from previous iterations. In fact, the outsole lost 1.2 mm of rubber, which suggests this shoe is not the best option to play outdoors.

Our caliper marked 4.1 mm when we measured this hoop's outsole thickness, which is only possible after cutting it in half!

Even though Nike says this hoop shoe has "enhanced breathability", we completely disagree.

It let out pretty much no steam during our smoke test, and it definitely doesn't even start to reach the Curry 11's ventilation levels, that's for sure.

Our microscope close-up gave it away, as there's not a single gap to favor airflow! Look how tightly woven it is.

We believe that, in order to reduce this shoe's overall weight, Nike opted for a thinner-than-average tongue. At 5.6 mm, our caliper told us lace bite should be the last of our worries.

The semi-gusseted tongue and the inner lace reinforcement work hand-in-hand to offer wonderful containment and lockdown, which made us feel safer in quick dribbles and explosive layups.

The Sabrina 4's insole is just standard, as our caliper returned 4.4 mm.

And it's also removable! If you need or want to change it, please keep in mind that this shoe is not the most spacious hoop out there. Additionally, the FlyPlate and the Air Zoom unit already reduce its groundfeel, even if it's not much, but adding a very thick orthotic might actually jeopardize it.

The Kobesque aesthetics of the Sabrinas are an essential part of their design, so... you'd better not expect a heel tab!

The increasingly popular Sabrina 4 comes at a fair price. But if you expected something similar to the previous iterations... let us tell you, this one feels slightly different. It's definitely not a mess, but the FlyPlate has turned things upside down; if for the best or for the worst, that's on you!