18 best Nike low basketball shoes
Based on reviews from 122 experts and 2,811 users. Learn how our rankings work or see our guide to Nike low basketball shoes. Updated Feb 2019.
Based on reviews from 122 experts and 2,811 users. Learn how our rankings work or see our guide to Nike low basketball shoes. Updated Feb 2019.
Nike is definitely the top sportswear brand in the NBA today. The brand’s shoes and other sports apparel are worn by more than 80% of players including Kobe Bryant, who is widely credited for the sudden popularity of low-top basketball shoes in the game.
Having spent much of his childhood in Italy, Kobe Bryant is unsurprisingly a fan of football. He’s seen that soccer and basketball players share a lot in terms of footwork. Soccer players, like basketballers, tend to do a lot of cuts and quick direction changes. But unlike NBA athletes, those who play soccer are usually seen wearing low-top cleats, and they don’t seem to experience lockdown and ankle protection issues in them.
When it was time to create his fourth signature sneaker, Kobe Bryant was determined to start a revolution. Nike designer Eric Avar remembers what happened one day in 2008. Bryant particularly asked for the “lowest, lightest-weight basketball shoe ever.” It was an unusual request, especially coming from a high-top-wearing superstar who had been dominating the league for 12 years.
The move to switch to low-tops, though met with initial animosity, proved to be effective for Kobe Bryant and his Los Angeles Lakers. They convincingly beat the Orlando Magic in the 2009 NBA Finals, giving Kobe Bryant his fourth championship ring.
The success of the Kobe 4 catapulted low-tops to popularity. The subsequent releases from the Kobe’s line were also much celebrated Nike low-top basketball shoes. They are widely worn not only by avid Kobe fans but also by other players in the NBA.
After Kobe’s retirement in 2016, Nike continues to expand the in-demand Kobe Bryant line. Many of them are low-tops that are loaded with reliable support features. The following are the ones that really stand out:
After Kobe Bryant’s exit, only four active NBA players remain at Nike: LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, and most recently Paul George. These four share an undeniable affinity with low-top basketball shoes. The subsections that follow discuss each of these athletes and the most successful Nike low-top basketball shoes associated with them.
LeBron James is a three-time NBA champion who is widely regarded as the best player of the game today. He also has four regular season MVP and three Finals MVP trophies under his belt. After his first NBA All-Star Game appearance in 2006, LeBron Jame has also made thirteen more All-Star appearances. In three of those games, he won the coveted All-Star MVP title.
James has always been a Nike athlete. He now has sixteen signature shoes under his name. All of these shoes are initially released as high-tops or mid-tops. However, low-top versions of them are also made available months later. The following are the most recent Nike low-top basketball shoes in LeBron James’s stellar line of signature shoes:
Kevin Durant entered the NBA in 2007 when he was picked by the Oklahoma City Thunder (then Seattle Supersonics). He stayed with OKC until his free agency in 2016, when he decided to move to the Golden State Warriors.
In his first season with the Warriors, the team advanced and eventually won the Finals. The Warriors made it to the top again in 2018 when they crushed LeBron James and his Cleveland Cavaliers, 4-0. Kevin Durant bagged the Bill Russell Finals MVP Award in both occasions.
Unlike LeBron James, Kevin Durant loves Nike low-top basketball shoes. In fact, many of his KD basketball shoes are originally lows. The following are just some of the most notable ones:
Since he joined the NBA in 2011, Kyrie Irving made it to the NBA Finals twice. His first appearance was in 2015. His team made it again to the Finals in 2016, when they finally succeeded in garnering their very first NBA win in 52 years. In both instances, Irving and the Cavs came face-to-face with the Golden State Warriors, which was a powerhouse team that had at least five All-Star players in its roster.
The NBA 2017 Finals is again a bout between the Golden State Warriors and the Cleveland Cavaliers. The Cavs failed to defend their title.
In July 2017, or barely two months after the Cavs’ upsetting loss, Irving was traded to the Boston Celtics. This was a move that he himself requested reportedly because of his desire to step out of LeBron James’s shadow.
Just like Kyrie, his low-top line just stepped out of the shadow of the the much-celebrated mid-top Kyrie Irving basketball shoes. Two Nike low-top basketball shoes are released after the fourth Kyrie Irving signature shoes. These are the following:
A Nike signature shoe deal is a great achievement. The brand honors only the most elite in the league. In fact, Paul George is only the 21st athlete to get a signature shoe from the Swoosh in its three-decade history. He is an accomplished athlete who has been named to the All-NBA team fourt times. He has also played in five All-Star games.
The Paul George basketball shoes are originally low-tops. These are the following:
Any athlete assumes a serious risk of injury just by playing basketball. This sport just require a lot of running, cuts, and jumps that might strain the muscles of the feet and legs.
Conventional wisdom says that wearing high-top basketball shoes reduces the risk of injury. At face value, this statement makes a lot of sense. High-tops indeed cover everything, from the toes up to way above the ankle. However, there is no clear empirical evidence that support this claim. Numerous studies have been done, and their results generally show that the height of a basketball shoe’s collar did not even correlate with the possibility of getting injured.
With this, it appears that the tendency of players– professional, collegiate, or even amateur– to choose shoes based on style and comfort is not and should not be made an issue. If collar height doesn’t have any protective value, then players might as well wear the shoe that they are comfortable with or feel confident in
Of course, this does not really mean that manufacturers should just ignore shoe technologies altogether. Cushioning, traction, and fit are still functional domains that are independent of the protective capacities of the shoe’s collar height. Brands should just focus on these domains rather than obsessing over which cut is more practical than others.