Nike signed star Morant suspected of wearing high imitation shoes, how hot is the Kobe series in the NBA?

Sports Big Business No. 2892, welcome to pay attention to the leading sports industry information platform

Wen | Tan Liwen

Sports big business reporter

On May 6, the US media BasketballNews released a set of playoff star social media views list, of which Morant topped the list with 149.3 million, Curry ranked second with 88 million, and Tatum ranked third with 56 million.

Morant's top spot on the list may have surprised many fans. In fact, this is not unrelated to Morant's Rashomon story of wearing "fake shoes" and slashing 47 points.

Turning the clock back to May 4, in the second semifinals of the Grizzlies against the Warriors, 22-year-old Morant scored 47 points, becoming the third player after Kobe Bryant and James to score 45+ points in the playoffs more than once before the age of 23.

The topical performance detonated the whole network, leaving Morant in the spotlight of the world. Of course, fans also paid attention to the specious pair of sneakers under his feet. The act of wearing fake shoes has also caused Chinese fans to jokingly call Jia Morant "fake" Morant with a harmonic terrier.

Morant scored 47 points against the Warriors

Morant's fake shoes are not the first time

After the game, many fans pointed out the doubts about the Nike Zoom Kobe Bryant 4 "Master Road" on Morant's feet according to the foot map on the field.

Kicksvision, a sneaker media in the United States, pointed out several doubts about the pair of sneakers, one is the position of the tongue, which is also the most controversial place. As can be seen from Kicksvision's comparison chart, the tongue length of Morant's feet is significantly shorter.

The second is the workmanship texture of the upper flying line. Flywire is Nike's famous patented technology. As can be seen from the comparison chart, the sense of the two lines on Morant's feet is not obvious, there is no three-dimensional sense.

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Third, there is a difference in midsole splash ink. As can be seen from the picture, there is a difference in the style of the pair of ink splashes on Morant's feet and the contrasting diagram.

The fourth suspicious point is at the mesh of the shoe tongue. As can be seen from the picture, the pair of sneakers on Morant's feet have narrow and long tongue mesh, while the comparison chart is flat.

The fifth is in the heel position. Whether it is the texture of the workmanship of the number 24 or the splash ink style around it, especially the yellow dot ink below the number 24, Morant's pair at the heel is obviously different from the comparison chart.

To this end, according to these main doubts, many sneaker media and fans have questioned Morant. Carter King, a well-known domestic sneaker collector sitting on thousands of pairs of sneakers, even said that the pair of Kobe Bryant 4 "master's road" on Morant's feet is "a fake at a glance".

Well-known sneaker collector Carter King reviews

Despite the rise in social media, Morant himself has yet to respond. Therefore, no one can conclude that Morant is wearing fake shoes. As for the truth, perhaps only he himself knows.

However, it is worth noting that in fact, this is not the first time that Morant has caused fans to discuss the suspicion of fake shoes. While shooting makeup photos last season, Morant also got a pair of Kobe Bryant 5s.

Shortly after the photo was released, sharp-eyed fans recognized the shoes as suspicious. On social media, some fans asked Morant if he really wore fake shoes? But Morant did not answer positively.

Its contracted stars wear "fake shoes", and Nike is the fuse

In April 2019, Morant, who had not yet officially landed in the NBA at the time, signed a four-year multimillion-dollar sneaker endorsement contract with Nike. It is worth mentioning that Morant is the first player in the 2019 rookie to get a sneaker endorsement contract, and he even predates Zion.

After Morant's 47-point shooting in fake shoes, fans took on a bipolar attitude. On the one hand, it is criticizing the NBA stars and Nike signing shoes to wear fake shoes, which has caused a certain negative impact on Morant himself, Nike and the NBA league.

On the other side, it is good to wear any shoes, and the performance of the stadium is still the data. Some netizens said bluntly, "Is just shows you what you wear don't actually matter. Some fans even joked, "If you can score 47 points in fake shoes, if you want to wear real shoes, you have to?" ”

Of course, this can't all be blamed on Morant. The main reason for the suspicion of fake shoes is the shortage of Kobe bryant series. As we all know, many people in the league are loyal users of Kobe's sneakers, in addition to Morant, there are Also DeRozan, Booker and "Thick Brow Brother" Davis are often kobe's shoes in the game.

DeRozan on the foot Kobe Bryant series

According to the statistics of The American sneaker media Baller Shoes DB, a total of 62 players handed in the Kobe Bryant 5 Protro shoes in the 2020-21 season, leading the rest of the shoes. In addition, according to ESPN, more than 100 players wore Kobe Bryant Series 4 during the 2020 NBA rematch at Disney, accounting for a third of the league. This can also be seen in the popularity of the Kobe series in the NBA league.

However, due to differences between Nike and the Kobe family, in April 2021, the Kobe family announced that it would cancel its cooperation with Nike. It wasn't until March 2022 that the Kobe family announced a renewed partnership with Nike. On May 2, 2022, on gianna's 16th birthday, the Kobe Bryant 6 Protro "Mambacita Sweet 16" was officially released, which is also the first sneaker released after the Kobe family re-established a partnership with Nike.

Although the two sides have reached a new cooperation, Nike has not chosen to reproduce the color of the Kobe series that has been released on a large scale, which has also made the Kobe series a scarce commodity in the world. Especially for NBA players with big feet, the Kobe series is really buying a pair of less than a pair.

"I couldn't have found a pair of plus-size Kobe sneakers in a shoe store on the street." Lakers star "Thick Eyebrow Brother" Davis said in an interview with the media about the urgency of the Kobe series, "This is everyone's favorite sneaker series, many people are inspired by his spirit, plus his sneakers really feel great, and the foot feel of each generation of shoes is great."

Fans love, stars are scarce, such a large-scale demand has not allowed Nike to restart the Kobe series production line on a large scale, but to use a limited number of sales to multiple batches of small sales. From the StockX platform, it can be found that the price of the Kobe Bryant 6 Protro "Mambacita Sweet 16" already has a significant premium, while the common size of NBA stars such as the US17 and US18 has reached $4245 and $1800, respectively. It should be noted that the official price of this pair of sneakers is only $180.

Kobe Bryant sneakers can not escape the fate of "being fired" after the re-release

During the season, it is not difficult for Nike's signed stars or spokespersons to get shoes that are being commercially sold on a large scale, and it is difficult to get the color matching of the first year that has closed the production line and has been on the age limit. So, even if Morant really buys the Kobe series out of his own pocket from the secondary market, he can't be blamed. Because he also just wanted to wear the Kobe series and couldn't get it.

A new façade for the league? Morant deserves a pair of signature shoes

From landing in the league to now playing against the Warriors in the playoffs, Morant has proved himself in less than 3 years. On April 26, 2022, the NBA officially announced morant as the fastest improving player of the 2021-22 season. With that honor, Morant became the first player in Grizzlies history to win the Fastest Improving Player award, and the first player in the league to win both Best Rookie and Fastest Improving Player awards in his career.

Morant's performance also helped the Grizzlies make a leap forward, and one season ago, the Grizzlies finished 38-34, ranking eighth in the West. The Grizzlies have a record of 56 wins and 26 losses this season, ranking second in the West.

Sports Big Business believes that Two of Morant's traits are destined to be signed shoes that don't get too far from him. One is outstanding court performance. If Morant can continue the performance of the past two seasons in the next season, Morant will become a strong contender for MVP.

The second is a strong style of play coupled with a hot-blooded personality and a fighting spirit that is unwilling to accept defeat. Known as "Serena Williams", Morant often breaks through dunks in one go, repeatedly staged flat-frame dunks and interstitial dunks, and a very ornamental way of playing can often attract the favor of many fans. Morant, who calls himself the "God of Point Guard", has a flamboyant personality and becomes one of his unique personal charms. Many fans said that they saw the Mamba spirit in Morant and played the ball most like Kobe.

In contrast, Zion, who entered the alliance with Morant, has already launched its first signature shoe, jordan Zion 1, in 2021. Judging by the stats and performances of the past two seasons, Morant is clearly worthy of a signature shoe more than Zion.

Nike's current basketball camp has signature shoes players including James, Durant, Irving, Alphabet Brother and George. Obviously, Nike's basketball branch needs fresh blood to maintain contact with young fans, and morant, 22, is naturally worth considering.

Note: The images used in this article are from the Internet