After Seeing Nike's Protoype Shoe For Victor Wembanyama, It's Time To Go Back To The Drawing Board

Michael Gonzales. Getty Images.

As the years go by there are several moments you experience where it becomes clear that you've entered the "washed up" portion of your life and are moving into officially being "an old". It starts early when maybe you don't recognize an actor, or you find yourself disgusted with current music. Then when watching sports you see the kids of legends you grew up watching play and it hits you like a ton of bricks. Then you start actually enjoying old people shit like doing house chores, stuff like that. It's unavoidable and the sooner you accept it I've found the easier it is to make this switch. We all have that moment where it finally hits you that somehow you've turned into this

That's exactly how I felt when I saw the Nike prototype shoe for Wemby. What the hell is this???

I mean I get it, Nike is probably looking at ways to continue their "alien" campaign for Wemby

but I'm sorry, that shoe stinks.  I'm not sure if that's just me being an old or what, maybe this is what the new generation thinks is cool, but I just don't see it. Those look like the most uncomfortable shoes of all time, and for a 7fter who will always have injury concerns, I can't imagine the ankle support is all that great. If I'm the Spurs I get on the phone immediately and demand a redo because there is no way I'm cool with my entire franchise playing in shoes like that over the course of 82 games. 

And hey, they're a prototype for a reason I suppose. It's like when you see all those cool prototype cars that will never actually be made, but I'm sorry Wemby is too good of a player to do him like this when it comes to his first custom shoe. We get it, he's an alien, but there has to be a better looking/safer option than that. 

Aside from the clear lack of ankle support, it would drive me insane to wear any sort of shoe without laces where you couldn't tighten them if needed. Maybe that's what hoopers nowadays prefer, but that's a no from me.

After taking some time to look into this further, it appears that these were designed by A.I, which definitely explains a lot

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Sorry, I just don't see it. For all this talk about how A.I. is going to take over the world, they can't design basketball shoes for shit. I'll admit, I'm a bit biased here because of the era in which I grew up in. When you are molded as a youth by stuff like the Shaqnosis

Jerritt Clark. Getty Images.

The early Kobe's

Noam Galai. Getty Images.

The Iverson's

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The Reebok Pumps

and my personal favorite and the shoe I wore, the Vince Carter Shox

Nathaniel S. Butler. Getty Images.

I look at this new futuristic shit we're starting to see and it makes me long for the early 2000s when it comes to the basketball shoe game. It feels like nowadays these companies are trying to do too much to be different and the result is like what you see at the top of this blog. There has to be a way to utilize new shoe technology and also produce a product that doesn't look like complete ass. It's not like every new player shoe we see is a disaster, some are actually pretty good!

But this prototype for Wemby? It's time to go back to the drawing board. This guy deserves better