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Are These the Nike LeBron Soldier 11s?

Is this the shoe we’ll see LeBron James lace up this post season?

We just witnessed Nike unveil the Flip the Switch collection, and the brand made it sound like we should expect to see players wearing those models in the Playoffs. However, we all know LeBron tends to jump ship from his signature line and strap on a pair of Soldiers come Playoff time so this could be the shoe we may see him wear instead.

There is no official confirmation that this is the new Soldier 11, but it looks like an updated version of the Soldier 10, so it isn’t an impossibility. This new LeBron shoe features another laceless design and one-piece upper. Four straps are used rather than three and materials look to be mesh and ballistic nylon.

Its tooling looks like a cross between the Hyperdunk 2016 and the LeBron models that feature the Hex Zoom setup. Will the new Soldier feature Hex Zoom? We’re not sure, but it’s likely. However, we hope that they feature the more traditional Zoom Air in the heel and forefoot. If these could feel like the Soldier 6s then we’d be fully on board.

The colorway is very “Nike Elite” which makes us think we’ll see these on LeBron’s feet this post season.

Feel free to share your thoughts on this new LeBron model from Nike Basketball below and stay tuned for official updates as they come.

Via

20 comments
  1. These look like the “leaked” LeBron 14’s that came out a while back that were all black. Those had laces but otherwise looked almost exactly the same as these (especially the shape of the outsole, materials and half-tongue upper). I wonder if those were the LeBron 14’s and he didn’t like them so they scrapped em as the 14’s and reworked them to be the Soldier 11? Or maybe they were just always meant to be the Solider 11?

    1. Wear-test samples from Nike usually aren’t the final product. They’re typically testing something specific about the shoe and not the entire shoe as a whole. Also, the internet likes to jump on things before doing research. They were never the LBJ14 — he was wear-testing the Solider.

      1. I was gonna say they looked like those leaked pictures from before too but what nightwing says makes a lot of sense especially because the leaked pics and these look more like soldiers and are pretty basic for them to be his actual sig imo, even though the 14s are more minimal than previous lebrons. I also hope they have non hex zoom because they look lime they could be a nice.

      2. Yea they never seemed like they were a sig-type design, but everyone was so antsy to see the LBJ14 it took off on its own once someone suggested it could be the 14. Cool to see the progression and design process a bit though.

      3. It almost looks as though Nike is trying to reintroduce Sphere technology in the upper. I’m still curious to see if Nike uses Sphere in the Retro Zoom Generations, or will they leave that out amongst other stuff they are notoriously leaving out of retro footwear.

  2. I understand why Nike would keep the design similar to the Soldier 10 cause it sold so well but I really liked the Soldier 9 much better. An evolution of that Soldier 9 design to just make it easier to put on, improve the traction and heel cushion a bit and you have a vastly superior shoe…but LeBron won his chip with a shoe that looks like this so it is what it is I guess.

  3. Lebron Soldier IX – 2 straps;
    Lebron Soldier X – 3 straps;
    Lebron Soldier XI – 4 straps;
    .
    .
    .
    Lebron Soldier XXX – WTF?

    1. Just a few more years and they will have so many straps that they are only as thick as laces and then they will just screw it and put laces on. Lol

  4. I can see these being the Soldier 11’s, but I would be very surprised if he rocked these during the post season, being as though, the Lebron 14 released only 4 months ago. I can go on for days on how I absolutely detest Nike athletes rocking so many PE’s instead of general releases. It’s over kill for Nike to release another Lebron shoe at this point. The success of the Soldier 10 hasn’t even died down yet.

  5. I am hoping they make some minor adjustments to sharpen these up but I like the overall concept. The underlying upper looks good and the tooling seems similar to the HD2016, which would be an upgrade over last year’s mediocre cushion and traction. The four straps seem like overkill, aesthetically it looks like crap and especially in white (looks like a cast or surgical boot). If I put them on and the fit is amazing I could forgive that but eliminating one strap and maybe dispersing the other three at wider intervals would look way better. I removed the laces on my LBJ14s and they work well, maybe another strap lower on the shoe would make them perfect. I like the idea of a laceless shoe, so many of these one-piece uppers could work without laces if they made the effort during the design phase.

  6. These are just disrespectful to LeBron fans, first the 14’s need a redesign(is why they look so Soldier-y), and now they really didn’t bother to make anything of these. I hope LeBron ignores these, and keeps playing in the 14’s(they’re overpriced, but a solid sneaker).

  7. Remember that LeBron signed a $1B Lifetime Frank with Nike VC so they have a lifetime to make a nice designed upcoming Lebron.

  8. Ok. Ok. Ok. Definitely going off of the 10 with the overall design, but I think that they will have hex pods because of the bottom you can see where little pieces of rubber jut out which usually means that it is hex. I personally had the 9’s and hey were amazing and I think that the main problem with last years was that the midsole was too stiff. Maybe these will be better. . .

  9. Nike has to understand that they are selling these to the general consumers, not to cater Lebron’s weird ugly feet which people don’t have in general.

    1. They are selling it to the consumer who want to buy it because they are made for LeBron. If they make stuff that doesn’t work for him then consumers won’t buy it. If they work or not for the consumer is irrelevant to Nike as long as people keep buying it. They have a wide range of shoes for many different players that don’t sell as well because they aren’t LeBron. Its a business first.

  10. I really hope this isn’t the lebron soldier 11s I want them to take inspiration off the lebron 9s they were almost perfect imo and 4 straps is just stupid just keep it simple 2 straps and laces keep things locked down

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