In Tuesday’s game against the Boston Celtics, DeMar DeRozan debuted a new colorway of the Nike Kobe A.D. basketball shoe. Adopting the uniform colors of the Toronto Raptors, the shoe has a mostly black upper tinged with red on the eyelets and midsole.
Having grown up in Compton, California, DeRozan grew up watching Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers. His player-exclusive version of Kobe’s signature shoe is available at the House of Hoops by Foot Locker near Yonge and Dundas.
As a starter in next weekend’s All-Star Game in Los Angeles, this shoe is likely a commemoration of sorts for DeRozan, and recognition of the surging interest from Raptors fans. The design of the shoe itself may be fairly generic – though billed as a DeRozan PE, it’s still Kobe Bryant’s signature that adorns the tongue of the shoe – but as the Raptors continue to hang with the best of the Eastern Conference, and especially as DeRozan, in the midst of a career-best season, continues to stake his claim as a superstar in the NBA, only more endorsements will be coming down the pipeline.
Will a signature shoe be up next?
