17

Mar

Footwear Focus

This week in kicks: WWE icons inspire Haliburton

Written By

Jed Wells

Contributor

This week in kicks: WWE icons inspire Haliburton
This week in kicks: WWE icons inspire Haliburton

Indiana Pacers star Tyrese Haliburton in a pair of Puma All-Pro Nitro PE inspired by WWE's D-Generation X. Photo: Getty Images

Hoops personalities match kicks with a custom Maserati, a wrestling icon and a $7.5b franchise.

  • Tyrese Haliburton hits a game-winner in a pair of Puma All-Pro Nitro PE inspired by WWE's iconic D-Generation X
  • Adidas call out Nike after release of new ‘Metamorphosis Pack’,
  • Hawks NBL coach shows off his hops in son's Jordan Tatum 2 "Next Stop Dongdan"

What’s the craziest thing you’ve ever matched your shoes with?

Maybe you’ve paired them with a new hat or tried out the sandwich method with your shirt.

This week, our collection of basketball personalities matched their kicks with a custom Maserati, a wrestling icon, a six-time NBA All-Star son and a newly-joined $7.5 billion franchise.

Haliburton finishes Bucks in D-Generation X kicks

It’s no secret that Tyrese Haliburton is a WWE fan with the Indiana Pacers star having previously appeared at SmackDown against New York’s Jalen Brunson.

But he took his love of wrestling to new heights this week, channeling Triple H to incredible success.

Haliburton took on the Milwaukee Bucks in a pair of Puma All-Pro Nitro PE inspired by D-Generation X and delivered a finishing move of his own when he hit a game-winning and-one three-pointer over former MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo.

The shot even caught the attention of Triple H himself, who couldn’t help but take credit for the insane finish.

Adidas go big for Metamorphosis pack

How do you launch a sneaker pack?

If you’re adidas, you deck out one player's Maserati in a custom matching wrap and start an online beef with another brand.

This week, the three stripes announced the release of the ‘Metamorphosis Pack’, featuring nature inspired renditions of the AE1, Harden Vol. 9, D.O.N. Issue 6, Dame 9, and Adizero Select 3.0.

To celebrate the launch, not only did Adidas wrap Harden’s sports car in the same pattern as his shoe’s outer but they also called out Nike on X, formerly Twitter, after one of the swoosh’s new Kobe’s saw the sole blow out during a game in the Turkish League.

Tatum Senior sports son’s signatures in NBL Grand Final

Tatum wearing the Jordan Tatum shoes during the grand final - sure it sounds familiar, but this week we’re talking about Justin Tatum, head coach of the Illawarra Hawks.

Throughout his Coach of the Year-winning NBL season, Tatum has been consistent on the sidelines, wearing plenty of different flavours of his son’s signature line with Jordan brand.

But Tatum senior this week proved that the kicks are good for more than just pacing the sidelines, with the former pro proving he can still dunk while in a pair of Jordan Tatum 2 "Next Stop Dongdan".

His team may currently have their backs against the wall, down 2-1 to Melbourne United in the best-of-five series, but if Tatum can channel his son’s winning ways through his sneakers, the Hawks are far from done.

NBA’s sneaker king makes Knicks debut in style

No player in the NBA has a deeper closet than PJ Tucker, the 19-year veteran who reportedly has an entire seperate apartment he rents just for his sneaker collection.

This week, Tucker made his debut as a New York Knick, and you know he had to do so in style, pulling on a mismatch blue and orange PE of Devin Bookers Nike Book 1 - initially a ‘Texas vs Kentucky’ pair made for the 39-year-old last season.

A few days later, he stepped out in a different PE of the shoe, this time a glacier-blue inspired pair.

Don’t expect Tucker to rack up much game time for Tom Thibodeau’s team but keep an eye out for him on the bench, as he’s guaranteed to be wearing the most exciting kicks on the court.

FIT OF THE WEEK: Chris Goulding

Every week, we’ll pick one Aussie or Aussie-adjacent hooper who has put together the fit of the week.

Chris Goulding doesn’t miss, and we don’t just mean on the court, with the Melbourne star rocking up to game two of the NBL Grand Final dripped out.

The sharpshooter meant business, dressed in all black, with both the Louis Vuitton bag and the Air Jordan 1 Low 'Travis Scott x Fragment' on foot was enough of a flex to win the spot here.

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