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Although Michael Jordan's shoe line is probably the most famous the NBA has ever and will ever likely see, there are plenty of current stars who have managed to earn themselves a signature deal with the top sports apparel brands in America. At the start of the 2020-21 NBA season, there were 16 players who had their very own signature shoe and throughout the first month of action, multiple stars have released new versions of their line.
The most recent of which was Damian Lillard's antagonistic new Adidas shoe which eludes to his 50-point performance to send the Oklahoma City Thunder home from the 2019 playoffs. This article will take a look at the active NBA stars who have their own shoe line.
2020-21 NBA Stars with their own shoe line
Even though the impact of Covid-19 pandemic has negatively impacted the sales of Basketball shoes, the current crop of NBA stars and the sports companies associated to them are still working and releasing new designs regularly. In 2020, sales of non-retro basketball shoes generated $640M in revenue despite store closures and through out year, we were treated to several new drops.
Last year, LeBron James dropped his 18th mainline shoe with Nike, including an 'Empire Jade' colorway to appeal to the basketball watching audience in Asia. LeBron currently leads the list of league stars with the most lucrative shoe contract, earning $32M a year.
Among the other NBA stars who have their own signature design is LeBron's former teammate, Kyrie Irving, who also has a deal with Nike. The Kyrie 7 shoe dropped last year and has just been adapted to celebrate the Chinese New Year. Irving's fellow superstars at Brooklyn Nets, Kevin Durant and James Harden also have their own shoes. The latter of whom has a deal with Nike's closest rivals, Adidas, and has just announced the release of the Harden Vol.5.
Staying on the NBA's East coast, Joel Embiid produced his first shoe with Under Armor last season, becoming the only center in the league currently to have a deal. Sharing Under Armor with Embiid is one of the company's longer-running partners, Stephen Curry who recently release his flow 8 design. Curry's 'Splash Brother', Klay Thompson, although not able to play this season through injury will be working on his next shoe drop after the success of his Anta KT5's in 2020.
Rivals of Golden State Warriors, LA Clippers, also have 2 stars with signature shoe deals in Kawhi Leonard and Paul George. The shooting guard has only just recently released his PG5 shoe with Nike, while Leonard is the sole NBA client with New Balance.
George's old teammate, Russell Westbrook currently has a deal with the Jordan brand, and as you can imagine he has added his own artistic tough in the design. Fellow point guard Chris Paul also has a contract with Jordan, as too does Zion Williamson who is expected to drop his first design later this year.
Heading back to the Eastern Conference, you couldn't be the MVP of the NBA without your own sneaker deal. Giannis Antetokounmpo is also on Nike's illustrious list of clients and has only recently unveiled his Zoom Freak 2 design. Nike's rivals, Adidas, not only have Harden on their books but also Donovan Mitchell and Derrick Rose, the latter of whom just dropped the D Rose 11's.
It wouldn't be surprising if NBA fans were unaware of Spencer Dinwiddie's signature shoe. The shooting guard has his own brand, K8IROS, and has several designs of the sneaker he wears on court on his website.
Keep an eye out for all the upcoming shoes dropping this season. We've already seen lots of exciting, artistic designs in the past few months and can expect to see more as the industry brands grow ever-more popular.
Guess the Lakers players!
