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What They’re Wearing – NBA Finals

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Credit: Nice Kicks

Kawhi Leonard vs Nike

The biggest news in the sneaker world currently involves the Fun Guy himself, Kawhi Leonard, and his former brand, Nike (Jordan).  Leonard sued Nike for use of the Klaw logo (above).

Kawhi’s camp claims that Leonard himself designed the logo while in college as he wanted to create a stylized version of his initials while incorporating his uniquely large hands.  He has been using the logo on merchandise since the 2011-12 season.  They claim that unbeknownst to them, Nike filed a copyright on the logo in 2017 while he was endorsing the Jordan Brand.  The biggest beef is that according to the copyright application, Nike claims to have created the logo, which Kawhi says is an overt lie.

Credit: Nice Kicks

The lawsuit claims that there was an agreement in place for Nike to use the logo for certain applications but did not allow Nike to take ownership over the logo.

Nike has not publicly commented on the matter, but they have blocked New Balance from using the logo on merchandise.  Kawhi himself has been seen wearing merchandise with the logo on it recently, but the New Balance logo has not appeared with it.

As someone who spent countless hours creating stylized versions of my initials (MW are great initials), it isn’t far-fetched that Leonard would try to come up with a logo when he began having NBA aspirations.  The issue I have with it is that he wore number 15 in college, not 2, so did he actually create the logo or was it created as an extension of aimless doodles by a graphic designer that he (or Nike) hired? Does any of that actually matter?

Credit: Nice Kicks

If Leonard’s camp can prove that Kawhi has used the logo in question since 2011 as they claim, this should be an open and closed case.  Nike will certainly counter with what they believe facts are, but if they are proven to be in the wrong, it may open the door for other intellectual property lawsuits in the future.

I’m not a lawyer, so please don’t use any of the above as gospel.  I’m sure I got something wrong – sue me.

Let’s get into some sneakers.

Golden State Warriors

The Warriors have three players with signature sneakers – KD, Steph, and Klay.  Durant hasn’t played in a while, but some of his teammates have been wearing the Nike Zoom KD 12 in his absence.  Former 76er Andre Iguodala laced them up in Game 1.

Steph Curry is currently the face of Under Armour (for now – Joel is coming).  In Game 3 he laced up the Under Armour Curry 6 ‘Thank You, Oakland’.  He will likely wear these in all the remaining home games at the Oracle.

Credit: SLAM

Klay Thompson got hurt in Game 2 and did not play in Game 3, which is unfortunate.  One because he’s a fun player to watch and root for.  Two because I bet him at +1800 to win Finals MVP – bummer.  Klay played in the Anta KT4 for both games.

DeMarcus Cousins reps Puma.  He debuted a new Puma model dubbed The Legacy for part of Game 1.  He switched into the Puma Uproar ‘Spectra’ which he continued to wear in Game 2 and 3.  I’ll need to see some better pictures of The Legacy before passing judgement, but one thing Puma has done well since returning to basketball is creating models that take well to different colors and patterns.  Case and point the new ‘Summertime’ colorway of the Puma Clyde Court Disrupt (insert fire emoji).

Toronto Raptors

The Raptors – like our Sixers – are pretty boring when it comes to their sneakers.

As mentioned above, Kawhi Leonard wears New Balance.  Though they technically aren’t his signature model, he’s the only player in the league wearing them (at least until Darius Bazely gets drafted), so the New Balance OMN1S are Kawhi’s sneaker.  In Games 1 and 2 in Toronto he wore some very OVO-esque black and gold versions.

Kyle Lowry wears the adidas Harden Vol. 3.  He’s wore a player exclusive model in Games 1 and 2, and pulled out the ‘Blue Toe’ version in Game 3.

Credit: SLAM

Danny Green plays in Puma.  He is wearing the Puma Clyde Court Disrupt ‘Title Run’.  I like the concept, but the gold knit looks too much like Grey Poupon.  The gold flake in the outsole is a nice touch, though.

Credit: SLAM

Toronto’s favorite son, Drake, made waves by showing up to Game 1 in a Del Curry Raptors’ jersey.  While this was an admittedly funny move, the real story was his sneakers.  He rocked the Nike Shox BB4 made famous by the adopted favorite son of Toronto, Vince Carter.  Shox were a terrible technology, but when these were released they were all the rage.

Notes

Credit: Sole Collector

One last Sixers’ note before I’m finished.  Rebook is planning to release a retro version of the classic Answer 5 that were originally released in 2001.  These have very little casual applications, but like the aforementioned Shox BB4, these were on fire when they originally dropped.  I would love to see Reebok come back to basketball in a real way – just leave the Zig in the dumpster.

That’s it this time around.  I’ll be back with any sneaker news that pops up this off-season.  Summer League is right around the corner.

Stay tuned.

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