Nike has officially unveiled the Hyperchase, a shoe for players like James Harden – Nike’s words, not mine.
They list a slew of tech specs, but the one I wanted to know the most was quickly glanced over… as these will feature a drop-in midsole. What type of drop-in midsole is used is what I wanted to know…
Everything else looks solid. They remind me of the Nike Shake Ndestrukt from back in the day… good ‘ol Rodman.
Check out all the official information below and share your thoughts in the comment section.
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Basketball footwear design requires obsessive attention to footwork. Both the lateral and vertical nature of the game requires shoes engineered for the specific movements of hoops.
With All-Star guard James Harden as the muse, designer Tony Hardman delivers the Nike Hyperchase, built for dynamic performance and inspired by sleek, modern fighter jets. The asymmetrical design, dynamic Flywire and hexagonal traction pattern all work together in this low profile, striking silhouette.
A SHOE FIT FOR JAMES HARDEN’S FOOTWORK
James Harden’s footwork is considered best-in-class, and separates his game from many of basketball’s elite. As the league’s leading scorer at 27 points per game, his quick forefoot shuffling allows him to create space and put defenders on their heels. At times it looks like the All-Star is dancing with his opponents at the top of the key and his Eurosteps hypnotize defenders.
With Harden’s footwork and dynamic movements in mind, Hardman designed the Nike Hyperchase to give the MVP candidate the best solution for the season’s second half. The Hyperchase is built to deliver instant responsiveness and quick movements without slippage. The Swoosh angle on the shoe is intentionally positioned to read accurately when an athlete, like Harden, is on their toes – a position that’s common for quick, dynamic athletes.
“What excites me most about the Nike Hyperchase is it allows me to jab and cut with no distractions,” said Harden. “It gives me the support and traction tailored to my footwork.”
The Nike Hyperchase combines three essential performance elements: natural motion, forefoot lockdown and dynamic traction:
UPPER THAT MOVES INTUITIVELY
- The Hyperchase upper is made with two-layers of mesh and strategically placed overlays for flexibility and support. It incorporates fewer layers of material for lightweight comfort.
- Flywire technology on the lateral forefoot integrates with the laces for dynamic lockdown; strong cables loosen and tighten with the natural motion of the foot.
- Asymmetrical design allows the shoe to move intuitively with the foot with more surface area on the lateral side for better containment and stability when cutting from side to side.
- Partial bootie made of mesh enhances breathability and provides a comfortable fit.
MIDSOLE COMFORT AND STABILITY
- A lightweight drop-in midsole insert provides lightweight cushioning that sits lower internally for superior stability.
- The low-profile Phylon midsole wraps up on the heel and lateral forefoot for lockdown fit and lateral stability.
OUTSOLE VERSATILITY
- The versatile rubber outsole provides durability on a variety of surfaces.
- Hexagonal pattern provides excellent traction for multidirectional movement.
The Nike Hyperchase will be available beginning Feb. 12 at nike.com and select retail locations. The inaugural colorway is customized for Harden as he competes in New York City against the game’s elite on Feb. 15.
I was set on getting xx9’s but these are beautiful and sound like very solid performers
So, no Lunarlon or Zoom Air drop-in midsole?? That’s a little stepback… the shoes look hot and I will imagine other colorways… but Nike should have dropped a Lunarlon or Zoom Air midsole and that will have been perfect!!
They actually didn’t say what the insole was so it is possible it is one of those two.
I doubt it; if so why wouldn’t they market that as a selling point?
Another sneaker site said the drop-in was cushlon, but we’ll just have to wait and see.
They said it was phylon. Unless it has zoom embedded in it(which they would have mentioned probably) it seems unlikely
They said the carrier was Phylon, but they didn’t mention the actual midsole being anything other than a drop-in.
I actually prefer the firmness of plain old phylon over lunarlon so I’m straight!
If the cushion is decent, im getting these hands down over the kobe x
They look alright but, what kind of cushioning is in this?
From what I’ve heard it’s cushlon, don’t quote me though
Can’t wait to get these, the style is super fresh. The midsole might be a cushlon drop-in as speculated from another first hand look floating around the web. I wouldn’t be surprised if was actually lunarlon since the Nike specs of the KB mentality doesn’t specifically say it has a lunarlon drop-in. Either cushioning would be great at this price point. Seems like a better shoe overall compared to the kyrie 1’s ( I had the dreams and was disappointed with everything besides the styling. )
The Mentality midsole says Lunarlon on the side though, if these don’t state the cushion then it most likely isnt Lunar.
Do you think if it isn’t lunar, it could be swapped for lunar?
I hope so. If its the same size as the previous Lunar inserts then it should work.
Ohh yea, good point. I just remembered on the mentality spec overview that is listed on footlocker, east bay…etc, lunarlon isn’t mentioned at all. Just the phylon carrier like this.
cushlon drop-in insole
“A lightweight drop-in midsole insert provides lightweight cushioning that sits lower internally for superior stability” . Interesting..Maybe the heel sits lower to provide better forefoot stability, the lower the heel lift in a shoe the better the forefoot stability is for forefoot heavy players. As long as the forefoot cushioning good enough the overall height of the heel or forefoot isn’t very important. For a player like Harden who rarely heel strikes and makes cuts mostly on his forefoot this makes sense. I find it really interesting that he said it lets him “jab and cut with no distractions”. Based on that it, it might mean that the heel of the shoe is not getting it the way like a shoe with a significant heel to toe drop. Its also means it going to help Harden play better which would be amazing to see, in my opinion. The heel to toe difference on the Kobe 9s is very small only about 5 to 6mm , if the heel and forefoot heights on this shoe is even more similar in this shoe, than its must for forefoot heavy players like myself. Nike its doing great things with there heel drop of their drop in mid-soles, a little while back they released a drop-in midsole on the Hyperfeels which had a 3mm heel to toe drop which was highly praised, but they were minimalistic shoe with minimal cushioning so they weren’t for everyone. But why stop at 5mm in basketball shoes, I might have to pick these up just because they might work well for Harden and I’m curious find out if they heel drop is better than the Kobe 9s. I also like that the flywire goes through the eyelets, I’m not a big fan of flywire but I don’t mind it when the shoe also has eyelets like these do and it does like nice in my opinion.
Well, the whole ‘makes me jab step better’ is just a marketing gimmick. The guy can jab step with whatever shoe he wants perfectly fine.
I wish they would the us heel drop. People have different cushioning preferences in basketball some people like more than others and like less so its not as important. That way it we would know if whether the heel drop works for you or not regardless of what type cushioning it has.
Also I’m not saying heel cushioning isn’t important it just doesn’t necessarily have to be higher than the forefoot in forefoot type players. And this is coming from someone likes playing in shoes bball shoes with great forefoot cushioning or heel cushioning.
When they say “his footwork separates him from many other of basketballs elite” do they mean his traveling. Cause I don’t think I’ve watched a game of his where he separates himself from the defender unless he travels. So these shoes help you get away with traveling all over the place and flopping?
You sound stupid
“It helps me do a semi-Euro step before flailing my arms to get to the charity stripe. No other shoe allowed me this privilege. With the Crusaders and Zoom Run The One’s, I only got to the free-throw line 10-15 times, but the Hyperchase gives me the flopwire and lunarflop technologies to really get the referee on my side.” – James Harden
Hahaha I’m dying
I think they referring to his guarding skills when they mention that footwork… He really does have a different footwork compared to other defenders… He normally separate himself from the guy he is guarding all the time….
Lol bunch of pathetic hating bitches, sick translator how many ppg are you averaging in the NBA ? Pathetic lol
haha you got nike good on the flopping part but most of the time if you watch carefully he is not traveling. His footwork is better than most guards,
I’d like to try these on when they come out. Anyone know the price point on these??
Imo this is a damn beautiful shoe. Can’t say I’m too concerned about the cushioning set up, as I figured it would be pretty minimal. However, I do have a problem with Nike for not specifying the type of drop-in midsole that is being utilized. When they are being vague like that, it gives off the impression that what is really being used wouldn’t impress us, or possibly wouldn’t justify the price. If there’s no zoom or lunar, that’s cool, just tell us exactly what we are stepping on.
Really Nike? Another Hyper model…
These defintely look like a better option than the Crusader and Run the One’s. This may be my first low-top hoops shoe.
The shoe looks great. However, I’m mostly concerned with the traction and it’s performance on less than stellar courts. If the traction is great, than the shoe will be top notch.
the most inspired nike basketball design done in decades. hopefully the performance and quality matches the looks
Does everyone like these over the Kyrie 1 ASG’s?
I still like the Kyrie 1s better
Asymmetrical flywire is exactly what I was thinking of when I design my shoe designs. Fly wire utilized that way will provide better lock down in my opinion. I have many designs that I designed and yes I believe that Asymmetrical flywire will provide a more contoured fit. I hope I can cop these
I was also thinking when I first saw this shoe. Can’t Nike make the whole upper translucent? sort of like the hyperrize and in that way I think Nike can sell more socks because it’s just an awesome looking shoe if the upper was semi-see-through imo
These look really nice. Nightwing, looking at the hexagonal traction in the pictures, do you have any initial concerns regarding the traction setup? How do you expect them to perform on dusty courts?
Concerns about the traction…me? Nah… lol.
is there a particular reason why they thought that re-using the lebron 11 traction pattern would be a good idea? not my favorite pattern in the world, although it certainly isn’t bad either….otherwise these look really good, too bad i’m broke after picking up some clutchfit drive lows…
How are the Clutchfit Drive lows?
i’ve only played in them once thus far, for about three hours outside… i like them, the upper is really a lot nicer feeling than you would think just looking at them/running your fingers over them, the cushion is fantastic, very responsive, fit and lockdown are fine, they feel as stable as any other low top that i’ve laced up in recent memory, the traction, though, isn’t all that i expected it to be…don’t get me wrong, i didn’t have any significant problems with them, but they were giving way just a little bit on hard cuts and sudden changes of direction, something that you can remedy with a quick wipe, of course, but i’ve just been playing in the kyrie 1 XDRs lately, and those are surprisingly INCREDIBLE on outdoor surfaces, so i was slightly underwhelmed…micro g is really something, i think it’s everything that i want from a cushioning system, i’ll write more when i give them a few full court runs on friday night
i kind of feel sorry for jumping the gun and buying one of the release colorways…they ran out of my size in the black, grey and yellow colorway (the mudiay ones), so i just got a pair of black/red and gold ones…i personally think they are hideous, but i’ve been wanting to try the clutchfit drive for so long i had to overcome my aesthetic inhibitions
The LeBron 11 traction works just fine on most courts, you won’t be wiping them like crazy if there’s a little dust, just every once in a while.
Professor K on his Twitter account said the midsole was a polyurethane midsole
A PU midsole with a Phylon carrier? Interesting.
I wonder if these shoes are going to be similar to the Kobe 6. I’ve been trying to find something similar for years. Even the Kobe 9s don’t compare lunarlon is just not as good as zoom
When will the hyperChase be restocked? I’m looking to get a pair