Designed for Kyrie Irving’s awe-inspiring agility and speed, the Kyrie 3 advances understanding of court response and traction for quick-cutting basketball players across a variety of positions.
This shoe embodies Kyrie’s game to the fullest. Irving himself was incredibly invested into the design of the shoe. And, for the shoe to come to life in the way that he needed, he pulled in different designers to work on this shoe – this shoe in its entirety is a team effort.
It’s a different lace form that allows you to keep your forefoot down and stay locked in. The team at Nike shows me pictures of me on court and my foot is at an unbelievable angle. I’m crossing over somebody and my body angle and positioning is so abnormal, even when I look at it. I’m kind of amazed, because I’m thinking, all I did was a simple cross over here, but my foot is dang near touching the ground horizontally. I want to have technology in this shoe that is fit for those moments. The shoe is lightweight, comfortable and always keeps me locked down.
The traction pods are unbelievable. How responsive they are on the floor. Starting and stopping and going and picking up from behind-the-back crossover, and you start and stop on a dime while your defenders shoes are still going forward. That can be the biggest difference. This game is separated by very finite moments where you have to get your shot off. My shoe speaks to that. Being able to stop on a dime and cross over and go another direction, I can’t wait for players to try it.
Subtleties of playing style are not all that inspire Irving’s third signature shoe, elements of his personality come through as well — “JBY” and “H+H” adorn the tongue top. Additional design subtleties representing elements of Irving’s life come to life on the shoe. Hidden references to Irving’s late mother, Elizabeth include roman numerals VIII and XIII mimicking tattoo’s on Irving’s left and right wrists that are on each sockliner and visible each time he laces up. Its Irving’s family-first philosophy that also pays tribute to his young daughter Azurie on a small frame around the visible Zoom Air unit in the heel.
The Black Ice colorway launches Dec 26 for $120
