Puma has shamelessly opted for youth, and so their red carpet was found at the Rising Star; where DeAndre Ayton, Kevin Knox and Marvin Bagley III debuted the Puma Uproar Hybrid Court, the new basketball sneaker from Puma that shamelessly blends performance and the nineties’ style. The Uproar’s show up for the first time in colours that remind us of Charlotte , the city that holds the All Star, over the years like the Hornets (in blue tones) and the Bobcats (in orange) which turn up in every single one of their sneakers.
A RECAP OF THE ALL STAR 19 SNEAKERS
The day after the Oscars nobody talks about the Oscars, everyone talks about the dresses at the Oscars. Basketball has its own gala, the All Star; without the pressure of the playoffs, brands usually use this All Star weekend to show their new models which will then be used in the second half of the season, but also for new colourways and customisations.
One of the most awaited sneakers was Kawhi Leonard’s. The Californian player had announced that he would choose the All Star to present the reentry of New Balance in the world of basketball. In the eighties, New Balance played an important part in basketball, equivalent to the power it now has in running, with names like Dennis Rodman, Adrian Dantley or James Worthy , even though since then only Matt Bonner had brought the N in NBA. For now, Leonard will be the only one to wear the OMN1S’s. New Balance is hiding their information just as Kawhi’s hiding his smile.
Harden and Lillard, the two adidas players that have their own sneaker brought special versions of their own Harden 3 and Dame 5 whilst Kyle Lowry used the same colour combination in a Marquee Boost Low. The inspiration comes from the chequered flag that signals the end of motor races, deeply rooted within the state of North Carolina.
Half of the members of the All Star Game wore Nike, with special editions for Paul George, Kyrie Irving, LeBron or Kevin Durant, the MVP has kept Aunt Pearl’s inspiration in a special edition in collaboration with the Kay Yow foundation against cancer. Between the Nike players who don’t have sneakers of their own, one of the stars surprised us all in the match, Giannis Antetokounmpo with Kobe 4’s in which he had written the name of his siblings, recalling an era in which they probably even shared their sneakers. Will this be the last All Star in which Anteto doesn’t have a signature?
Nevertheless, the most-worn brand during the All Star Weekend must have been Jordan. The host was the Charlotte Hornets, a team that is co-owned by Jordan, in the state where he grew up… and the match was being celebrated on the day of Michael’s own birthday, who stayed hidden until the moment of passing on the baton to Chicago, the next franchise where the All Star will take place.
The uniforms inevitably had to be Jordan, even though the players of the brand (Kemba Waker, Russell Westbrook, Blake Griffin and LaMarcus Aldridge) didn’t have much prominence in the match. There were as many Jordan’s on the courts as there were on the stands on the feet of Jamie Foxx, Ludacris, Hasan Minhaj or Spike Lee, who has his own signature even without setting foot on the courts, although he debuted a new model designed by Tinker Hatfield. It wasn’t the only sneaker with its own name on the stands, Allen Iverson was also there, an ex-player who’s still launching signatures, who preferred to wear Jordan I’s.
An All Star that has gotten back some of the interest that it spawned in the eighties thanks to the perfect blending of showmanship and competitive tensions. A weekend of sparkle and stellar presentations with which the first half of the season has been closed.
