James Harden Rocked The Adidas Harden Vol. 3 At The Drew League And Other Colorways Have Leaked

James Harden is entering the third year of his 13-year, $200 million sneaker contract with adidas, and as such, is set to release his third signature sneaker. The Harden Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 were each successful, with the second building on the first to create an even more comfortable hoops shoe.

The first featured a toe cap that was meant to prevent too much lateral movement in the forefoot that can sometimes cause issues with sneakers with knit uppers. The second did away with that cap, with just the mesh upper on the forefoot, and added more BOOST to the midsole with synthetic paneling on the middle and rear of the shoe to help with stability and durability. That said, the second sneaker, while quite functional, wasn’t the most fashionable hoops shoe and the third sneaker looks to combine some of the features of both.

Harden debuted the Vol. 3 at USA Basketball camp in Las Vegas and popped up in them again at The Drew League on Sunday, in a black, blue, and pink colorway.

As you can see from the pic above, this edition does away with the synthetic paneling from the two and goes with a full mesh upper. However, to assist with lateral stability, they’ve included a strap across the front of the lacing at the ball of the foot to secure the foot laterally, as well as a mini-toe cap on the inside quarter of the toe to again prevent sliding and provide more durability for the mesh in those high pressure areas. If you scroll through this detailed look at a black and white colorway from sneakertigger on Instagram, you can see that another major change is to the outsole, where they’ve gone to a more traditional herringbone traction design after there were complaints about the grip on the 2s.

The design of the sneaker also looks to be a bit more flashy compared to the very functional 2s, with the XIII on the inside starting at the heel, the three stripes logo moved to the outside of the heel, and the strap-look on the front offering plenty of options for making some interesting colorways.

As for those colorways we can expect to see soon, there’s not an official release date, but all indications from Sneakernews and others point to September as the drop date and three colorways have leaked, via US 11 on Twitter.

There are some opportunities for bold colorways, but to start it seems we’ll get some standard classic looks from the Vol. 3.