What makes a great signature sneaker line?
Is it longevity? Evolution and innovation? Introducing new design and technology? It is the colorways? The name? The brand?
The answer, depending on your perspective, is some combination of all of the above.
Every sneakerhead has his or her own pie chart with his or her own values and proclivities that are unique to them. But to garner some type of consensus, The Athletic formed a sneaker committee — including Travonne Edwards, Wosny Lambe, Matt Hevia, Jared Weiss, Nick Kosmider, Jason Jones and myself — to determine the greatest NBA signature sneaker lines of all time.
After listing over 50 signature lines and prominent shoe models, we whittled down the list to 25 options. (A special shout-out to Tray, who was instrumental in narrowing down our initial list to 25 sneakers, including consulting with some of the sneaker industry’s heavy-hitter writers and personalities.) Internally, we…
