In early September at Nike’s World Headquarters, nine players in the NBA and WNBA’s rookie and sophomore class participated in a custom design session with NikeiD. The purpose was to design their opening-week kicks for the 2018-19 season, infused with whatever personalized flourish they wanted.
Since the NBA has decided to loosen its rules on sneaker colorways, players are now allowed to wear any color, at any point during the year, pending the approval of a player’s respective team. With the new season kicking off on Tuesday night, Nike has today revealed the colorful opening night kicks that will be worn by second year players Jayson Tatum, Frank Ntilikina, Kyle Kuzma, De'Aaron Fox and Jordan Bell, as well as rookies Luka Doncic and Collin Sexton.
Each of the kicks, ranging from the Kyrie 4, Kyrie Low, Kobe A.D, KD11 and PG2 feature special detailing and colorways hand selected by the aforementioned players.
For instance, Sexton's Nike Kyrie 4 PE is inspired by his parents. The first initial of both his mother and father appear on the tongue, and his jersey number is printed on the heel. Tatum's "Coloring Book" PG2 PE is inspired by his biggest fan: his 10-month-old son, Jayson Tatum, Jr., who goes by the nickname Deuce. “He’s a little too young to be coloring, but if he could, this shoe is what it would look like,” says Tatum. His son’s initials appear on the inside of the tongue.
Click here to check out the story behind each of the opening night Nike PEs.