Nike Sabrina 3 review

The Nike Sabrina 3 is a no-brainer for the following players:

• guards and other light and nimble players who need a shoe to match their dynamic style
• hoopers who prefer flexible shoes with a pronounced court feel
• athletes who want maximum support at minimum weight

If you are a bigger and heavier player, or you suffer from heel pain, joint concerns, and echoes of past injuries, you definitely need a shoe with better shock absorption.

The New Balance TWO WXY V5 and the Nike KD 18 may lack the lightness and court feel of the Sabrina 3, but they cater to these types of players brilliantly.

The Nike Sabrina series has earned a reputation for its extremely grounded basketball shoes with minimal impact protection and maximum court feel. That stands true for the third iteration as well, although we couldn't help but notice a small increase in cushioning.

Measuring the Sabrina 3's shock absorption in the heel (96 SA) and in the forefoot (74 SA), we recorded higher numbers compared to the Sabrina 2 (92 SA and 62 SA, respectively), particularly in the forefoot.

However, both measurements remain well below the category averages, so don't expect much protection upon hard landings.

The new Sabrina also maintains its highly responsive ride with a propulsive boost in the forefoot courtesy of an Air Zoom unit. 'Responsive pop and speed,' as Nike calls it.

According to our energy return measurements (60.9% in the heel and 70.9% in the forefoot), the Sabrina 3 didn't get any bouncier than its predecessor, but its rebound exceeds many other hoop shoes on the market.

On foot, the Nike Sabrina 3 felt slightly taller than the previous two models, and our calliper measurements confirmed it.

The shoe's heel stack now comes in at 26.1 mm, which is 1.5-2.5 mm taller than the v2 and v1, respectively. A couple of millimetres may not seem like much, but as you can see, they did help to enhance the shoe's shock-absorbing capacity a bit.

The forefoot stack grew even more notably, reaching 20.6 mm in the Sabrina 3. It is now almost on par with the average!

This means a touch more love to the ball of the foot and the toe joints without sacrificing the shoe's acclaimed court feel.

The heel-to-toe drop remains low at 5.5 mm, indicating minimal difference in height between the heel and the forefoot inside the shoe.

This offset contributes to the shoe's planted and grounded underfoot experience and keeps the foot more connected to the court from heel to toe.

Looks like Nike doesn't want to make any radical changes to the Sabrina shoe's cushioning setup (ain't broken - don't fix it, right?). Thus, we get the familiar full-length Cushlon 3.0 foam at the core of the shoe's midsole. And we can't complain!

We agree with the shoe's product description when it promises a 'plush underfoot sensation', as the foam returned a below-average reading of 18.0 HA on our durometer. It's not as insanely squishy as the premium ZoomX foam, but it falls into the soft range of basketball foams (20 HA or less).

But you can rest assured that the plushness stays under control thanks to the firm Cushlon that wraps around it, acting as a carrier foam.

This is a basic type of Cushlon, which is a significantly firmer compound with a durometer reading of 31.0 HA. It helps to stabilise the ride for fast-paced cuts and dribbles without dulling the cushioning benefits of the softer blend.

None of the Sabrina shoes offered a particularly accommodating fit, but we can't complain about them being too snug either.

We poured custom liquid into the shoe and kept it in the fridge until it solidified in the shape of the shoe's interiors. Measuring the ball of the foot area of this one-to-one gel mould of the Sabrina 3 in the widest part, our calliper returned 91.7 mm (in a men's US size 9/women's 10.5).

It skews slightly narrow, yet stays within the medium fit range.

All basketball shoes get narrower towards the toes, and the Sabrina 3 is no exception.

But the mould didn't reveal any aggressive tapering and showed a regular width of 69.7 mm in the big toe area.

The shoe's vertical space also proved to be just right over the big toe.

With a toebox height of 23.0 mm, it sits low to the toes but not in a restricting way.

Even though the Sabrina 3 features a completely reworked outsole, we found that its traction remained very similar to its predecessor's

While it's not extremely tacky with a moderate friction coefficient of 0.67, the shoe offers a balanced grip and give on hardwood. It feels grabby enough for quick sprints, cuts, side-to-side shuffles, and jumps.

'S' stands for 'Sabrina' and it's written all over the shoe's outsole in the new tread design. It is a radial type of pattern with little S-shaped treadlines facing different directions to ensure both north-to-south and side-to-side grip.

As expected, the Nike Sabrina 3 remains one of the most flexible basketball silhouettes out there. It is a very agility-friendly and court-sensitive shoe that easily adapts to quick moves and direction changes.

It took significantly less force to bend the shoe by 30 degrees (15.5N) compared to the average. Even though this version is not as mind-blowingly pliable as the Sabrina 2 (13.4N), it is still one of the few hoop shoes that bend easily at your foot's will.

The Sabrina 3's lightweight setup also contributes to the nimble experience.

It's not the absolute lightest in our catalogue, but it weighs less than the average, tipping the scale at 12.4 oz (352g) in a men's US size 9 (women's 10.5).

We found that it's just a smidge heavier than the v2 (12 oz/340g), but it's barely noticeable on the foot.

Although its upper design doesn't look so stout, and there is no thick synthetic leather on it, the Sabrina 3 still packs a lot of overlapping textile, which impedes breathability.

The perforations on top of its toebox don't seem to manage the airflow so effortlessly, releasing slow and medium-thick billows of smoke.

Taking a closer look at them through our microscope, we can see that they are also covered by a layer of plasticky mesh.

Finally, our LED test also revealed that the rest of the shoe's upper is only semi-transparent due to internal padding.

But overall, we can say that it is a moderately airy basketball shoe that can work for warm environments. We gave it a middle-of-the-road breathability score of 3 out of 5.

Much like the first two versions, the Sabrina 3 offers fantastic lateral stability and containment with minimal bulk and a low-profile sole. There is a myriad of subtle components in both the shoe's upper and midsole that work together to deliver the most secure lockdown.

In the upper, pleated overlays with sturdy cables embrace the midfoot on both sides. Stretching from the midsole to the top, these cables double as eyelets, securing the fit tightly once the laces are cinched. This creates a very glove-like experience, which boosts confidence by eliminating all the microshifts inside the shoe.

The sturdy rubber flanges on the sides have been slightly worked, but still do an amazing job of containing the foot during those swift side-to-side shifts.

Last but not least, the midfoot shank inside the shoe's sole stabilises the foot from the bottom.

The aforementioned design tweaks were quite tangible in our manual twisting test.

The new version showed resistance in the areas where the previous Sabrinas yielded more easily under the pressure. This is a good sign of improved lateral containment, earning the Sabrina 3 a higher torsional rigidity score of 3 out of 5.

Increased rigidity and structure were also apparent in the shoe's heel counter!

Rating its stiffness with a maximum 5/5 score, we can confirm that the heel and ankle hold levelled up in the Sabrina 3 as well!

Combined with a puffier collar padding, we found that the Sabrina 3's heel counter eliminates any undesirable wobbling in the rearfoot.

Measuring the shoe's midsole dimensions with a calliper, we discovered that it got 1-2 mm slimmer than the previous iterations, but with no compromise in stability.

The widest part of the shoe's forefoot comes in at 113.9 mm, including a reliable outrigger on the lateral side.

The heel also showed a slightly narrower reading of 87.3 mm in its widest area.

Contrary to the indestructible uppers of the previous Sabrinas, the 3rd iteration left us wishing for better upper durability.

The thin mesh layer gave in pretty quickly, and the stitching proved to be tear-prone as well. This lowered the shoe's toebox durability to 3 out of 5.

The inner collar lining, on the other hand, turned out to be incredibly hard-wearing.

The sandpaper left practically no trace of abrasion, convincing us to rate the shoe's heel padding durability with a maximum score of 5/5.

We are also happy with the durability of the shoe's translucent outsole.

After an 18-second stand-off with a Dremel, the rubber was left with just a minor dent of 0.8 mm. This is shallower than average and is an excellent result for a basketball shoe in this price range.

The Sabrina 3's outsole thickness of 4.6 mm also looks reassuring, as it proved to be slightly thicker than average.

So, do we give this Nike shoe the green light for outdoor courts? Not really. While it's fine for occasional games on the blacktop, we are concerned about the longevity of its thin traction pattern on harsh surfaces.

Our calliper showed an adequate insole thickness of 4.0 mm in this Sabrina shoe.

The insole is non-removable in this Sabrina iteration as it is safely glued to the bottom of the shoe. You can't use a custom orthotic with it, but you do get a more secure in-shoe experience in return.

Despite its minimal design, the Nike Sabrina 3 is generously padded in all the right places, namely in the tongue and collar.

The tongue in particular showed 10.6 mm of thickness on our calliper.

A fully-gusseted tongue is a reasonable addition to the Sabrina 3's bucket-seat-like lockdown.

Aside from the $5 increase that touched all recent Nike shoe releases, the Sabrina 3's MSRP remains unchanged. This is great news, considering that the new version carries over all our favourite qualities of the Sabrina shoe series, while also making welcome adjustments to its support and containment.

No pull tabs or finger loops, but the stiff collar makes on-and-off easy enough.