One of the special things about both of Oregon’s basketball programs isn’t necessarily the big names they bring into Matthew Knight Arena, nor the legacy that the teams have left in the history books — it’s the shoes on their feet.
When the Ducks end up on national TV, cameras will fixate below the ankles as broadcasters make a comment about the bling and usually expensive sneakers that everyone has on. In basketball, shoes are a part of the culture. When the NBA allowed players to wear any color shoes at any point of the season in 2018, pictures of custom painted basketball shoes were posted everywhere and some athletes would switch sneakers at halftime because they had so many pairs to show off.
Within basketball sneaker culture, Oregon will always have a special place. The Ducks have made their mark with the innovation, storytelling and significance that a small piece of equipment brings. This season, Oregon debuted two specific pairs that resonate beyond the court — the Sabrina 1s and the Kobe 8s.
Sabrina Ionescu, the former Naismith Player of the Year during her time in Eugene, announced her signature shoe with Nike. She’s the first Nike women’s basketball athlete to debut a unisex collection, creating a space of equality within basketball.
In the 27 years that the WNBA has existed, only 12 athletes have gotten signature shoes.
When Oregon announced on Jan. 9 the three colorways of the Sabrina’s that both programs will be wearing, it was a materialistic symbol of everything that Ionescu not only did in her personal career, but the impact she had across the state of Oregon.
In a personal essay published to Boardroom, Ionescu reflected on seeing local kids wearing her shoes at her SI20 camp at Kidsports, and said, “To see them playing in the shoes that I play in is more important than anything else.”
During her time in Eugene, Kobe Bryant was her mentor. Before his and his daughter Gigi’s tragic death on Jan. 26, 2020, all three would work out together, sit courtside at Ionescu’s games and keep in constant contact.
“We kept in touch, always texting, calls, game visits. I’d drop a triple-double and have a text from him, ‘another triple-double, I see you’ with a flex emoji,” Ionescu said in the Los Angeles Times. “Another game, another text. ‘Yo, Beast Mode,’ or ‘Easy money.’”
From there, Bryant’s relationship with Ionescu blossomed into a relationship with the university. In early September, his widow Vanessa announced the Mamba program, where select Nike-affiliated universities would partner with the Mamba & Mambacita Foundation to forward the legacies of Kobe and Gigi.
On Oct. 8, Oregon basketball and the foundation hosted a free skills camp with kids from Kidsports and the Hope Project. They spent two hours working on various drills with student-athletes and coaches while highlighting the legacies and impact they had on basketball.
“Everyone will say his mindset, his approach and everything in life is built into our locker room,” Kennedi Williams, a senior guard for the women’s team, said after the camp. “We have a poster that says ‘You have to work hard in the dark to shine in the light’ and that’s something we carry with us everyday.”
That mindset and motivation is built into the four different Kobes that the program received on Jan. 17. The famous Mamba Mentality resonates with Oregon’s basketball teams, a rare feat.
On top of those two sneakers, players also have the opportunity to wear other NBA Nike signature shoes. But, it’s not just Oregon players that wear them, the stars wear them too.
In November, the two-time NBA MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 54 points while wearing the Ducks’ version of his shoe, the Zoom Freak 5.
In early December, LeBron James was pictured wearing his own shoe with a bright yellow “O” on a black tongue. A few days later, he was pictured wearing a different version of it, but this time — it was bright green and yellow, a colorway that can be spotted from a distance.
PJ Tucker, also known as the sneaker king of the NBA, always has rare pairs of Oregon shoes on but recently wore the Oregon Jordan VIXs.
These shoes that aren’t available for retail but are being resold for thousands of dollars. The biggest names in sports want to wear the shoes that the athletes in Eugene get, but it’s more than a piece of equipment. It’s a part of Oregon’s history.
