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The Top 10 Signature Athletes with the Best Performing Sneakers (According to You)

#2 – LeBron James

LeBron_James_Painting
Image via Streetball.com

The athlete with one of the longest running signature lines makes the list at second, with King James’ LeBron signature and Soldier takedown lines combining for 9.1% of total votes and 8.8% of first place votes.

The glass half-full readers may think that having the second best signature line is great. The glass half-empty readers may see the disparity between Kobe and LeBron’s sneakers and wonder why the percentages aren’t closer. Maybe you can point to the way both players and both players’ shoes are built.

Even though Kobe is hardly relatable to the average man with his 6’6″ build, Bryant has wanted to play fast and made that statement with Eric Avar’s low-cut designs. In contrast, LeBron’s game is built on power and explosiveness and his shoes are reflective of his game with more weight and support in his sneakers. Very few hoopers can boast the physique and game of LeBron and that may hinder the sneaker performance in the eyes of basketball players. In this way, LeBron’s image is one that people idolize rather than emulate.

With all of that said, the WearTesters performance reviews of recent LeBron shoes have mentioned the fact that LeBron’s sneakers have played lighter than they look. His recent models have featured fluid, segmented Zoom Air units rather than the larger full-length Air/Zoom units from the LeBron 7-10.

Another potential reason for the disparity is accessibility. LeBron’s shoes have consistently featured the best Nike technologies. This means the shoes come with the top-of-the-line price tag as well. The top Kobe model voted on was the Kobe 8 (if you separate the 9 Elite and EM) which retailed for $140. LeBron’s top model was the 10, which comparably retailed for $200. Both models were on retailer shelves for the 2012-2013 NBA season making this accessibility argument a bit more poignant.

Let us know your thoughts on the matter by commenting below.

10 comments
  1. Great report! This really should help anyone looking for ideas of what to buy. Thanks for the great surveys!

    1. I think each performance review on the site will determine which shoe you should buy.

      This survey was more for what the general hooper likens as the best hoop shoe.

      Thanks for reading though. Glad you enjoyed it.

  2. Good stuff. Perhaps I may have missed this, but was there a size and position played question asked on this survey? While I am not six eight, but six four and I do weigh twofiddy and am a power player, so there is nothing that I do with a Kobe Bryant type shoe but look at it from afar. This isn’t about Kobe bias, because I do not like him, but his shoe are too flimsy to be considered the best performance option for players like me if I were to use this article as a gauge.

    1. This is more of a general survey asking what the best overall shoes are to the general populous.

      This isn’t a recommendation of what to pick up. Your own style and build will determine that. Obviously there are more guards out there than big men, so it’s skewed towards guard shoes a bit.

      Hope that makes sense. Thanks for reading.

  3. the kobe line, if only for the 6, the 8 and the 9, has to be at the very top (i’m also somebody who likes the 10 a lot, even if it isn’t a top of the line shoe it is a very dependable and supportive option)….the rose line, though, has to be right up there alongside the kobe series, i’m not a big rose fan but every shoe other than the 3 (which isn’t bad, it just isn’t special in any real way) has been inventive and performance-driven, the 4 was just a sleek, flexible, explosive beast of a shoe, i played in that until the upper and the sprintframe separated (inevitable after putting it through runs in the rain, extreme weather, etc.), while the 5 had unbelievable lockdown and support, probably the best containment i’ve ever experienced…of course, you had to get the chicago ice or the woven brenda colorway to get top class flexibility, too

  4. Disagree on the Kyrie assessment. Companies have consistently shown they can churn out shoes with good performance at a low cost. Kyrie’s shoe is one of many shoes that are victims of Nike somehow deciding zoom should not be felt. Other than that, great list and appreciate the work done.

  5. Yo! This was a really good read. Thanks for putting this together. I’ve played in models from almost everyone on the list except for maybe Kyrie. Definitely a well thought out article. Respect.

  6. Really nice article, very insightful and definitely one of the best because of the level of analysis involved. Hoping for a wider and deeper study in the future!

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