This story appears in SLAM KICKS 27. Get your copy here.
It was all the pieces we may have dreamed of. One after the other, the 2024 NBA All-Stars from the East and West made their method from the tunnel to the court docket. It was February 18, 2024. Everyone was suited of their greatest. The King debuted a hybrid Nike LeBron 21 fused with Deion Sanders’ monochrome Nike Air DT Max. Stephen Curry was rocking his titular Curry 4 Low FloTro. The digs had been clear. After which a metallic end gleamed below the lights of Gainbridge Fieldhouse.
Draped within the recreation’s half-red, half-blue striped warm-ups, Kevin Durant despatched everybody—together with us—right into a fever pitch. The litany of social media posts that adopted echoed the culture-shaking moments from the heyday of NikeTalk. Vivid orange Swooshes stamped on the strap and the medial heel. A faint child blue speckling littering the jet-black midsole that mirrored the depths of deep area. A translucent, glow-in-the-dark outsole sitting just under. And below the hood, a picturesque galaxy of stars, huge bangs and wormholes extending throughout the insoles.
For the primary time since 2012, Kevin Durant was carrying the KD 4. And this wasn’t like him kicking it in a pair of Travis Scott x Air Jordan 1 OG Lows from his beloved rotation. The 2-time NBA champ was dropping buckets within the Zoom-cushioned silhouette identical to he did 12 years prior.
For the whole thing of the primary half, we acquired to look at KD play in what’s constantly heralded as the very best sneaker in his prolonged signature discography. We actually witnessed historical past repeat itself in actual time. High of the important thing threes, alley-oop reverse lays and no-look assists on the perimeter. Completely different jersey, totally different metropolis and some extra grays within the beard, however the kicks stayed the very same.
We’re severe, the actual identical. Kevin Durant’s retro run is exactly that: a retro. This isn’t the identical ethos that surrounds Kobe Bryant’s Protro pairs which were retooled for the fashionable recreation. The 4s have the identical clean TPU strap, full-length Zoom Air bag and monomesh midfoot home windows that Leo Chang masterfully cobbled collectively out in Beaverton.
On a hallowed night time in Orlando over a decade in the past, the world watched a 23-year-old Durant stamp his unyielding love for the sport in his third-ever All-Star look. Thirty-six factors, 7 boards, 3 dots and three steals = MVP. Quick ahead 12 years, and the sneaker wasn’t simply laced on KD’s toes as he poured in a surgically environment friendly 18 factors; it additionally lay in a shielded show case at CORPORATE on McCrea St.
Everybody is aware of in regards to the totally different hallmark moments within the NBA season. However for the sneaker manufacturers, All-Star Weekend is the epicenter of the yr. Budgets are allotted, plans are set in place and venues are booked months and months upfront. In-person activations are the secret, marrying newly launched merchandise with experiential moments. Customizable gear is like its personal forex. Then there are the true sneakerheads, who’re are looking out by way of pop-up shops and native boutiques for the holy grail of the weekend.
This previous February out in Indianapolis, everybody was trying to find the pair Durant would famously put on a couple of days later.
The tonal beige and brown “12 months of the Dragon 2.0” colorway might have formally kicked off the silhouette’s revival in early February, however the “Galaxy” was the primary authentic colorway from that iconic 2011-12 run that the Swoosh introduced again to market. A shock drop on February 15 set the stage for the return of the neighborhood’s favourite ensembles.
Simply as we spoke it into existence final yr in KICKS 26, Nike wasn’t hanging it up like they
did with the 2018 launch of the KD 4 “Thunderstruck” after Durant and the Warriors claimed the title. The Swoosh combed by way of the catalog and hand-selected the very best of the very best. Nothing however haymakers for months.
In late Might, we had been blessed with the topographical “Weatherman” joints as photos of cargo pants and color-coordinated tees screamed of a bygone period. By the point you could have this journal in your palms, what some think about probably the most acclaimed colorway of Durant’s 17 signature sneakers could have returned, with the aesthetic of rubber-tipped bullets and plastic magazines. The KD 4 “Nerf” is upon us. And whereas it gained’t be packaged in the identical sq. field that held a cardboard mini hoop and foam basketball, those self same pops of deep blue, grey, orange and volt will likely be transporting everybody again to reminiscences of denting the closet door with All-Star-caliber dunk contests of their childhood bedrooms.
The releases have been well timed but staggered, permitting greater than sufficient respiration room between every drop to reignite the deep-rooted ardour that exists for that midfoot strap. Nike is aware of they’ve acquired us in a vice grip. It’s why they’re reportedly set to shut out the 4s retro run with a duo of bangers, the copper and black “Christmas” colorway and the heart-tugging “Aunt Pearl” rendition—the primary of a now 13-silhouette-strong collection devoted to KD’s late aunt.
The previous seven months have been a bunch of nostalgia-induced journeys down reminiscence lane. We’ve been residing within the parallel actuality that we dreamed about only a few years in the past. It’s again on the streets, on the courts and in closets all all over the world. Fortunate for us, the story of the 4 continues.
Pictures by way of Getty Photos and Nike.
