Nick Depaula On Working With Kobe Pj Tuckers Shoe Collection Becoming A Sneakerhead And The Goat Sne

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I found a pair of Oregon LeBron 2s back in like 2009.

It was my whole paycheck for the month.

Oh wow.

And I ate Reese's Puffs for like the whole month because of how expensive they were.

I was like, this is the one chance. I'll never be able to get these again.

What's up you guys? I'm Rachel Mita and welcome to the Courtside Club.

Today I am joined by writer, host, and absolute sneakerhead, Nick DiPaolo.

Welcome to the Courtside Club.

Thanks for having me on. Definitely.

I'm excited that we got to connect. I feel like it's been years.

We started off in the same little sphere of grassroots basketball,

just getting to know all of the different brands.

And now look where you've become interviewing Steph Curry

and some of the biggest names in sports.

So glad we get to catch up.

Definitely. No complaints.

I mean, I grew up with the game.

And getting to work around it is obviously as fun as it sounds.

So it's been quite a ride.

How did this sneaker game start for you?

So I always joke when I was in middle school, I had a $40 budget.

Okay.

And then in high school, I had a 50.

So I never had Jordans or whatever you would deem the best shoes to be.

I still have cool stuff. My mom hates that story.

She's like, you know, it's not like it was that bad.

But I do joke if I would have got penny twos in the sixth grade, maybe that was it.

But instead, it was always this aspirational thing.

Like all these players I look up to, Penny Hardaway and Jason Kidd.

And then I got a $50 budget.

And then there's shoes that I always wanted.

And so I was always trying to read more about them, learn more about them with East Bay, Slam, things like that.

And that's kind of what started the passion.

Thinking I could, you know, obviously play and try to be in the NBA like every kid aspires.

And then you have that moment of truth where you realize, like, how do I realize the way to get around the game?

Yeah.

And that's how the writing thing started.

So it started with writing about sneakers.

That's not a normal thing, right?

Like back in the day, it was writing about fashion or what people wore.

But in the sports world, it was maybe the signature shoes that were coming out, the Jordans.

But there wasn't the kind of culture that we have now.

Correct me if I'm wrong.

So not only was this pre-social media, this was like pre-blogs and internet.

So you think to like the late 90s, right?

So MJ just retired.

Slam was like my favorite magazine ever.

I consider East Bay a magazine, even though it was obviously a selling catalog.

And every August, instead of another monthly issue, Slam decided to start a sneaker magazine called Kix.

I think.

I think I remember that.

Yeah.

So they still do it now.

But KG was on the first cover, Kevin Garnett.

And he was wearing a rubber band on his left wrist.

And I still wear one to this day.

Oh, that's dope.

As kind of a tie back to that.

And ever since then, that was kind of what I realized.

Like, wow, not only could I write about basketball at Slam, but maybe I could actually write about sneakers, too.

Russ Bankston had some interviews in that magazine at the end with like Eric Avar, who did all the Penny and Gary Payton shoes.

Aaron Cooper that did all the Pippen shoes.

And then, of course, Tinker Hatfield.

People knew as doing the Jordans.

That was the first time I had ever heard those names.

They, in that article, said that Nike was based in Oregon.

I didn't know that.

I grew up in California.

So I was like, maybe I should go to school in Oregon since it's closer.

OK.

And try to figure out a way into the magazine world.

And so that's what I did.

So it was all around sneakers, though.

I think that's dope.

What was your shoe as a kid that you were like, if I had all the money in the world, which is maybe even $125 budget.

Which.

Which are the ones you're taking.

That's exactly what they were.

They were 125.

I think the best shoes of all time is the Zoom Flight 95.

OK.

The black and carbon fiber.

They coincidentally just came out this last year.

It's the black with like the spheres on the side.

Jason Kidd wore them.

Mitch Richmond wore them in the playoffs.

Gary Payton wore them.

I just thought it was the coolest, most futuristic shoe.

It's basically 27 years old.

It still looks futuristic.

So I never got the Zoom Flights as a kid.

I got the Thrill Flight, which was like the $85.

Yeah.

And I got them when they were $58 at JCPenney.

Had to mow the lawn for the $18, all that.

And to me, that's the coolest shoe.

And that's the shoe that kind of sparked me.

Not so much just being inspired by the players, but all of a sudden realizing like there's a lot more going on from the design side.

And being really curious about the design world, too.

So your rubber band you talked about with KG.

Have you worked with KG since?

I might be a guest on the KG Certified show in the next couple months.

Really?

Yeah.

Out of nowhere, he was like, I want to do a sneaker show.

Like, who do we get?

And somebody brought my name up.

So that'll be a cool moment.

Wait, have you met?

I've never met him.

OK.

Yeah.

Of all the players, like Jason Williams, meeting him was like a cool one.

Penny Hardaway.

Yeah.

I've never met KG.

Probably the most intense person I've ever met in my life.

That's what everybody says.

That's what I'm expecting.

I met him and it was years ago.

And it was an interview for 2K TV the first time I met him.

And he was just like, hey.

And we had the same age.

He was an agent at the time as well.

So I'd heard all these stories and how he's a great guy, whatever.

But I just wasn't expecting it.

The voice is loud.

It's really intense.

And I remember him saying, do you still hoop?

In that kind of way.

But it's almost like an aggressive way.

He's coming at you.

And I'm like, yeah?

He's like, well, do you or don't you?

That's not a convincing answer.

And I'm like, well, because I don't.

I would consider myself retired.

But yeah, I'll play sometimes.

But how do you say that when somebody who's like seven feet tall?

Is like hawking you up?

Well, do you play?

And I'm like, uh.

He would have put you on the spot and tested you.

That's the thing.

Yeah.

I don't actually.

I'm glad a hoop was like nowhere in sight.

Anyway, though, still a super nice guy.

Also, one more story about KG.

We were in Vegas.

And I was doing an event.

And it was KG, Kenny Smith, Diana Taurasi, who was incredible.

I hated her growing up because I was a Tennessee fan.

I was a Tennessee fan.

She was a beast.

She was just like.

Anti-UConn.

I get it.

Yeah.

Then when I met her, I was like, oh, you're one of the coolest people ever.

So changed my mind.

But KG, we were in Vegas for this event.

Everybody is in like nice dresses, heels, suits.

He's dressed up.

And he's talking about he doesn't drink in a strip club because he likes to eat wings,

hot wings in a strip club.

And if you eat the hot wings in a strip club and drink too much, then you'll f*** your pants.

Wow.

Noted.

Yeah.

So like those are some of my two experiences.

So I'm really excited for you to go on his show.

And I hope he keeps that same exact energy.

I'll have to report back if he gives me such good advice.

But yeah, that's intense.

You can't drink in a strip club.

Slam did, when he made the Hall of Fame, Slam did like an all KG issue.

Yeah.

And they had me write about the rubber band story, which was pretty cool.

Oh, cool.

So as a kid, I wanted to write in Slam.

And that was like a workaround way to write about it.

So it was pretty cool.

Has there been anybody that you've met that was kind of like a star?

You were starstruck a bit.

Or this is like a wild guess.

This is a wild moment for you.

I always joke.

We, you know, I was at Soul Collector Magazine for eight years.

And our 25th issue and fifth anniversary cover was Penny Hardaway.

We went to his house in Memphis.

He forgot the interview was taking place that day.

He was out golfing, but it's all good.

And he was like, oh, come back at like 630.

So we were like, all right, cool.

So we hung out at Olive Garden for four hours, came back at 630.

And it was the best interview ever.

He had this crazy shoe closet that was all customized.

He had a full court hoop in his backyard with like the one cent logo everywhere.

And I was 23 at the time.

So I always joke like that would have been it.

I would have been totally satisfied.

It was great.

And we got to do a fifth anniversary Air Penny 2 collaboration for Soul Collector.

Cool.

Which was gray, black, and neon.

Because that was like our original colors.

And that was like one of those shoes I always wanted as a kid.

That was, you know, I think those were 140.

So that was definitely off limits.

So it was kind of one of those full circle moments.

And Penny himself is like, you know, there's some guys, they played their whole career.

They had great shoes.

They don't keep any of them.

And they don't really have like an attachment.

And there's other guys that like got paid a bunch of money.

And so they're going to tell you how great the shoes were.

But then Penny's one of those rare guys that like loves it when he played.

Appreciates all the people that still love the shoes.

And is like still involved in the designs and the retros now.

So it was cool seeing how like, you know, he was retired at that point.

Obviously didn't retire the way he wanted to with all the injuries.

And for how much he was still like invested into it and passionate about it.

It was pretty awesome.

Have you been to other NBA players or former NBA players?

Houses and seen their shoe collections?

Of course I went to PJ's.

Okay.

He had, all right, he tricked me.

But he's got like the fashion element and the sneakers, right?

I think his wife was mad because he flipped their dining room into basically like three rows of eight racks each.

Of just all his crazy jackets, his pants.

Like it was basically, like when you say you have a walk-in closet that should have been a dining room.

Like it was pretty intense.

Yeah.

That was the old house in Houston.

But then he tricked me because upstairs he had probably like a couple dozen pairs on this pool table that were like pretty rare.

And I was just asking like, well, where's all the stuff?

Like you got probably five, six hundred pairs of shoes at least.

Where's the stuff?

And so we were walking down this hallway.

There was a bathroom and there was a bookshelf.

And literally it was like a trap door bookshelf.

It goes into this whole closet.

Like fingerprint access?

No, it was not secure at all.

It's literally you just move a book and then slide the whole shelf.

But it was great.

Because he just had the rarest stuff in there.

He had all these different exclusives from Chris Paul Jordans to different college PEs to original vintage stuff.

And, you know, a guy with a lot of money, sometimes they have access to whatever they want.

But they might not know the backstory or the real history.

And I always joke PJ is in that like top one percentile of anybody I've ever met into sneakers.

Like he knows as much about the history as anybody out there.

Is it more like a museum when you get to that level?

Do you know what I mean?

It is because he has it very organized the same way I do and a bunch of other people do for their collections.

Like, you know, you have it by brand, by year, by style.

And he's since moved out of that place.

And now he has like a dedicated quote unquote sneaker loft in Houston.

That's literally a one bedroom loft just for his shoes.

That's dope.

Yeah.

Because I get to this point.

You probably kill me for this.

But I've gotten so many like free sneakers just kind of being in the industry.

And obviously I even started off doing more.

Things with the brands.

So I would get basketball shoes all the time.

I had a closet full of basketball shoes, like all the signature shoes, all the everything.

But I don't play basketball anymore.

Like I just don't.

I'm not going to wear them.

So I got rid of a lot of them.

I just moved.

I kept maybe like 12 pairs.

But I gave them away to a girl's basketball team.

OK.

They have some.

So they're set.

They're really set.

But I was thinking back.

I was like, these are all the signature shoes.

I was like, and I kind of don't want to sell them because I don't care that much.

So let me give them away.

But I wonder if I gave away any heat or something I should have kept.

Maybe I should have called you first.

Very good chance.

You definitely should have hit me.

There's stuff from like 10 years ago you don't even think about that is now all of a sudden worth a ton.

Like.

I mean, a lot of that stuff from like the LeBron, Kobe, KD era.

Like people played in stuff that they didn't even think to like keep brand new or not wear much.

Right.

Sounds like you probably didn't hoop in that stuff much at all.

Yeah.

I kept my two pairs of Kobe eights, but they were actually my favorite basketball shoe as like an adult basketball player to play in.

So I kept those two and I have two pairs of LeBron's that are one of a hundred that I got from somebody.

And one is maybe like a Sprite.

Yep.

Sprite.

Sprite 12 is probably.

They're red and green.

Yeah.

So I just went through this dilemma.

I just moved two months ago.

I counted 768 pairs.

Oh dear.

So I was like, I need to.

I need to move.

I just need to move because it'll force me to downsize.

Yeah.

This is a outlandish amount.

And when I was at the magazine for eight years, you know, and even since like we always had a rule, you couldn't sell shoes because we would get stuff for free.

We didn't want the writers like wheeling and dealing and stuff.

And it just totally backfired.

Me and my boy Zach just were stockpiling stuff at our spots.

And the next thing you know, you got over 500 pairs of shoes.

So I'm actually going to do like a charity auction and try to buy jerseys for our middle school and try to give back that way.

Fun.

And it's still, I'm still keeping like, I still going to have like 350 or 400 pairs.

So I'm not getting rid of, I'm not going down to 12.

I could never do that.

No, these are just basketball sneakers.

I have a ton of others, but just for playing basketball.

Yeah.

It's a, I always joke like from being a kid that wanted all these player shoes I couldn't get to like have a overflow of stuff.

You know, I'm not complaining.

You should gather like other athletes and their shoes that they're also willing to give away and do like a whole.

Yeah.

I don't know if they're going to be like a new year's event or auction where they're signed or whatever, but they could be like PJ's collection is like six pairs or something, you know, and Katie's is another.

Everybody just chips in.

Yeah.

I like that.

Okay.

And you should host it as being the connoisseur that you are.

Some social content.

Yeah.

We did an ESPN thing called kicks to beat cancer a few years back.

Okay.

So we had everybody donate.

We probably got like 60 pairs.

That's dope.

This was actually right before Kobe passed and he was one of the people that was like, I don't know.

I don't know.

I don't know.

So it raised like, I think 65 grand, something like that.

So I might have to do that idea.

Did you get to work with Kobe at all?

I did.

Um, I got to do some phone interviews with him, like different events, uh, by far the most meticulous detailed, like person talking about shoes.

I mean, a lot of guys, you know, they say they want their shoe to be, you know, comfortable and look good.

And that's kind of the depth sometimes they go to.

And he was like, yeah, like the forefoot.

Like I knew if I had just the side of the forefoot zoom bag in the.

Kobe fives and I would have more of a responsive first step when I'm jabbing.

And it was just like, Whoa, like, you know, nobody really thought to that level.

And that was kind of why like the Nike innovation kitchen, Eric Avar, the designer and him, that was kind of why they had such a good flow and relationship.

Cause you know, those guys are mad scientists basically.

And he was kind of thinking on that level a lot of times.

Um, so I think when you look at like that Kobe four or five, six chapter, like even now you got, you know, 110, 115 players wearing those shoes every season.

Um,

that stuff is from 10 years ago and still holds up today.

So it kind of speaks to the, the technical, you know, approach that they took.

Is that the most popular players signature shoe?

Like, it doesn't matter, I guess, which number that you see NBA players wearing.

Is it Kobe's?

Yeah.

Before, before and after he passed.

I mean, obviously after you have guys wearing it for more sentimental reasons, of course.

Um, but you know, it was before that you had PG was in the like 40 to 45 player range.

Kyrie was like,

30 to 40 players and Kobe was like 80 to a hundred.

That's crazy.

Um, so,

you know,

I do know a lot of people wear PG's,

which I feel like those might not be the most outwardly popular.

So like regular fans,

but you see a lot of guys in the NBA wearing hugely popular shoe.

Like even in college,

a lot of teams wear them.

Yeah.

Um,

low top easy,

just like,

you know,

kind of checks the boxes on what you're looking for if you want a low top shoe.

Um,

but we'll see what happens with,

with obviously the Kyrie situation being no more.

Now,

like John Morant,

Devin Booker kind of next up as the signature guys.

So Nike is going to be building behind them.

So I want to talk a little bit more about your background,

what you're doing now in like the media space.

But first I'd like to take a halftime break.

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I know you're familiar with the show.

We like to play games at halftime with you.

I'd like to play a game.

I'd like to play a game of goaded.

So I have a bunch of different categories and you have to give me the greatest

shoe of all time in these categories.

Does that work for you?

Yep.

Cool.

And I always joke,

there's a clip of Gary Payton at the hall of fame where he says like John

Stockton's the hardest player he had to guard.

And then he goes,

and that's my opinion.

Okay.

So just to clarify,

these are my opinion of the best.

The fans are going to come after you.

Cause that's always what happens.

Like I do this annual best of the best shoes of the year list.

Yeah.

And like 17 of the 25 people hate on and just kill me on Twitter.

But I'm like,

that's my opinion.

Isn't it funny how certain subjects rile people up to no end.

But that's what's fun about shoes.

You could have your own favorite and I don't have to like it.

I know.

That's all that matters.

I shouldn't be mad at you for that.

I think when people get caught up in the hype and the value and the perceived

value,

it's like,

that's where you kind of steer wrong.

You should just,

you know,

whatever it is you like,

then rock out.

All right.

So Nick's greatest of all time,

basketball shoe.

To play in?

Do you need two categories?

Yes.

Because there's design,

which is the Zoom Flight 95,

which is a bad shoe to play in.

It's kind of like a firm shoe.

Yeah.

And then there's a shoe called the Hyperdunk 2011 Elite.

Okay.

It was $200.

It had like Kevlar flywire,

carbon fiber,

everything.

They just like maxed it out.

And that's by far the best shoe I've ever played in.

To play in.

And it's not that great looks wise.

It's solid.

The Hyperdunk?

The Hyperdunk 2011 Elite.

Black and gold.

I might push back on you already.

I'm telling you.

I haven't had one Hyperdunk that I've enjoyed playing in.

You didn't play in that one.

And then I would say the Kobe 4 probably behind that.

Okay.

And then the Garnet 3,

the original one to me is one of the best two.

Okay.

But the Hyperdunk 2011 Elite.

Elite.

There's the regular version,

which was solid.

Okay.

And then the regular one was like 130 bucks.

The Elite was 200,

all upgraded.

It was crazy.

Okay.

So we have the best signature basketball shoe of all time.

This is any player,

any version.

They're Jordan 11.

You can't go wrong with that.

Okay.

I mean,

from a iconic standpoint,

the patent leather,

that's for sure everybody's favorite.

It's funny that those were like playing shoes.

Great shoe.

Is it not?

No.

At the time,

like the carbon fiber,

the grip,

the mesh was lightweight.

Yeah.

I don't know.

It made like the shoe actually,

when you really like break it down

as a really intuitive shoe,

like the patent leather is where the support is.

The mesh is like lightweight

and kind of flexible for fit.

So obviously it's,

I mean,

it feels,

it feels weird now.

You know what I mean?

Like if I were to see people to,

to lace them up,

to go play at 24 hour fitness or whatever.

That's aggressive.

Yeah.

Okay.

The comfiest sneaker of all time.

The comfiest sneaker of all time

is probably the ultra boost.

Like throwing on an ultra boost

and just walking around.

Like whenever I'm in New York,

I just throw those on

and just walk everywhere

and you can't really go wrong with those.

There's still my running shoe.

Like nothing will replace them.

And the first one,

like I liked the 2019s,

but the first one like looks in,

then comfort was just crazy.

It's a game changer for Adidas for sure.

Okay.

The best J's of all time.

11s I would say is the,

is the best,

but I love the Indiglo 14s,

which is kind of an odd pick.

I just think there's something about that design

that's just like so sleek and futuristic

and the black,

white colorway.

Like to me,

that's a perfect shoe.

Okay.

Like they're black,

white neon.

Those are amazing.

And the playoff 12s,

I'd probably put in that same tier.

Playoff 12s?

Yeah.

Black,

white.

So you like the,

the classic,

you have black and white shoes on today too.

My mom didn't let us get white shoes growing up

because we got one shoe a year.

They would get too dirty.

And that literally molded me.

I have,

out of all the shoes I said I had,

I probably had nine pairs of white shoes.

Really?

I never wear white.

Okay.

So I probably,

probably over 50% of my sneakers,

definitely over 50% are all white.

I always thought it was like a template shoe.

Like I just feel like there's,

should be some color.

I wear these all the time.

I hate all white shoes.

And then I wear them out to the brim.

He hates all white shoes.

You're the reason they have the toothbrush in the box now.

I'm getting flamed right now.

Do they?

They have a toothbrush that comes with the white forces now

because it got so out of control.

Oh my God.

Where people were just killing them.

I kind of like it though.

I kind of like,

are you about to storm off my show?

No,

no.

I mean,

that's,

that's the trend now.

Wait,

who said that?

Gary Payton.

It's my opinion.

Exactly.

Okay.

All right.

All right.

What about non-athlete,

white celebrity sneaker?

I personally would say the black easy twos with Nike.

Okay.

Oh,

so Nike.

Yeah.

I just thought that was an amazing design with like the molding on the heel.

Obviously he was in a different zone,

you know,

career wise than now.

And just like that colorway,

like I always like when,

when somebody like signature players too,

like when you launch a shoe and that color becomes known as your color and you own it in a sense.

Yeah.

Cause you saw that colorway probably for the next two years on a ton of shoes.

With the pink collar and the glow in the dark or the green bottom and the black and everybody's like,

Oh,

that's the easy colorway.

And I just thought that was something that was really cool about Kanye early on was like the silhouettes themselves were unique,

but he was also having the colorways that he owned.

Right.

That was something we saw with like red October and tons of other stuff throughout his time.

We were talking about this a little bit before you came.

How are Yeezy's not glorified Crocs?

Oh,

the newer ones.

Yeah.

But see,

that's the thing.

Crocs have been around,

forever and injection shows were not cool or injection shoes were not cool.

And then he kind of flipped it and the comfort is there.

So they kind of are.

Do you wear Crocs?

No.

Have you ever worn Crocs?

No,

but I have a,

there's a shoe.

You refuse to wear Crocs.

Actually,

no,

I have the pair of Salahis.

Okay.

The blue ones,

but those are cooler cause they're like molded like a fingerprint.

Like the Croc itself is a,

it's,

it's a nurse shoe by definition.

So it's tough.

I wouldn't debate you cause I refuse to wear them.

I just can't do it.

And everybody's like,

Oh,

they're so comfortable.

I'm like,

well,

I can't do it.

Cause they're ugly.

A lot of shoes are comfortable that don't look terrible.

Right.

Yeah.

Okay.

It's not mutually exclusive to have like comfort and something that looks solid.

I'm glad we agree on something.

No Crocs over here.

All right.

What about luxury brand crossover sneaker with like a Nike or Adidas?

Something like the Dior's or whatever.

That's the newest.

I feel like that caught heat.

I'm a big America's cup fan.

Okay.

And the Prada collection with Adidas,

they did a gray America's cup shoe.

I think they were like $800.

So I didn't,

I didn't buy them.

Like they were kind of ridiculous,

but,

um,

that was a really good collection cause those had like the mesh and they were

more sporty.

Yeah.

Um,

obviously Dior Jordan ones,

a lot of people would say,

but they didn't really like bring anything new to it with those.

It was just a Jordan one with gray.

They were cool.

Yeah.

And then they go for like $9,000.

But,

um,

I liked that Prada one in particular.

Cool.

All right.

The biggest flop,

the biggest flop of all time.

The T-Mac four was really bad.

I don't know if you remember that shoe.

They were laceless.

I do remember the T-Macs.

Yeah.

The T-Mac one,

two and three were awesome.

Cause they like came up on the side.

Right?

Yeah.

The first three were great.

Like the two actually just came back this year and,

and they came out in like the SVSM LeBron colorway.

Like T-Mac was on fire.

He was playing great.

The T-Mac four was laceless and it had this contraption in the heel that you

like could unwind to get out.

And mid game he told this story about how like the heel piece came off and

like his shoe got loose and then he didn't know what to do.

Cause you can't time.

Cause there's no laces.

Yeah.

There's no backup plan.

And the shoe,

he was like the shoe broke in the middle of the game basically.

And I think that was like,

I always,

there's a lot of technologies that were like one and done for a reason.

Yeah.

And that was one of them.

That was one of them.

Like that's got to be up there.

What about the pump?

The pump is a gimmick,

but it's not like a bad technology that like is bad for the shoe.

Could like throw off your hole.

Actually there's a,

there's a,

answer.

The answer 10 was the Iverson shoe.

And instead like sometimes people overthink stuff and like I get it.

People are lazy,

but they like went one step beyond.

So,

you know,

pumping up your shoe is really not that hard.

And they developed on the answer 10,

this technology where every step you took,

it would pump it and then you would just lock it.

And that's what would like lock it in place.

They didn't tell me that.

And so they had this pickup game and I'll know if you're a kid,

but where you do like,

remember going on,

like to the grocery store and they have like the blood pressure test and you

would just try to see how actually pumped you could get it.

Yeah.

So like we're playing pickup games at the Reebok headquarters and we're like two

games in,

I look down and the whole shoe is like about to explode.

And the guy was like,

did you lock it?

I'm like,

what do you mean lock it?

He's like,

you got to lock it after it pumps.

It's like numb.

Literally.

Your toes are tickling.

I was like,

yo,

you got it.

Like,

and then of course,

you know,

if you're buying that shoe at the store,

you don't know the whole breakdown of it.

So,

so needless to say,

that was the only time they did that technology and I don't think they went

forward with it.

That was another flop.

That probably is up there.

Um,

and then the shoe I love to death,

the hyper flight,

which was like Jason Williams shoe with Nike back in the day.

I wouldn't say it was a flop.

It was a great design,

but it was like the flimsiest shoe of all time.

Like you couldn't wear them.

Like literally everybody debuted them in the playoffs that year.

And like three of the five guys all got hurt.

Oh God.

It was bad.

Like guys were just twisting their ankles.

This is a flimsy shoe.

So Nike would probably say that was a flop.

All right.

And what,

what was your greatest sneaker of all time?

Other than zoom flight 95.

Um,

there could be any,

any sneaker.

The shoe I'm actually really excited for that.

They got to do some more colors on cause I,

the zoom flight 95 to me is the best design of all time.

Hyper flight.

I love cause growing up in Sacramento,

like we had the hyper flight and the C dubs were like the only two shoes ever

that was known as like a player shoe.

Not a very long extensive signature shoe list for Sacramento.

Um,

but the LeBron too is a shoe.

I love,

um,

there's an Oregon P they did back in the day.

That was an amazing shoe to hoop in.

They're bringing them back as a retro now,

but I think they've only done one or two colors.

Um,

so I'd like to see more with those.

To me,

that's a very like underrated shoe that I don't know if this generation is

going to appreciate,

but you know,

as they get closer and closer to thinking MJ's or LeBron is their MJ,

then hopefully it's a shoe people get back on.

It's weird,

right?

I feel like we're in this new era of the NBA for sure.

New era of,

of sports.

Sports culture in general.

I mean,

Carmelo was the first player actually interviewed for the magazine back in the

day.

Oh really?

And like two weeks ago there was that clip going around where they were asking

kids like kids like who's mellow.

Who's mellow.

Yeah.

They were saying LaMelo ball and of course they're saying LaMelo,

but you know,

it's like crazy to think like,

you know,

a lot of people,

they might not even remember like before Kobe retired as crazy as that sounds.

You know,

that was,

you know,

seven years ago.

Now,

if you think about it though,

there's older folks who think,

I'm so young because I don't remember much of Jordan's era besides wizards.

And it's like,

that's I get it though.

You did the same thing.

You're not that much older than me,

but I didn't actually start watching hoops until I was older.

Okay.

So in the nineties I wasn't watching,

I wasn't watching basketball that like that I knew who he was,

but I grew up watching LeBron.

I grew up with LeBron or in the same hometown of LeBron watched him in high

school,

you know,

all the way through.

So that's kind of my era.

So it's,

I don't know.

It's weird.

It's always different eras.

And I always joke.

Who was next?

Who was our next LeBron that the media focuses on the NBA focuses on?

I mean,

we have Yannis,

we have Luca,

we have job,

we have staff,

we have Katie's also older now too.

I mean,

it's crazy to think Jaws only 23 cause he pretty much could be an MVP

candidate for like eight years here,

if not longer.

Um,

and obviously shoe game wise too,

he's going to have his first shoe drop it in April.

So I put him right at the top of that.

Next up,

list,

um,

Luca as well,

you know,

is,

is like shockingly young,

especially cause we've known about him for so long since he was 16.

Um,

and his shoe is doing great too for Jordan brand.

They've been,

I honestly didn't know what to think at first of how it was going to do.

And,

um,

somebody,

yeah,

I mean it's,

I think it's a good design,

but the price is one 10.

It's a good price point.

And then somebody over there was saying it was like the best selling non retro

shoe for them for like new basketball shoes.

Um,

so they've been hyped about that.

Um,

and I think,

you know,

Jason Tatum to me is the other guy.

He's,

his first shoe is coming up.

Um,

and it's usually,

you know,

the brands don't give a shoe to guys that also aren't the next up playing

wise.

Obviously there's some guys that are really marketable and you know,

maybe not in a great market,

things like that.

But those three in particular,

I think for sure,

you know,

the whole next decade will be at the top.

What about Wemby?

That just reminded me the NBA is already,

okay.

I think the NBA is going to try to make him our next LeBron.

Because they've already started.

They've already started.

And I haven't watched much of him play.

Anybody who I know who's seen him play says he is the truth and he's just a

freak of nature and also very skilled.

I don't know.

It seems like he could also be one of the guys.

They were calling Porzingis a unicorn and he's amazingly,

you know,

athletic and versatile when he was on the Knicks and all that.

But like the fluidity and like the threes of this dude takes like,

I've never seen anything like it.

Like I think even KD was like talking about how like surprised he was at like

his height,

what he's doing.

Yeah.

Um,

he's going to be with Nike for a long time.

So we'll see,

you know what they do together.

But you know,

the NBA social team was out there in Paris for the,

the bulls and pistons games and was way more excited to be posting Wemby on

all the different channels and stuff and capture content with him.

So we haven't seen this kind of press,

I feel like,

and obviously we're in a new wave of social media,

but we haven't seen this kind of press since like LeBron where,

or Zion maybe.

Cause we've been following Zion since high school,

but I get,

obviously you get the NBA,

you get the NBA notifications as well.

Every time Wemby's playing,

I get a notification about it.

I think it's great.

Along with the scores,

along with Steph has 40 points tonight.

You know what I mean?

His team's name,

his team's name is kind of clunky.

It's like the metropolitan 90 tours or whatever it is,

but they're on every game on the app.

It's awesome.

Right.

So I'm interested to see this,

this kind of next generation.

You've moved more into not only talking about sneakers,

but talking to a lot of different NBA players with the boardroom and,

and what is the show that you're doing with them?

Yeah.

So the sneaker game,

I've been doing that now for a year.

It's funny.

Boardroom actually started as a ESPN plus show.

So Rich and Kevin were on there for two seasons.

And then instead of just the video show,

also launched a content platform.

So that's been going great.

And I think a lot of it was really,

you know,

it's one thing to cover the shoes every year that come out,

some of the colorways,

you know,

different themes that players have.

But what I really wanted to dive into was like all the biggest contract

decisions.

So like Steph talking about like leaving Nike for Under Armour,

but like in a really longer format where he could really dive into like the

specifics of that.

And he had told me like they actually met with brand black and he was

talking to them at one point and Adidas.

Oh,

interesting.

Yeah.

Just all the different brands that were in the mix.

You know,

when somebody just signs their deal,

you know,

they're so excited about the new brand,

but they don't want to go through like really all the negotiations and the

details.

So it's cool to see like a guy like Steph talking through that.

Um,

Candace Parker even,

you know,

had a great conversation with her.

Obviously PJ Tucker has been on,

uh,

players like that.

Do you remember when Steph first went to Under Armour,

he was having all of these like injury problems.

And I remember there was a conversation like he can't go to Under Armour

because they can't manufacture a shoe to keep him healthy.

If he goes there,

like he's going to ruin his legs because we didn't think of Under Armour as

like a basketball brand.

They hadn't really done it before.

And any shoe that they had wasn't,

it wasn't to the Nike standard.

I mean,

they had been at retail with shoes for three years in basketball at that

point.

Yeah.

It's crazy.

It's like infancy.

Cause Brandon Jennings,

you know,

his first shoe was 2010 at retail and then he wore a prototype the whole

year before that.

It's crazy to think like three years later,

they're signing this guy that goes on one of the greatest runs ever with,

you know,

how many finals runs they went on.

So,

um,

it also goes to show that like Nike's kind of sort of brand equity cause

they always get a pass on that.

It's like,

well,

he's been getting hurt in Nike.

He's and they've been sending all these people out and trying to fix it.

And it's just for whatever reason,

wasn't working.

But yeah.

Um,

yeah,

I mean,

it was definitely a big piece of,

of the Under Armour pitch was like,

they got a specialized person to make sure he's smooth.

And you know,

last year he,

I think played five games in the Curry seven or two seasons ago,

but that was when he hurt his hands.

That was obviously different.

Right.

And for the most part,

they've had good luck,

you know,

over the years.

Who is one NBA athlete who you like talking sneakers with the most?

Let's take PJ.

Off the table.

Cause I was going to say,

we got to take PJ out.

Um,

Nate Robinson.

I used to love talking to,

cause he had all these like trainers and Jordans and stuff that like was his

childhood favorites too.

And he was super passionate about,

um,

I'm trying to think of a more current player.

Nate was great.

Um,

Dame is cool.

Cause like,

and Dame is one of those people that like,

he'll say the stuff that PR won't necessarily love.

Like he'll talk about shoes he grew up playing in or other players shoes that

he thinks are cool.

And so he's,

he's just kind of a more open conversation.

Um,

and then KD is actually great.

Cause he's like such a,

a basketball player first.

Yeah.

So he's looking at everything from like,

how would that be to hoop in?

And he wants his shoes be known as like the hoop shoe.

Um,

and he obviously,

similar to Kobe,

probably in a way like these little details to help me perform at the

highest level.

And he sees what Kyrie is doing.

Obviously.

What would you like to see Kyrie do?

That's a great question.

I would like to see him start his own brand.

Um,

I think,

you know,

when you look at what big baller brand did,

uh,

Sonny Vaccaro gave me one of the greatest quotes I ever got for a story.

And he said,

it was the worst handling of the best idea I've ever seen.

And I was like,

that's pretty harsh.

But he was like,

he was like,

no,

really though.

Like,

you know,

cause you could get,

you know,

a royalty percentage and cash and,

and all these things,

which are great.

Like,

you know,

and design input and things like that.

And,

and when you're working with some of these top brands,

they do have the resources technologically and innovation wise to,

to deliver a bunch of stuff.

But I think Kyrie is at the point where he now knows,

you know,

what he wants in a shoe from a performance standpoint.

He clearly with his models has a very defined,

like,

you know,

formula for his,

for his designs.

Uh,

he's also made a ton of money from the team to where he could take that

chance.

You know,

I think the tough thing with Lonzo was like,

you know,

he was on a rookie deal,

putting his own money into the venture.

You know,

it's hard to do that versus if you're on a max deal and things like that.

So,

um,

and I think it would have as many years to prove himself.

You know,

yeah.

And you're not,

you're not familiar enough,

you know,

with people.

And,

you know,

I think Lonzo is a great player.

Hopefully he gets healthy with the bulls.

But at that point,

the Lakers weren't even,

you know,

as much as LaVar thought they were going to win the title the first year,

they weren't making the playoffs,

you know,

things like that.

And then Kyrie is hugely popular in China where,

um,

for his style of play with a point guard shoe,

it really translates over there.

So obviously the reason Nike ended the deal was very unfortunate.

And that is something you got to point out,

but hopefully going forward,

he could figure out a way to,

to kind of stymie that kind of stuff and build out a new venture going

forward.

How did you like what Shaq did with his shoes and making them more

affordable and accessible?

So Shaq is really interesting because I guess there's this,

this window where if you change the design,

like 15 to 20%,

okay.

Then it's like a loophole where they can't say it's a copy.

So a lot of Shaq's shoes over the years,

there was like Jordan three inspired,

you know,

you could kind of look up all the different models.

Um,

but it's awesome.

Cause if you're a kid and like,

you know,

this shoe is 35,

40 bucks,

you can't afford 150 and plus,

then there's a market for that.

You know,

Walmart,

I think was one of the biggest retailers for years.

And you know,

he's had a huge success with it.

I think it's just totally different approach.

Like when I was growing up,

um,

you know,

Spalding had a chemo Lajuan wearing their shoes and that was like a pay

less.

Yeah.

And it was like,

you know,

you wouldn't get like super made fun of cause they weren't the bad shoe,

but obviously it wasn't the aspirational stuff.

But you know,

from Shaq standpoint,

it's like,

you want to offer something people can get.

And he's kind of always operated in that kind of like value zone.

He always gives back.

It's worked out pretty well.

It's crazy to me how we work as a society because you say Hakeem and Shaq,

two of the biggest names in NBA history,

but you're getting made fun of for wearing their shoes because they're

inexpensive and at stores,

you know what I mean?

Like it just sucks that we operate in that way.

Yeah.

But here you are with 700 shoes.

So

I'm donating.

We are reaching the end of the game.

So I have a couple of buzzer beaters for you.

Okay.

Break down your ideal courtside fit.

Oh man.

I'm always comfortable.

Like I don't even wear real pants.

Like I don't wear jeans.

Like I'm going to wear just,

yeah,

I'm a big sweat pant fan.

Like when,

when the easy stuff was taken off with sweats,

I was like,

finally,

here we go.

Socially acceptable.

So I'm going to wear sweats,

like a hoodie,

some kind of a bomber or some kind of over shirt.

Um,

and then just some shoes I think are fresh.

Like today I got,

these are original 1996,

uh,

top 10,

2010s from Kobe's rookie season today being January 26th.

I thought I'd break them out,

but I got,

I do have a pair of crazy eights that I did not give away.

Great shoe.

Smart.

Yeah.

I mean,

they,

they still retro those often enough,

but to me,

that's like,

that's all I wanted for my 13th birthday.

My grandpa got me a 13 inch TV instead.

And I remember being pissed,

but,

um,

I just,

you know,

the black and white KB eights now called the crazy eights.

Um,

but yeah,

I'm,

I'm definitely cozy over like trying to be overly fresh for sure.

Wait,

one more question before I get to the rest of the buzzer beaters.

Um,

where do you get your like exclusive shoes?

Well,

sometimes boxes just show up and you don't,

you know,

you don't ask too many questions,

but,

um,

there are people in line beating each other up for shoes,

or there are people on apps,

like breaking,

their phones when they don't get the shoes that they want.

So people think I have like a internal green toggle on like the sneakers app and I could just get every launch.

That's what I was going to say.

Do you?

And I,

the last shoe I got on sneakers was a zoom spirit on in like 2017 or whenever they came out.

Okay.

I've missed out on everything.

But you try?

Like off-white Prestos every Jordan launch Travis ones,

like what at the Stussy spirit on like whatever launch there was that I tried no chance.

Okay.

So it's like it really is that hard.

Like,

I think that's,

that's one thing.

And I still to this day,

like I'm checking eBay,

I buy stuff off goat,

um,

sometimes stock X,

you know,

I'm always,

I'm always still like I get sent a lot of stuff,

but I'm still tracking down and buying stuff too.

Like just last week I bought some more Garnett threes out of nowhere.

Okay.

Some,

some crazy ones like the metallic silvers,

like the first Kobe's like I'm still tracking down all these random basketball shoes that I,

that I'm trying to grab.

Was there any shoe that you got on a site or on eBay or whatever,

where you were like,

like,

the most hype for,

I found a pair of Oregon LeBron twos back in like 2009 and I ate Reese's puffs for like the whole month because of how expensive they were.

I just remember being like,

it was my whole paycheck for the month.

Oh wow.

It was two pairs of the white,

green and the green,

white.

And I was like,

I got to get these.

Yeah.

I'm a third.

I was a 13 and a half in that shoe.

They were a third.

I was like,

there's only like 40 pairs of each color.

Yeah.

I was like,

this is the one chance I'll never be able to get these again.

Okay.

Who was one person dead or alive that you would love to sit courtside with?

You know what?

Either Gary Payton or Kevin Garnett.

Cause like there's clips of KG when he was like later in his career,

just like in a suit,

like hurt or whatever.

Just talking crazy to players.

It's so funny.

And I feel like going to a game with him.

There's that one that's like really iconic.

It's Eric Gordon actually,

which is hilarious because he's actually a good shooter.

He's talking to.

He's like a specialist.

That's what he's known for.

You know what I'm talking about.

Yeah.

They actually,

uh,

one of my friends,

the producer on the KG certified and they,

he was like,

I was like,

did you ever ask him about that?

He was like,

man,

we just did like a couple weeks ago.

Cause to me,

that's one of the most iconic,

like just calling somebody trash,

like from the second row of behind the bench.

Um,

cause I,

you know,

Brandon Jennings is one of my good friends and we were at a bucks game and PJ

was literally the corner we were at.

PJ would,

you know,

PJ just kind of parks in the corner sometimes.

Right.

And Brandon was just like the whole game,

just like in his ear yelling,

like I'm not a big personally trash talker.

Like I just keep it pretty quiet.

But from an experience standpoint,

like I feel like GP would be the one or KG.

Those would be the ones to sit with for sure.

Fun.

And what is one event in history?

It could be a sporting event or other that you would have loved to have been

courtside for the Oakland 2000 all-star weekend.

Okay.

You had the Jason Williams elbow pass,

which raised the French botched.

Yeah.

And then you had the Vince Carter dunk contest.

Yeah,

true.

And I,

we didn't have cable growing up.

So my grandpa would tape on TNT,

the all-star weekend.

And then like that Sunday,

night or Monday morning,

I would get it.

And then I would like watch it that whole week.

And to me,

like from an energy standpoint,

I was like 15 at the time.

Yeah.

Like that seems like the coolest all-star ever.

Jason Williams is one of the coolest people that I've worked with as well.

I got to go to his stance camp.

I don't really play that regularly anymore.

I used to play like four or five nights a week and we played for like three and a half hours.

And my shoulders were on fire like the whole next week.

And he was probably 44, 45.

It's 44 at the time.

He's a beast.

And he was going,

yeah.

And you know,

people were just,

and he's still so competitive too.

Yeah.

And it was,

you know,

everybody there is a fan of his,

of course.

So imagine like 10 Jason Williams,

super fans on a court,

just all throwing the worst passes ever the whole game.

He actually taught me how to pass to a shooter because we were working together.

This was well after you retired.

Well after perfect.

Yeah.

So I have no use for it,

but,

um,

but he taught me how to like,

or what he said that he would do for his shooters is he would line up the laces.

So when you catch it,

you like catch it right on the laces.

And when he was passing to me,

he's like,

see,

you don't have to shuffle it around.

Obviously when you're in game,

it's harder to like line up the laces for who you're passing to.

But that is something that he did,

which attributed to him being such a great passer,

which is crazy.

I was like,

I wished I had you on my team.

Only if you knew that when you play,

I would've been like 85% said,

instead of 75 from three,

you know,

85% from three.

I'm just kidding.

Hey,

I can say it now,

right?

I'm out of the game.

I can,

I can extend my stats a little bit.

Anyway,

Nick,

thank you so much for joining us on the courtside club.

Let everybody know where they can find you and anything that they should be on the lookout for.

Definitely.

You can follow me at Nick to Paula.

I always joke.

I post my shoes on Instagram and then I post all the players shoes on Twitter along with whatever stories are going on.

And I just follow the game.

Every night.

I'm always keeping tabs on what people are wearing and excited to highlight what everybody's wearing.

Cool.

Thank you so much.

Awesome.

Thanks for having me.

Thanks for watching guys.

Make sure that you like and subscribe and we'll see you next time.