The debate is over. LeBron James has officially cemented his legacy and himself in basketballing history, clinching the top spot as the NBA’s all-time leading scorer. Just as Michael Jordan set many a record in his signature Air Jordans, King James made his moment in a new pair of Nike LeBron 20s.
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Over the past decade, the synonymy of basketball and fashion has undoubtedly intensified. Sure, basketball fans and sneakerheads have clung to the feet of the sport's athletes since the early 90s thanks to Reebok's Shaq Attack, Nike's Air Jordans, and Kobe's signature sneakers in the 2000s, but since, off-court style has become heavily publicized.
In the same vein that recording artists have called upon athletes like LeBron to preview and review their new tracks and albums, athletes look to their style to bolster their achievements. If you're going to set or break a record, why not do it in your favorite, or better yet, signature sneakers?
This isn't LeBron's first rodeo, and if he's going to ball out, he'll do so in a pair of Nike Lebrons.
Since his Swoosh debut with the Nike Air Zoom Generation, which is set to return in retro form this summer, LeBron has racked up 20 iterations of his signature Nike LeBron.
While never coming close to the lifestyle-fashion crossover achieved by the flagship Air Jordan silhouettes (think 1 through 12), they've certainly become a staple in the States. You'll rarely see them worn outside of play in the UK, however.
To mark his historic moment, James debuted a pair of previously unseen Nike LeBron 20s.
A statement sneaker, this (likely upcoming) pair features a bright pink leather construction with double Swoosh branding. The first is subtle, monochromatic, and overstitched, playing foundation to an oversized metallic silver Swoosh akin to that seen on Virgil Abloh's Off-White Nike Air Force 1s.
Similar to a pair of Abloh's Nikes, the personal pair features black hand-scrawled text such as "The Man In The Arena" and "Stay Present."
Given how big of a moment achieving NBA’s all-time leading scorer status is, we can expect Nike to release the pair as a special edition, perhaps even paving the way for the sneaker's 21st edition.
