The 10 Ugliest Signature Basketball Sneakers [PHOTOS]
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Signature sneakers used to be a rare breed. For example, Dr. J and Kareem Abdul Jabbar had their own Converse and adidas, respectively, but the name on your own shoe’s club (shout out to Walt Frazier’s Puma “Clyde,” too) was pretty exclusive. But then Michael Jordan and his Air Jordan line made Nike a ridiculous amount of money, and other sneaker brands wanted in.
The 90’s saw a plethora of signature basketball sneakers. Some of them were fresh, destined for retro rehashes that sell out hours, or less, after their release. However, there have been, and continue to be, signature kicks that look like the equivalent of 30 miles of bad road. Nostalgia tends to make sneakerheads gloss over or completely neglect the fact that some of these kicks were visual diarrhea.
That said, let’s take a look at the 10 Ugliest Signature Basketball Sneakers. The scary part, some of these shoes have even been retro’d. The horror.
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Photo: Le Coq Sportif
Baron Davis – Li Ning “BD 1”
B Diddy’s Li-Ning’s had a dope logo. That’s about it.
Chris Webber – Dada “CDubbz”
Chris Webber left Nike because he felt they were charging way too much for his shoes. He gets props for that. However, aligning with Dada footwear resulted in some atrocious footwear. They were recently retro’d. Why?!
John Wallace – “Karl Kani Sport”
Wallace had a good career at Syracuse. But he basically doomed himself as a pro when he agreed to be a spokesman for Karl Kani sneakers.
Tim Duncan – Nike Air Max Duncan
If you blinked, you may have missed these Big Fundamentals specials. With good reason.
Allen Iverson – Reebok “Answer XIII”
Reebok has been winning by bringing back some of A.I.’s OG kicks. Let’s keep pretending these never happened, though.
Joakim Noah – Le Coq Sportif “Joakim 3.0 Tribe Leader”
There is no doubt that Joakim Noah is warrior on the basketball court. However, those French kicks are burger status.
Hakeem Olajuwan – Etonic “The Dream Supreme”
The nostalgia in your system will make you think, “Yo, those were dope.” No, they were not.
Kobe Bryant – adidas “Kobe 2”
Hands down these are one of the ugliest basketball sneakers ever constructed. Jimmy Butler of the Chicago Bulls was spotted rocking a pair during this year’s playoffs, which may be a reason why they lost.
Stephon Marbury – Starbury 1
We gotta give Starbury credit for giving kids a legit $15 option for athletic sneakers. However, he didn’t have to make them look like glorified socks.
