Tag: Nike

NBA releases uniform schedule for Rockets vs. Lakers playoff series

Most games of the second-round series will feature the Rockets in black “Statement” jerseys and the Lakers in their gold “Icon” set.

The NBA updated its LockerVision website Thursday with the specific uniforms to be worn by the Houston Rockets and Los Angeles Lakers during their second-round playoff series, which begins on Friday.

For the most part, there won’t be a lot of game-to-game variance. With the exception of Sunday’s Game 2, LeBron James and the Lakers will wear their gold Nike “Icon” jerseys in each game of the best-of-seven series. On Sunday, they will wear the team’s black “Classic” jerseys.

Meanwhile, James Harden and the Rockets will wear their black “Statement” uniforms in five of the seven games, starting with Friday’s Game 1. Houston went 3-1 in its Statement jerseys in the first round, including the Game 7 clincher over Oklahoma City on Wednesday night.

The exceptions for the Rockets will be Sunday’s Game 2 and next Thursday’s Game 4, when they will wear their red Icon jersey set. The Rockets were 1-1 in the first round while donning the Icon uniforms.

Game 1 between the Rockets and Lakers is set for 8:00 p.m. Central on Friday, with a national broadcast on ESPN. The Lakers will be the “home” team in Game 1, Game 2, and Game 5 and Game 7 (if necessary) — though with all games played at the Disney World “bubble” in Florida, home-court advantage shouldn’t mean what it usually does.

Games will be played every other day until one team wins four games, with the winner advancing to the Western Conference Finals.

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Will Lonzo Ball follow LaMelo Ball in leaving Big Baller Brand for Puma?

LaMelo Ball’s decision to sign with Puma could be the beginning of the end for Big Baller Brand with Lonzo Ball potentially following.

LaMelo Ball made waves on Wednesday morning with his surprise decision to join Puma. While his relationship with Big Baller Brand had been virtually non-existent in more than a year, there was no suggestion of LaMelo looking at companies and brands to sign with.

The move ends what was long a tumultuous relationship with the brand. While Big Baller Brand was responsible for the original MB1s, those shoes never had the hype of either of Lonzo Ball’s shoes and were the only signature shoe created for the youngest Ball sibling.

Given the marketing around the MB1 and LaMelo – the shoe making him the youngest player with a signature sneaker – it appears in hindsight that the shoe was more of a publicity stunt than a genuine attempt at building a brand.

There has been no official word that Wednesday’s move means Ball is no longer associated with Big Baller Brand. But any form of a connection between the two brands certainly would have been newsworthy from the jump.

LaMelo’s move leaves the question now of whether Lonzo will follow suit. While his relationship with the company hasn’t been as contentious, like LaMelo, his association with Big Baller Brand has been distant at best.

Many may point to the lyric in Lonzo’s latest album also sign that he’s committed to the brand. But Ball admitted in an interview with Ronnie 2K of NBA2K fame that most of the songs were written in 2018, pre-dating the Alan Foster situation that drove a wedge in the family business.

Since then, neither Ball brother has been spotted in much Big Baller Brand apparel. LaMelo spent much of his season in Illawarra wearing Kevin Durant’s signature shoe while Lonzo played his entire season in New Orleans wearing Kobes.

Lonzo’s sneaker future, then, is almost entirely up in the air. He’s stated that Kobes are his favorite shoe to play in. In the aftermath of the Foster situation, he made waves himself with a picture similar to Nike ads on his Instagram.

The connection with Lonzo and LeBron James will always come up, and James is a long-time, and lifetime,  Nike athlete. Whether Nike is interested in signing Ball, though, is another story.

While Roc Nation and Puma have a connection, there is no exclusive connection between the two. Kyrie Irving is one of Roc Nation’s top clients and one of Nike’s most popular athletes. The company’s most famous football athlete, JuJu Smith-Schuster, is an Adidas athlete.

Lonzo wasn’t privy to the same type of meetings LaMelo took during the NBA season. Given how long the pandemic played out, Lonzo could have taken meetings with shoe companies during the break.

Without any rumors whatsoever, it’s little more than blind guessing as to where Lonzo will wind up. But LaMelo’s move may have foretold a grim future for the state of Big Baller Brand.

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Mamba Day: What went wrong with Nike’s Kobe Bryant release

Oh boy.

Nike’s Mamba Day was intended to be a moment of reflection on the life, legacy and career of Kobe Bryant.

They were set to release five pairs of shoes and a limited edition “Black Mamba” jersey with Bryant’s 8 and 24 numbers on them. Fans were supposed to finally have a chance at getting some of the gear their fallen icon used to wear.

The only problem is it didn’t seem like many fans actually managed to get any of it. At least not so far.

Instead, both the Kobe shoes that Nike has released so far and the limited edition jersey sold out on Nike’s SNKRS app in seconds. They were bought up by resellers looking to flip them for a profit.

Allowing that was a big mistake on Nike’s part. Here’s Mike Sykes to explain why.

NBA fans are furious Kobe Bryant ‘Black Mamba’ Nike jerseys are already sold out

Not good.

August 24 has become Kobe Bryant Day since it’s 8/24 — the two jersey numbers the late Los Angeles Lakers legend wore during his storied career — and to honor Bryant and his daughter Gigi, the team will wear special “Black Mamba” jerseys with commemorative patches on them for Game 4 of their playoff series against the Portland Trail Blazers.

Those jerseys were put on sale by Nike on Monday morning through the SNKRS app, but as we’ve seen many times, a lot of people were mad when they missed out on purchasing the jerseys.

From what fans are saying on Twitter, it sounds like the Black Mamba jerseys were sold out in a minute or two.

First, here’s a look at the jerseys we’ll see on Monday night in Game 4:

And some reaction from furious users:

It’s a legitimate gripe if what they’re saying is really the case. If bots and those intending to resell the jerseys at a much higher price flooded the market and grabbed the jerseys, that’s all kinds of awful. And shouldn’t Nike have anticipated this and put together a whole ton of stock so that this kind of thing doesn’t happen?

It makes business sense for Nike to limit supply of its special edition merchandise and shoes. It’s lame and drives sneakerheads crazy, but it makes sense. But doing this with Kobe merchandise is different. This is someone who was beloved by a lot of people, who died tragically earlier this year. Nike trying to limit the release isn’t a good look.

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LOOK: New Michigan Nike shoes about to be released

Find out more about the shoe as well as when they’ll be released.

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Mark your calendars, Michigan fans. On Thursday, Aug. 20, there will be some new maize and blue merchandise made available.

Ever since the Wolverines made the wholesale switch to Jordan brand and Nike in 2016, the shoes have been something of a hot ticket item. Limited quantities are generally made available, and when they are, they tend to fly off the shelves.

Soon, Nike proper is set to release the Zoom Pegasus 37 running shoe for a variety of schools, with Michigan included.

Via Nike.com:

Crush your miles while repping the Wolverines in the Nike College Zoom Pegasus 37 (Michigan). Delivering the same fit and feel that runners love, the shoe has an all-new forefoot cushioning unit and foam for optimal responsiveness. The result is a durable, lightweight trainer designed for everyday running.

We have to admit, they’re awfully sharp-looking.

The shoes will be available via order on Nike.com (where you can get a closer look via several different angles) or at MDen.com starting at 10 a.m. on Aug. 20.

NBA releases uniform schedule for Rockets to begin 2020 playoffs

Houston is scheduled to wear its black Statement jerseys twice, while the white City and red Icon uniform sets will each be worn once.

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The NBA updated its LockerVision website Sunday with details on the specific uniforms to be worn by each team in confirmed playoff games.

All playoff games will be played inside the league’s Disney World “bubble” complex in Central Florida. Four of the eight series will begin Monday, while the remaining four — including West No. 4 Houston versus No. 5 Oklahoma City — will start on Tuesday.

Per Locker Vision, the Rockets will wear their black Nike Statement jerseys, which have “Houston” across the front, in Tuesday’s Game 1 and also for Game 4 on Monday, Aug. 24.

Houston’s red Icon uniforms, which feature the team’s usual red color scheme along with its latest logo and a revised font, will be the choice for Thursday’s Game 2. Finally, the space-inspired City uniforms — white with “H-Town” across the front — will be worn in Saturday’s Game 3. That keeps with Houston’s “Space City Saturdays” theme from this season.

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The Rockets are not scheduled to wear their white Association jerseys, which are similar in design (but not color) to the red Icon set. They are also not scheduled to wear their red Classic jerseys, which they went 0-2 while wearing in recent “seeding” games at the bubble.

The Thunder will wear their orange Statement jerseys with “OKC” across the front in Game 1 and Game 3, while they will don white Association jerseys with “Thunder” across the front for Game 2 and Game 4.

Uniform sets for future playoff games and series will not be released until those game dates and matchups are confirmed.

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Kobe Bryant’s signature shoes officially have a release date, but they may be hard to get

Kobe’s signature shoe is officially back.

Last week, the release dates of the first few pairs of Kobe Bryant signature sneakers being released since his death were leaked on Eastbay’s shoe release calendar.

For the first time in months, we actually saw proof that we’d be getting more Kobe shoes. There was worry that they’d disappear forever, but they were back. Still, though, there were worries that it might not happen shortly after the releases were removed from Eastbay’s calendar.

Kobe fans can set those worries aside — at least for a moment. Nike made it official on Thursday morning. They’ll be releasing multiple pairs of Kobe’s for what they’re calling “Mamba Week.”

From August 23 through the 29th, Nike is releasing five pairs of Kobe Protro 5’s as well as a Kobe “8/24” Lakers’ jersey.

The jersey sells at $120 and the shoes will retail at $180.

This is great news for Kobe fans. There are a lots of folks out there just looking to buy gear that reminds them of their favorite player.

They didn’t get that opportunity after he immediately passed away because shoe resellers bought up stock everywhere online and immediately moved to go flip them on aftersale market platforms like eBay and StockX for double the price. It was gross.

After that, it took months for official images of any Kobe shoes scheduled to be released to actually surface. And even when they did release again, there weren’t any official release dates.

This moment represents a bit of hope. Only a bit, though. Kobe fans looking to cop up should keep some of that worry with them.

Why? Because Nike might be limiting the stock on these releases. We know they’re doing it with the jersey, at least. And it’ll probably happen with the shoes, too.

If that happens, we’re going to see a lot of the same people looking for more chances to buy Kobe’s shoes at a reasonable price. Hopefully that isn’t the case and everyone who wants a pair gets a chance to get a pair. Only time will tell, though. We’ll see how it plays out.

In the meantime, it’s just good to see Kobe’s shoes back again.

See The Sneakers That Nike Will Release For Mamba Week In Honor Of Kobe Bryant

Using the jersey numbers of the Lakers icon — 8 and 24 — Nike will celebrate the legacy of Kobe during the week of August 24 with a special collection.

Using the jersey numbers of the Lakers icon — 8 and 24 — Nike will celebrate the legacy of Kobe during the week of August 24 with a special collection.

El impactante comercial de Nike que hace frente al coronavirus

La compañía deportiva Nike lanzó un imponente mensaje para luchar contra el coronavirus con el deporte como inspiración y el mensaje ‘Nada los puede detener’ como bandera de la campaña. En una estupenda edición con una pantalla dividida y diferentes …

La compañía deportiva Nike lanzó un imponente mensaje para luchar contra el coronavirus con el deporte como inspiración y el mensaje ‘Nada los puede detener’ como bandera de la campaña.

En una estupenda edición con una pantalla dividida y diferentes deportistas haciendo su actividad, la compañía de Oregon también aprovechó la oportunidad para que el mensaje no solo sea hacer frente a la pandemia, sino tener un mundo mejor, sin racismo ni discriminación.

Durante el video se puede ver un mensaje de la futbolista Megan Rapinoe donde narra cómo varios deportistas superaron la adversidad y a pesar de la compleja situación ‘nada nos puede superar’.

“Tenemos la responsabilidad de hacer del mundo un lugar mejor. No importa cuanto empeoren las cosas, siempre remontaremos con más fuerza”. dice Megan Rapione.

La publicación estuvo acompañada de un mensaje de Nike asegurando que el deporte es imparable.

“Porque nada puede detener lo que conseguimos juntos. No puedes parar al deporte. No puedes pararnos”, dice el anuncio de Nike.

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