It’s more than just Jordans. eBay’s strongest tie to basketball is not documented footwear, but an infinite inventory of NBA junk, official and otherwise, wearable or not. If it’s old and NBA, it’s worth watching. Keep checking back for the best in vintage NBA memorabilia around. This week, we have old school kicks from Shaquille O’Neal and Patrick Ewing.
Dead Auction: VTG REEBOK PUMP SHAQ ATTACK III SZ 13 KAMIKAZE KEMP OG
Ended: $80.00
As with the parts of Shaquille O’Neal’s career that have involved a free-throw line, this above-linked pair of Reeboks seem phoned in. If they’re impressive — and there is some understated quality to them — they’re both simple and unoriginal. That said, like the big man himself, they’re still pretty impressive.
The Shaq Attack III directly rips off the defining sneakers from hoops’ early-90s golden age. The curvy outsole and overlapping leather are exactly Jordan VII and the cut-out ankles are exactly Fab Five Huarache. It’s so direct a lift that it’s jarring to see a small Reebok logo on the sneaker, and not shades of Raptor red and purple or Michigan blue.
Of course, theft has its advantages, even if in this case it’s just good taste. Unlike the better part of O’Neal’s sneakerography, this pair is wearable, subtler than either the Jordan or the Huarache. But despite its charms, the Shaq Attack III remains one of the least interesting things Shaq did all decade.
It’s easy to forget how famous Shaq was in the ’90s. Sure he broke backboards — his logo, and, one would hope, his enduring legacy — but the man’s pop-culture run was so broad and deep that it’s still being ridden well past its expiry date. “Kazaam” is a good punchline and a bad movie, but his extracurriculars were otherwise incredibly impressive: Burger King Shaq Packs, Fu-Schnickens guest spots, Nick Nolte, law enforcement, to say nothing of Shaq Fu. Shaq was arguably more famous before he moved to L.A. When the NBA was at its nadir, he was larger than life, and though his skills have diminished, he’s long since been trading off that glow.
This sterling marketing pedigree makes Shaq’s sneaker timeline all the more confusing. Not long after the Shaq Attack III released, he wisely left Reebok, the birthplace of the Alien Stomper, the Dee Brown Pump and not much else. He did so for his eponymous brand, since sold at Payless, K-mart and Walmart.
Of course, there’s nothing wrong with a cheap, non-branded sneaker. Before Steve & Barry’s went under, the Starbury looked like a legitimate challenger, not to mention a feel-good story. Shoes are lighter now, mostly better, but most retros are shoddily made — and their prices keep rising. It’s almost enough to make someone want to go out and buy a Shaq.
Live Auction: Vintage 80s DS Champion EWING Basketball Shoes 10.5 N
Buy It Now: $189.99
Of course, Patrick Ewing made the jump to crappier sneakers much earlier than Shaq. Throughout his career, Ewing seemed to be forever downgrading his shoes. Things started well enough in the mid-80s at Georgetown: He was clad in Terminators, the Hoyas exclusive. By 1985, the scariest college center of his era was now getting paid to both wear sneakers and play basketball, and switched to Attitudes, then the Rivalry — its more beefed-up version — then Conductors — its most beefed-up version. Some details changed — the Conductors’ most-promoted variation were black and white and not a Knicks colorway — but each sneaker was referred to as Ewings.
Ewing was pretty well-known from the start — maybe not as much as Shaq at his peak, but he a name. In college, he was the best player on a premier basketball program with nationally-broadcast regular-season games — a rarity, then — and won a championship. He was talented enough at Georgetown that NBA teams thought of tanking for the pick, and the league responded by making his draft class the first under the lottery. He would play in New York and excel, always known, and by the end of the decade, with good name in tow, he left adidas for Champion, a move more lateral than vertical. The seller dates these to 1989, though other reports have the Knicks center starting his own signature brand, this time called Patrick Ewings, that same year. The best Ewings (that is, Ewing-brand Ewings) were all suede, either black or blue, and as strong a fourth act as anything outside Shakespeare.
Ewing was the first athlete to branch out and start his own sneaker company, and appropriately enough, the early, better models, go for Jordan-level money. Shaq went from the Kamikaze to the Shaqnosis to rip-off sneakers to basketball Skippies, and though his fame never wavered, his footwear association devolved at a much quicker rate than Ewing’s. Few collect any Shaq sneakers, and fewer know he wears now. Ewing, on the other hand, was always in Ewings, even when he was just in adidas. That’s a different kind of fame, as much an accomplishment as making a movie or appearing on a record or two.
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