Paul George has been a Nike athlete for a long time now, and is pretty clearly in the top tier of Nike basketball athletes.
LeBron, Durant, Kyrie, George, and Anthony Davis are the franchise, especially with Kobe having retired. On Monday, Nike unveiled the first Paul George signature shoe, and it’s pretty sweet.
Here are a few looks:
Interesting first colorway, though it comes with a special bonus tie-in to NBA 2K17:
He’s watching your feet, at all times. That little nod is apparently an exclusive for this first-run colors, and based on George’s tweet there are a few other looks in the works too:
That gunmetal look would be sweet, and I’d be wearing some for any upcoming 3-on-3 tournaments I may or may not be training for. (By training I mean eating like normal and launching threes.)
That George is still getting this signature shoe is actually inspiring, as there was a bit of a question as to whether his career would ever recover after his horrific leg injury in the summer of 2014. In fact, that did derail plans for a bit, according to Scott Agness at Vigilant Sports:
Nike introduced Paul George’s first signature shoe on Monday. The launch of the PG1s corresponds with the Indiana Pacers’ participation in the NBA Global Games with their game to be played in London.
This has been in the works for a while, at least three years. I’ve probably asked George about it a dozen times over the last four years and to his credit (for Nike), he’s been mum. Other than hinting, “It’s coming soon.” But that timetable has changed multiple times.
George’s shoe was scheduled to debut years ago, even before the KYRIE 1 launched. But then he suffered the compound fracture injury and they waited for the time to be right.
Ultimately, Nike and CAA, which represents George, decided for the three-time NBA All-Star to push his signature shoe first while across the pond in London.
George’s story is a great one, and though the Pacers have had a bit of a rough start to this season, he still has the talent to be one of the faces of the league going forward.
If you want a pair, they’ll run you $110, which is on the lower end for signature shoes.
