The World has gone through years of teases, pictures of samples and overall speculation involving the adidas YEEZY Basketball sneaker, but to this day, we haven't seen a release – yet.
Sneakerheads from all over the world, started talking about the distinct silhouette, as soon as Kanye shared a picture of an early-stage prototype on his Twitter. A couple of months later, we finally got a more concise look at the sneaker in the "Quantum" colorway when Ye wore them out in Chicago in 2018. The high-top with the intricate Primeknit upper construction, looked like an accessory from outer space and lead to many opinions containing both, love and hate.
Concrete and hard wood, the high-cut silhouette is both, at the same time. The YZY BSKTBL features everybody’s favorite 3M on the heel and beneath the see-through stripes, which definitely remind of the side panel detail, made popular by the "Static" and the later releases of the YEEZY BOOST 350 V2. The pattern used on the knit is another familiar feature. Soft blue side panels with grey stripes create a design close to the YEEZY BOOST 350 V2 "Blue Tint". A look at the toebox reveals an additional influence – the YEEZY BOOST 700 delivered the suede overlay on the tip of the BSKTBL.
BSKTBL + 350 SAMPLES pic.twitter.com/UN7NHjjS0l
— YEEZY MAFIA (@theyeezymafia) July 9, 2019
As seen in the footage of the recent Forbes interview, the YZY BSKTBL has been in the works for years; according to Kanye West, the process took a couple hundreds of prototypes to achieve the final design. The style is a great example of how the brand pursues a further evolution of their models and yet establishes its design DNA by using recurring elements.
The futuristic looking sneaker was supposed to drop around Spring 2019, possibly even during All-Star weekend. Unfortunately this never occurred. The launch, is expected to have a massive impact. Speaking on a panel at ComplexCon, adidas VP of Marketing Jon Wexler, believes YEEZY Basketball will do more than just boost the popularity of basketball sneakers.
It’s capable of elevating the entire industry and change the current game. Actually its upcoming hype is estimated to be similar to the one caused by Ye back in 2015; when he first shook the sneaker world with the introduction of the adidas YEEZY line.
“...so if he moves into basketball, that’s going to actually help the entire category. That won’t just lift our basketball category, but the whole industry.” - Jon Wexler
Wex repeatedly stated, that he knows how much passion Kanye invests into his projects, "as in everything else he puts his name on". However, despite Wex's position at adidas, he is not able to share proprietary info as to when the YZY BSKTBL will drop for the public. He went on the record adding
"...when or if it comes out eventually, it will shake up the industry." - Jon Wexler
Lucky enough to own a prototype, non-final version of it, I can confirm the pair has been developed with technology in mind, for performance purposes. Playing in these I’ve noticed how good they work on court. The bounce is amazing and the thick fully-loaded BOOST midsole adds a high level of comfort to the YZY BSKTBL. The Primeknit and neoprene upper, allows quick movements without missing firmness.
Expected to be released in 2020, it would be interesting to see these being debuted during the upcoming NBA All-Star Game taking place February 2020 in Ye's hometown, Chicago.
Take a look at the YZY BSKTBL "Quantum" in exclusive shots below and let us know your thoughts in the YM social media comments.
