The 10 Most Hated On Signature Sneakers of All Time

Signature sneakers are supposed to be a way for a brand to leverage a superstar’s status into quick, easy sales. But things don’t always go as planned for footwear brands, and the shoes they create for the greatest NBA players can often become the subject of criticism or all-out laughter, much like Steph Curry’s “Chef” Curry 2 Lows from Under Armour. He’s not the only player, however, who’s had a shoe that’s been met with a negative reaction.

Some of the greatest NBA players have had duds in their sneaker lines. Michael Jordan, LeBron James, and Kobe Bryant have all been given shoes that weren’t the coolest things out at the time. This happens for many reasons: Brands can get too progressive with a sneaker’s design or attempt to make lower-priced sneakers that just doesn't meet up with the standards of basketball fans. Whatever the case, people aren't feeling certain sneakers sometimes, and they voice it with their buying power or opinions.

Here are The Most Hated On Signature Sneakers of All Time.

Year released: 2009

The Nike Zoom Kobe 1 was hard to top. Fans of the shoe—and of Kobe Bryant in general—swore by it, not just for how it looked, but how it performed on the court. It was followed up by the Kobe II, which was a line of three sneakers that never really took off, but weren’t shunned. After that lukewarm year or so, Nike released the biggest dud in his line: The Zoom Kobe III. Kobe’s always been about putting performance first, but the III was just something that people couldn’t wear off the court. Its upper had a web-like design that ran into the midsole, making it odd looking, to say the least. And it seemed like Nike knew it, too. Not only was it hard to find someone wearing this shoe, but it was almost equally hard to find at a retailer. Thankfully, Nike took Kobe’s line in a new direction after the III, making the IV a low-top and the genesis for the sneakers he’ll always be known for. — Matt Welty

Year released: 1986

Looking back now, the Air Jordan II is a classic. From its Italian construction to its lightweight polyurethane midsole to its clean Swooshless upper it was a shoe that was 100 percent ahead of its time. Which was a problem seeing that it needed to be a hit in 1987. Michael Jordan wound up wearing the original Air Jordan for two seasons rather than one, thanks in part to a broken foot that sidelined him for all but 18 games of his second season. When he came back and handed Larry Bird’s Celtics 63 points on their home floor in the 1986 NBA Playoffs, he did it in the Air Jordan 1. The Air Jordan II was a huge leap forward in terms of design and technology, but it was also over half again the price of the original ($100 from $65). There was a lot about the II that consumers—and maybe Jordan himself—weren’t ready for. When several of the execs who helped mastermind the Air Jordan line left Nike, Jordan nearly followed. Then Tinker Hatfield showed him what he had in mind for the Air Jordan III and the rest, as they say, is history.

Year released: 2002

The first $200 Air Jordan came with a lot of accessories. There were removable lace covers, a DVD-ROM, and a faux-metal briefcase that looked like something that should be locked to a secret agent’s wrist. At $200, it wouldn’t have been a bad idea. The shoes themselves looked good, but maybe not $200 good. It also hurt that, at the time, Foot Locker stopped selling Nike sneakers over $120. The Zoom Air of the past was replaced by a regular visible airbag in the heel hidden behind a translucent piece of TPU and the full-on shroud of the XVI was reduced to a snap-in lace cover that not many people bothered with. Wizards Jordan wasn’t Bulls Jordan in more ways than one. —Russ Bengtson

LeBron’s signature line is 13 shoes deep now—hard to believe as that may seem—and every year Nike designers attempt to solve the same problem in new ways: how to make a shoe for someone so big, so strong, so fast. James is bigger than Barkley was, quicker than Penny was, and traditional methods don’t necessarily cut it. Following the first model they tried straps, they tried Foamposite, they tried straps again. For the sixth edition in 2008, designer Ken Link looked back to the Air Force 1, and created a LeBron that mirrored some of its iconic lines, only reinforced for LeBron’s unique game. The triple stitching across the midsole was a bit much for mere mortals, especially with shoes on the verge of slimming down in a major way. The line was rebooted the following season with the Air Max equipped LeBron 7, and nothing was the same. —Russ Bengtson

Year released: 1999

When it came to the Air Jordan XV, the fledgling Jordan Brand found themselves in something of a tough spot. With Jordan retired again (presumably for good this time—or not), they needed to rely on second-stringers like Ray Allen and Reggie Miller to carry the torch on NBA courts. By the time the XV released in 2000, Jordan had actually been gone for over a full season, seeing that he gave the world a VERY early preview of the Ferrari-inspired XIV in the 1998 NBA Finals. The XIV would have been fine without him. The clunky XV wasn’t. The fit was terrible, the court feel was off, and the Prada-inspired design was’t enough to carry them, especially with the nontraditional “tongue.” They looked like $150 elf shoes. Tinker Hatfield doesn’t miss often, this time he did. Big time. —Russ Bengtson

Year released: 2016

It’s always tough to be the second superstar on an NBA team. Sure, life is great: You make a ton of money, get endorsement deals, and live the high life. But when you’re Klay Thompson, brands like Nike or adidas probably aren’t going to give you your own sneaker right away. So what do you do? Well, you link with a Chinese brand, such as ANTA and, boom, you have your own signature model. The trouble with Thompson and ANTA started last summer when he made a trip to China and looked less than enthused when holding a pair of ANTAs. Oof. The image went viral, and Thompson continued to get roasted when he received a pair of 73-9 ANTAs, which everyone thought was a struggle way of celebrating such a monumental occasion. His teammate, Steph Curry, gets his own fair share of slander for his Under Armour sneakers, but that’s because people think Curry deserves a better-looking sneaker. The same can be said for Thompson, too, although it’s hard to see a big brand making him their guy right now. Hopefully those ANTA checks can wipe away all the tears. —Matt Welty

Year released: 2004-present

Shaq had a pretty good thing going with Reebok, at least for his first few signature sneakers with the brand. Then he decided to take an unexpected turn: Start his own sneaker line, which he says sold over 120M pairs at Wal-Mart. But how do you go from having one of the best big-man sneakers of all-time to having your name on a line that’s nothing more than budget-friendly knockoffs? It’s even more confusing because Reebok continues to produce Shaq’s sneakers, without changing the names of them, either. Some athletes see the payday from working with lesser brands or starting their own, others link up with established brands—only Shaq does both at the same damn time. —Matt Welty

Year released: 2006

Stephon Marbury had a grand idea: Make basketball sneakers that looked “cool” but were available for a fraction of the price of others on the market. The only problem is that they were $15 sneakers. Sure, the price was great for financially struggling families, but they weren’t cut from the same cloth as their competitors, regardless of what Marbury told people. Starburys were only available at Steve and Barry’s stores, too, which soon went the way of Marbury’s brand (out of business). Maybe the Starbury might have been a minor footnote in sneaker history, but the man is trying to bring the shoes back and blaming Michael Jordan and Nike for a bunch of ridiculous stuff. While the first Starbury shoe received favorable reviews from Consumer Reports, the leather just looked so cheap, and the second was referred to as, “The Starbury II would be a fine casual, everyday shoe.” Gotta back up those claims, man. —Matt Welty

Year released: 2000

The adidas KOBETWO was, quite simply, a disaster. Fans didn’t buy it, Kobe didn’t wear it, and later that summer, following his second NBA title, he left adidas. The KOBETWO doubled down on the Audi-inspired lines of the KOBE, covering the laces and turning a space-age shoe into a Jetsons toaster. They wound up in outlets as Kobe quickly returned to wearing the KOBE. They performed just fine, but the synthetic uppers creased if you looked at them wrong and a lack of ventilation made them hot in a way the design couldn’t. Had these dropped during the social media era...it wouldn’t have been pretty. —Russ Bengtson

Steph Curry has done wonders for Under Armour, boosting the brand’s basketball sales by over 700 percent. That’s what happens when you win an NBA championship and MVP in the same season. The biggest criticism about his relationship with the brand is how his sneakers actually look. They’re being sold by the boatloads, but who’s actually wearing them? The biggest moment the Currys have had—larger than anything Steph has ever done in them—was when his all-white “Chef” Curry 2 Lows got completely roasted on the Internet, just because they look like dad shoes. Was the roasting fair and warranted? It’s debatable. Did it give the sneaker a higher profile than Under Armour ever could have imagined? Definitely. It wasn’t just people on Twitter that gave the sneakers hell, either. Stephen Colbert talked about the sneakers on television, while they were even a butt of a joke in the WWE. But oddly enough, Under Armour and Steph are the ones winning here. The world is paying attention to their shoes, even if it’s for all the wrong reasons. —Matt Welty