One of the biggest talking points in modern day NBA and basketball is to do with what players are wearing on their feet. Basketball shoes have taken over the world, from them once being an on the court look to now being worn in everyday situations by many millions of fans all around the world. Michael Jordan can be thanked for completely transforming the basketball sneaker, as you see many people rocking Jordan’s in their day to day activities instead of solely on the basketball hardwood.
And according to a report by Forbes who utilized data from the marketing research firm The NPD Group Inc, the Cleveland Cavaliers’ small forward sold the most signature sneakers over the year of 2017.
How he ranks
With many great players expanding their careers and revenue streams with the addition of a signature shoe line in today’s NBA, there is a lot of competition when it comes to who has the best selling sneaker. But the King still reigns supreme, with not only his normal sneaker line but also the addition of his LeBron Soldier line, he comes out on top in the year of 2017.
After LeBron, the player with the second highest selling sneaker throughout 2017 was surprisingly LeBron’s ex-teammate and Boston Celtics star, Kyrie Irving.
He spent most of the year in a Cavaliers’ uniform and playing with LeBron certainly helped his fame, but Kyrie has turned into one of the biggest names in the league and has one of the most attractive and most comfortable shoes in the league too. Kevin Durant of the Golden State Warriors clocks in at third with a line he has been doing for a decade now and his all-star teammate Stephen Curry sits at fourth. For Steph, he is doing incredibly great with a brand that is not nearly as popular as Nike, Jordan or Adidas; Curry is selling a lot of Under Armour sneakers. And in fifth place sits Michael Jordan, who may not be an active player in the NBA, but thanks to his Air Jordan 32 sneaker, it counts as a signature shoe.
Second NBA billionaire?
Michael Jordan became the first billionaire to play professional basketball in the NBA, well until Jose Calderon came along. Jose owns a share in the company of Coca-Cola and is reported to have a net worth of $2.2 billion. But LeBron James is on a path to become the next billionaire, mainly through revenue streams to do with basketball. Although LeBron does hold shares in food companies, and sporting teams, he makes most his money through endorsements, which include doing advertisements for various companies. The money he earns through this outweighs his salary on the court. But the biggest revenue outlet for the King is Nike. Recently he agreed to a lifetime contract with Nike, and it is reportedly worth up to one billion dollars.