Sixers Sneakers – Early Season Excitement
The week since we last convened has been about as interesting as it could have possibly been considering we’re 6 games into the season. Joel Embiid had a Greco-Roman wrestling match with Karl-Anthony Towns that culminated with Towns tapping out to a Ben Simmons’ rear-naked choke. Our Turkish superman, Furkan Korkmaz, hit a game winning three to make the Sixers the last undefeated team in the league. And unfortunately in Phoenix, the team lost their first game of the season after a battle in which Devin Booker scored 40 points.
Let’s take a look back at the sneaker news from the past three games
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Furkan Korkmaz Wins it in Yellow
Furkan Korkmaz made the big game winner in Portland wearing the most garish sneakers on the team. He has been wearing the same pair of yellow Nike Zoom Kobe AD since his time playing with Turkey in the FIBA World Cup over the summer. After the shot on Saturday, don’t anticipate these going away anytime soon.
Embiid vs Towns Means Under Armour vs Nike
Here is what the combatants wore in tonight’s heavyweight wrestling match.
– @JoelEmbiid in Under Armour HOVR Havoc 2
– @KarlTowns in custom Nike Hyperdunk X@ThePhifthQ pic.twitter.com/M17N4aYlWA— Sixers Sneakers (@SixersSneakers) October 31, 2019
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you have undoubtably seen, heard, and read every angle of the heavyweight wrestling match between the two All-Stars – except for this one. Thought neither are the main guys on their respective brands, the two players are premier big men in the league and are treated as such by Under Armour and Nike. Obviously their differing sneaker endorsements aren’t the reason they tussled, but it does add a fun wrinkle.
Josh Richardson Wore Reebok During All Three Games
As has been documented here extensively, Richardson has a limited contract with Reebok. Until this week it appeared that the deal was primarily focused around the highly publicized Reebok Question ‘Double Cross’, but he pulled out a new model for him at home versus the Timberwolves. He played in black and royal Reebok Answer V for most of the game, before changing into the adidas Harden Vol. 4 ‘Pink Lemonade’.
He wore the aforementioned Reebok Question ‘Double Cross’ for the first two games of the West Coast swing.
Matisse Thybulle Changes It Up (For One Game)
The future Defensive Player of the Year has worn various versions of the Nike PG 2.5 for the entirety of his young Sixers’ career. That all changed against the Timberwolves. Thybulle took a page out of Raul Neto’s book and played in the Nike Zoom Freak 1. These are Giannis Antetokounmpo’s first signature sneaker.
Thybulle was back to his usual Nike PG 2.5 when the team went west. He wore a blue pair in Portland and a red pair in Phoenix.
Mike Scott Nails It as Jake Shuttlesworth on Halloween
— Mike Scott (@mikescott) November 1, 2019
Mike Scott dressed up as Denzel Washington’s character in He Got Game for Halloween and went to a local park for some social media posts. In the movie, Jake Shuttlesworth buys a pair of the OG black and white Air Jordan XIII upon getting released from prison. This colorway has since become known as the Air Jordan XIII ‘He Got Game’ due to their connection with the movie.
Sixers’ Notes
- Ben Simmons played in Nike Zoom Rize with Australia vibes against the Trail Blazers.
- Also in Portland, Trey Burke wore white and red Reebok Answer V.
- Tobias Harris continues his Kobe love in the Nike Zoom Kobe IV Protro.
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Timberwolves’ Notes
- Our guy Robert Covington wore the Nike Zoom Kobe AD for his trip back to Philadelphia.
- Jeff Teague pulled out the Nike Air Zoom Generation ‘Wheat’. The Zoom Generation were LeBron’s first signature model.
- Jordan Bell laced up the Nike Zoom KD 6 ‘Aunt Pearl’.
Trail Blazers’ Notes
- Lehigh alum CJ McCollum has an endorsement deal with Chinese brand Li-Ning. He wore the Halloween colorway of the Li-Ning Speed VI Premium.
- Damian Lillard wore a blacked-out version of his newest sneakers, the adidas Dame 6.
Suns’ Notes
- The Homie Dario Saric played in purple Nike Kyrie Low 2.
- Like McCollum above, Tyler Johnson also plays in Li-Ning. He wore the Li-Ning Way of Wade 7 ‘Mustard’.
- Kelly Oubre Jr is the only player in the league who wears Converse on court. It appeared that he was wearing an all-white low top version of the Converse All Star BB Pro on Monday night.
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The first loss is frustrating, but going 1-1 on the road during Embiid’s suspension is a reasonable outcome. He’ll be back for highly anticipated match-ups against Rudy Gobert and Nikola Jokic.
Follow along for live tweets during the game, and I’ll be back next week with an in-depth breakdown. As always… Stay tuned.
