As we enter the 2023 NBA Finals, basketball sneakerheads have been treated to some amazing, rare kicks, and we love to see the evolution of signature sneaker lines from these athletes.
The Jordan line from Nike dominates discussion of signature sneaker lines; there may be a debate about whether he or Lebron James is the GOAT, but there’s no debate that Jordans are far and away the most popular, most prized of signature sneakers. eBay is able to showcase the greatest selection of Jordans anywhere in the world; we field more than 100,000 searches per day for Air Jordan 1 alone. But more and more basketball players have signature sneaker lines of their own, vying for His Airness’s crown.
Some of these will come as no surprise: of course Lebron James, Kevin Durant, and Paul George all have many successful releases of their sneaker lines. Some of these, though, would surprise even the most passionate NBA fan and most obsessed sneakerhead.
Just two players in this year’s matchup between the Denver Nuggets and Miami Heat will be wearing their own signature sneakers on the court during the Finals. Amazingly, neither of them made the All-Star team this year.
Chris Paul
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Chris Paul, the Point God himself, is one of the most iconic players in the league: a diminutive passing genius with a truly nasty midrange game. Paul is still going strong, currently for the Phoenix Suns. Less known is that he’s also on his 12th signature sneaker in the Jordan CP3 line. If you’d like to go all the way back to the beginning, the CP3.1, the first in the line, launched way back in 2008. It’s rare, but it does pop up on eBay — just look for that Authenticity Guarantee.
Derrick Rose
Image source: chi-citysole
The youngest MVP in league history has had an injury-plagued career, but has also enjoyed a renaissance as a reliable veteran presence for the New York Knicks. The shifty, explosive point guard signed a long-term sneaker deal with Adidas, and recently released his eleventh iteration of the sturdy, high-top Adidas D Rose line. eBay is one of the only places you can find some of the rarer items in his collection, including the unreleased promos and colorways that nod to Rose’s high school, Simeon Career Academy in Chicago.
LaMelo Ball
Image source, above and top: Puma
For Charlotte Hornets point guard LaMelo Ball, basketball is all about the unexpected. Whether that’s flinging no-look cross-court passes, pulling up for a three-pointer from the logo or skipping college to play professionally overseas, he rarely takes the obvious path. That extends to his signature sneaker line, as well. Other young stars have taken the established path, signing with Nike, Jordan Brand, or Adidas. Not Ball: his MB collection (for “Melo Ball”) is a collaboration with Puma, a recent re-entry into the basketball game. We recommend checking out his colorways inspired by Melo’s love of Nickelodeon and the cartoon Rick & Morty.
Klay Thompson
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Klay Thompson is a four-time champion, one of the best shooters of all time, and the archetypal support player in the modern NBA: he shoots, he defends, and he doesn’t need the ball in his hands to help his team. Players who aren’t the biggest offensive star on their own teams don’t usually get a signature sneaker line, but nothing about Klay Thompson is usual, from his comeback from devastating injury to his casual thoughts on New York City’s scaffolding. You may not even realize that Klay has a signature sneaker line; Chinese sportswear company Anta has actually put out eight editions of the KT line, the latest of which is a wild construction with a big hole in the ankle. eBay has plenty of rare Klay sneakers, including a laceless version of the KT7 inspired by the koi fish.
Gordon Hayward
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Gordon Hayward’s most remarkable talent is his near-total lack of weaknesses. He has good size and athleticism; he’s a good shooter; he’s an excellent passer for a small forward; he’s a good rebounder, a good defender, and a good ball-handler. That “near-total” is a nod to Hayward’s one major stumbling block: health. Following a brutal fractured leg in 2017, Hayward has been unable to play as often as a player of his talent deserves. That health issue, and the fact that he plays for the middling-to-bad Charlotte Hornets, has left him out of the national spotlight — but not the international one, apparently. Hayward has released four signature sneakers with Chinese brand Anta, sporting a design that’s unassuming but fits in anywhere, though we spotted this collaboration with Japanese manga series Naruto that really pops.
Jimmy Butler
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One of the league’s most entertaining and improbable superstars, Jimmy Butler emerged from a junior college career to be selected with the 30th overall pick in the 2011 NBA draft. But his tenacity, intelligence, and humor have propelled him to be one of the most impactful players in the league, taking his Miami Heat to three conference finals and, as of this year, two NBA finals in his first four years on the team. Butler might be the ultimate late bloomer: drafted late, became an All-Star late, became a superstar late, and signed a signature sneaker deal well into his 30s. A nod to former teammate Dwyane Wade, Butler signed with Chinese sneaker brand Li-Ning, which creates Wade’s “Way of Wade” line.
CJ McCollum
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One of the league’s consummate professionals, McCollum is one of the best players in league history to have never been an All-Star. He is, though, a spokesman for the NBA, as President of the NBA Player’s Association union, and has elevated all of the small-market teams he’s played for: Lehigh University, the Portland Trail Blazers, and now the New Orleans Pelicans. His signature sneaker line is with Li-Ning; not necessarily a small-market company in China, where it was founded, but a small player in the United States, where McCollum has been wearing his “CJ” line since 2021. We’re especially fond of the Chinese New Year colorways.
Lou Williams
Image source: tommyv03
Three-time winner of the Sixth Man of the Year award, Lou Williams is the absolute definition of a bucket-getter. Williams won’t knock you out with size, strength, or athleticism; instead, he’s all slippery guile, using streetball moves and improbable shotmaking to rain fire off the bench for six different teams. Williams has shot down speculations of a well-earned retirement at age 36, and NBA fans certainly would love the chance to watch “Sweet Lou” do his thing. In lieu of Lou (ha!) coming back, hoopers can snag his signature sneaker, made by Chinese brand Peak.
Aaron Gordon
Image source: 361 Degrees
Aaron Gordon is one of the most explosive dunkers in NBA history, likely the best Dunk Contest participant to, somehow, never actually win the Dunk Contest. These days, he’s the frontcourt partner of two-time MVP Nikola Jokić on the Denver Nuggets, where he vacuums up Jokić’s passes for thunderous dunks. It’s a combination that has led to the Nuggets reaching their first-ever NBA Finals this year, where Gordon will likely be tasked with defending another player on this list, Jimmy Butler. Gordon has never made an All-Star team and is probably the third-best player on his own team, behind Nikola Jokić and point guard Jamal Murray, but he’s the only Nugget with a signature sneaker line. Gordon’s deal is with 361 Degrees, a Chinese brand. It’s one more than 360 degrees, you see.
Spencer Dinwiddie
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Thinking differently comes naturally to Brooklyn Nets point guard Spencer Dinwiddie. After a slow ascendance, Dinwiddie has become a no-questions starter, a hard-driving attacker with the confidence to take on anyone, anytime. Dinwiddie also took on the NBA itself in 2020, when he opted to tokenize his own salary, meaning that the public could purchase cryptocurrency backed by his (at the time) three-year, $34 million salary. Calling himself “a tech guy with a jumper,” Dinwiddie eschewed not just the big brands, but the small ones as well, and created his own brand: K8IROS. One of the most niche signature sneakers on the market, it can nonetheless be found on eBay, where collectors can find even the rarest of footwear.
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