Last night in Denver there seemed to be a few firsts, such as Carmelo Anthony’s regular season return after serving his two-game suspension, where he surprisingly showed up sans braids. Kobe Bryant also made a quiet surprise of his own, debuting a new sneaker that includes the upper of a Nike Hyperdunk along with the tooling of the Zoom Kobe IV. While it was an under the radar move and there’s no word on any such shoe releasing, there’s several ways to analyze the move by Nike and Kobe.
Both the Hyperdunk and Zoom Kobe IV feature identical cushioning set-ups, with heel Zoom Air and Lunar Foam units embedded into the midsole, but the lone difference between the two is surely in the traction department. The Kobe IV features a perfectly squeaky and trusty herringbone pattern along the entire forefoot, while the Hyperdunk incorporates recessed grooves to handle its traction duties, and can become a bit slippery once some dust collects. Did Kobe switch simply for better traction? Both shoes have a similarly exacting support outrigger, carbon fiber spring plate and a radiused heel for great heel-to-toe transition. Or, is Kobe not yet ready to debut his 5/8 cut Zoom Kobe IV, and for now relying on the higher cut of the Hyperdunk? My guess is Nike and/or Kobe simply wanted to make the Hyperdunk more “his,” while everyone else in the league continues to wear the silhouette, as both shoes are perfectly capable from a performance front. We’ll be sure to update you with more pictures and information soon and be keeping an eye on his footwear as always for all upcoming games, but as far as we know, this is the first time an athlete has transitioned into his next shoe by initially wearing a hybrid of old and new.
[Note: Jester coming through with a correction. Michael Jordan was perhaps the first afterall, when he wore a shoe that included an Air Jordan I upper an Air Jordan II tooling.]
