What They’re Wearing – Summer League
The squad is in Vegas for the annual NBA Summer League. Like the usual Sixers’ they’ve been plagued by turnovers, but there have been some signs that there are legit NBA rotation players on the roster (As an aside, I will fully admit that the only game I watched in its entirety is OKC game from Monday). Zhaire Smith and Matisse Thybulle have showed flashes of why they are they were high draft picks. The big men – Norvel Pelle, Christ Koumadje, and Zach Hankins – all need some time in Delaware, but one or two of them could be serviceable if any injuries pop up. A true back-up point guard is still a necessity, but this crop of young players is solid.
Let’s take a look at the sneakers the guys were wearing for the first few games out in Las Vegas.
Zhaire Smith
Zhaire is playing in the yet-to-be-released Puma The Legacy. This is another promising model from Puma, but this version looks like a prototype colorway, so I’ll wait until I seen them with different colors and materials before passing judgement.
Matisse Thybule
Thybulle has worn a different sneaker for each game thus far – all Nike signature models. For the first game against Milwaukee, he played in the Nike PG 3 ‘Paulette’. This is a basic black and white colorway similar to what he wore for his senior season at Washington.
Against Boston he wore the Nike Zoom KD 12 ‘University Red’. I am a big fan of these newest KD’s. Unfortunately, they’ll probably always be remembered for the sneakers that Durant was wearing when he tore his Achilles, but this is the best offering from Nike in the KD line in years.
In the comeback and overtime thriller versus the Thunder, Matisse played in the Nike Zoom Kobe 4 Protro ‘Carpe Diem’. The Kobe 4 might be my favorite sneaker of all time (MPLS colorway 4 Life). Shake Milton wore these for all three games, too.
The Rest
Here’s a quick rundown of highlights from some of the other players on the team.
PJ Dozier wore the Nike Kyrie 4 ‘EYBL’ and Nike LeBron 16 ‘Equality’. He has nice sneaker choices, but from what I’ve seen thus far, I’m not impressed with his game.
Above are the Nike Kyrie 5 ‘Mamba Mentality’ being worn by Jalen Jones. He seems like he’s destined for Delaware or Europe, but he is a beast on the boards and plays tough defense, so who knows.
Norvel Pelle was signed to a two-way contract last week for some big-man insurance, so we will be seeing him on the main roster for a few games next season. He played in the Nike Zoom Kobe A.D. (2018) created with NikeID.
The last of the bunch is Haywood Highsmith who laced up the Nike PG 3 NASA ‘Apollo Missions’. These are clean.
Joel Embiid
No days off for the sqUAd. @joelembiid got to work in Shanghai 🇨🇳 in the New Hovr Havoc II. Get your pair now: https://t.co/P5qeIe5ECw pic.twitter.com/lXCMoV9Eem
— Under Armour Hoops (@UAbasketball) June 29, 2019
Joel and the rest of team UA were in China recently on a tour participating in camps and events. While there, Embiid debuted the new Under Armour HOVR Havoc II. He wore the original Havoc for most of last season, so expect him to be the face of the second iteration.
The sneaker itself is a nice evolution from the initial Havoc. Under Armour is starting to turn the corner in their basketball design realm (the Curry line has been good recently) and these are a step in the right direction. I think the interlocking UA logo looks terrible on the side of a sneaker, so it’s nice that they are relegating it to the midsole.
Zion Williamson
.@ZionWilliamson wearing the “Game Error” Puma RS-0 🤔
📸: @rebilasphoto pic.twitter.com/3wejOC6Mxr— Complex Sneakers (@ComplexSneakers) July 7, 2019
I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the most highly anticipated rookie sneaker free agent since LeBron. In his first and only game, Zion wore a custom Duke version of the Nike Kyrie 4 that was created for him after the sneaker blow-out saga. What raised some eyebrows, is the fact that he showed up for the Pelicans’ second game wearing the Puma RS-0 ‘Game Error’. Who knows what this means, but it is certainly not a coincidence. Williamson has shown to have an affinity to Nike since his time at Duke. He’s worn mostly Off-White x Nike sneakers to publicity events in his young professional career, so this divergence is notable.
Update: I originally wrote this on Monday night while the Pelicans-Bulls game was being played. I couldn’t find a clear picture of what Zion was wearing on the sidelines. As of today it has been shown that he was wearing the Air Jordan XIII ‘Cap and Gown’. So there is still no clear indication what’s going on with a sneaker contract.
Stay tuned.
