Last night in Portland, Chris Paul took the court against the Trail Blazers in his new signature shoe, the Jordan CP3.XI.
According to Nike, the 9-time All-Star point guard worked with Jordan Brand designers to refine his signature shoe to deliver on the key aspects of his game: aggressive quickness, agile stop-and-go cuts and intelligent drives.
The CP3.XI features his five essential elements for the perfect basketball shoe - an internal lacing system with a midfoot strap (Stability), a solid rubber outsole (Traction), Zoom Air bags in the forefoot and heel (Cushion), a TPU plate under the lateral forefoot (Quickness), and an exploded CP3 logo on the heel (Personality).
Paul tells Nike that the most important piece he looks for in a shoe is the traction, and the CP3.XI features a modified herringbone traction pattern that extends up the medial forefoot.
“The biggest thing for me — because of the moves I like to do and the stop-and-go — will always be to make sure that the traction runs up by my toe — it’s the first thing I look at when I grab a shoe," Paul says, via Nike.
As for the strap on the CP3.XI, Paul says he was inspired by he and his brother's favorite shoe growing up, the Nike Adjust Force, which had a removable strap.
“I was in the sixth grade and my brother was in the eighth grade, and we only had enough money to buy one pair, so my brother wore the right one and I wore the left one,” recalls Paul. “Then in high school, I used to play in the Nikes Steve Nash wore [the Nike Air Jet Flight, which also had a strap].”
The Jordan CP3.XI launches in April on Jordan.com and select retailers. You can read up on all the specs right here.