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In 2003, High School basketball phenom LeBron James was selected first overall in the 2003 NBA Draft, chosen ahead of proven collegiate-level players like Carmelo Anthony and Dwyane Wade. Nike Basketball recognized the explosive potential bottled in the teenager, which is why a $90 million contract offer to make LeBron James the next great Nike athlete seemed like a shrewd move. The Nike LeBron legacy began with the Air Zoom Generation and has continued forward to eight outstanding installments, with each edition being a proud owner of state-of-the-art technology and avant garde design – a simple formula that has powered Nike to the uppermost tier in athletic outfitting. Of course, there is indeed a price to pay if you wish to lace up your feet with sneakers engineered to the exact specifications of one of the greatest athletes in the world, and the Nike LeBron 9 P.S. Elite is about to stretch the limits of what we simply call ‘kicks’ into the realm of high-end performance footwear.
The Nike LeBron 9 P.S. Elite is currently slated to release during the Summer 2012 season with a whopping $250 MSRP. Boasting the best of what Nike Basketball has to offer, the P.S. Elite will be powered by a combination of Hyperfuse with low-stretch Flywire cables, carbon fiber reinforcements, and a meticulously engineered Max Air/Zoom Air cushioning unit. The Nike LeBron signature line is recognized as the most advanced Nike Basketball shoe on the market, and with the $250 price-tag being more than a 50% increase in price of the most expensive LeBron sneaker ever created, should we expect a proportional increase in performance upgrades? This isn’t the first instance in which Nike has priced an everyday-wearable sneaker so high, and if history does have the pesky tendency to repeat itself, will the P.S. Elite flop, just like the Air Pressure (with inflation, a lot more than $250), Air Foamposite One, and even the recent ACG Bakin’ Posite Boot?
Aside from the $250 price-tag set for the LeBron 9 P.S. Elite, take note of the $10 hike implemented on the Nike LeBron 9. This was expected as Nike had plans to increase prices across the board as a means to reach its ambitious goal of becoming a $27 billion company by 2015, so consumers didn’t expect much more in terms of design and performance from a $10 bump. So what can one expect from a $250 performance basketball shoe? A sneaker can only help you jump higher and run faster only to a certain degree. Unfortunately, that won’t be determined until we get full information on the big picture of the Nike LeBron 9 P.S. Elite, but let’s hear your opinions. Is a $250 Nike Basketball shoe a sign of greater things to come from the world’s greatest athletic performance brand? via CK.
Official Nike LeBron 9 P.S. Elite colorways & technical specs:
- White/Metallic Gold (516958-100)
- Varsity Maize/Black/White (516958-700)
- Wolf Grey/New Green/Mint Candy (516958-001)
- Black/Metallic Gold (516958-002)
UPPER: Combination of Hyperfuse construction with reinforced low stretch Flywire cables and laces. Carbon fiber reinforced in mid-foot and heel.
OUTSOLE: Solid rubber outsole with modified herringbone traction pattern. Exaggerated flex grooves with exposed heel midsole and a forefoot outrigger.
The LeBron P.S. Elite is the pinnacle high-end performance shoe with the style and premium quality expected in LeBron’s signature footwear.
MIDSOLE: Cushlon midsole coupled with 180 Max Air unit in heel and Nike Zoom unit in forefoot. Modified exposed carbon fiber mid-foot shank.
SUMMER 2012 LAUNCH
RETAIL: $250
57 Responses to “Nike LeBron 9 P.S. Elite”
September 15th, 2011 at 4:07 pm
this is gonna start setting the tone for the whole shoe industry and shoes are goin to increase radically in price in the next 2 or 3 yrs which sucks
September 15th, 2011 at 4:10 pm
Hell no.
September 15th, 2011 at 4:12 pm
These sound like their gonna be craaaaazy.
September 15th, 2011 at 4:13 pm
Nike has officially lost their damn minds.
September 15th, 2011 at 4:13 pm
i wonder what the shoe will look like….
September 15th, 2011 at 4:18 pm
no one is going to pay $250 retail for a non jordan shoe.
September 15th, 2011 at 4:19 pm
$250!!? That's just straight RIDICULOUS!!!
September 15th, 2011 at 4:23 pm
soccer players spend $400 for cleats, it's the wave of the future for the prima donnas
September 15th, 2011 at 4:31 pm
I Guess nike has learned their lesson. They have been producing elite models of 3 different soccer cleats and if what i hear is true they r discontinuing the elite series on all but 1 model of cleat
September 15th, 2011 at 4:31 pm
250?? they better jerk me off
September 15th, 2011 at 4:31 pm
Shit better make me fly for that price!
September 15th, 2011 at 4:32 pm
Id like to boycott this shoe, this is rediculous.
September 15th, 2011 at 4:32 pm
for 250, id better get bron's girlfriend for a night too lol
this will flop unless they figure out some genius marketing sham like south beachh
September 15th, 2011 at 4:33 pm
thats F'n crazy!!
September 15th, 2011 at 4:39 pm
forget the info show us the shoe to see if its worth 250
September 15th, 2011 at 4:41 pm
250 fa a P.S. 9 lbj & u cant even show us a pic…. fa dat money i better get a happy endin & a smoke afterwards… dam shoes can solve da national debt
September 15th, 2011 at 5:06 pm
some people do bro but lets see what they look like
September 15th, 2011 at 5:07 pm
Wow 250 that's crazy but I still prolly buy if I like them
September 15th, 2011 at 5:21 pm
$250 for mesh and flywire on a GR is just stupid. All this emphasis on protection and the shoes have no padding. For $250 you can buy two or even three performance quality kicks that you can beat into the ground, how many people had Lebron 7's or 8's pop on them after a few wears? I rest my case.
September 15th, 2011 at 5:22 pm
Time to wave my white flag, i surrender!
September 15th, 2011 at 5:27 pm
that ish cray!!*yeezy voice* Really? On The MOB,They Can Blow Me!This Clown Aint Even A Champion yet!I'll stick to Kobe's & Only Retro Jordans I like.Hypebeast,you can have these!
September 15th, 2011 at 5:50 pm
Not the sound of greater things to come but rather a $ign of more expensive things to come. #truth
September 15th, 2011 at 6:05 pm
You can boycott and hope that they flop but the fact of the matter is that these like the Hyperdunk Elite aren't catering to shoe heads. They are going to market this toward the serious basketball player and if they make these with a limited production run in mind, these can do well.
Additionally, some of you guys pay upwards to $600 for older Jordan retros that are worn into the ground but because they say Nike Air, its not a problem. As it was already stated, people pay hundreds for good soccer cleats. if you're serious about the sport you play, you don't mind paying for top notch merchandise like tennis, football, lacrosse and hockey players do.
Also, what do you guys consider a flop to be? Kicks aren't like movies where if they don't exceed the budget its a flop. All that has to be done with shoes is sell a specific number to retailers. MSRP is $250 but the selling price isn't. Its a fraction of that. The LeBron 8 sold 500,000 pairs but that doesn't mean that the people bought 500k pairs. It means that the stores bought them.
September 15th, 2011 at 6:10 pm
The tone has been set for years now because of "resellers"…think about it, why would nike/jb make limited releases of some of they're best sneakers??(i.e yeezy, south beach lbj, ray Allen 13, and so on)..nike knows they can make so much more money by releasing a larger amount of these sneakers but instead they don't, they love the fact that "resellers" drive the prices up and people still buy them at that price…that let's them know that eventually they can put the retail price up…and I agree with you in the next couple years it's just gonna get worse
September 15th, 2011 at 6:21 pm
I gotta c this ish…
September 15th, 2011 at 6:33 pm
man these shoes better come with a hoodrat to………………..
September 15th, 2011 at 6:41 pm
I definitely won't being acquiring these unless a special colorway or them drops….My serious hoop days are over…..I can just buy some comfortable Jordan's to hoop in
September 15th, 2011 at 6:43 pm
Fuck Nike!… They fiend a way to screw the regular guy at every chance they get. Is Nike been run by the government cuz they keep sticking it to regular guy and make heat for the rich bastards. WTF!!
September 15th, 2011 at 6:57 pm
I was just about to bring up this point. I remember playing early in high school (about 4-5 years ago) and the best Nike cleats were about $200. In the last couple years, they've gone up to around $300-$400. Looks like that is coming to basketball.
September 15th, 2011 at 6:57 pm
This is a hypebeasts dream. All the lebron dick ridders will line up for these. 250$ in state of the art shoes and he prolly wont even win a championship…he shouldnt need all that help with d wade and bosh on his team
September 15th, 2011 at 7:03 pm
THEYY BETTER SUCK MY !~@#$%^& FOR THAT AMOUNT , NIKE IZZ U CRAZYYY!!LOL
September 15th, 2011 at 7:08 pm
$250??? niggas is skeptical to buy jordans at 250…. this shoe better be some groundbreaking shit
September 15th, 2011 at 7:48 pm
I NEED TO SEE WHAT THIS $250 SNEAKER LOOKS AND FEELS LIKE. IF THIS IS A TREND, I WILL STOP BUYING SHOES ESPECIALLY WHEN THEY COST LES THAN $15 TO ACTUALLY MAKE
September 15th, 2011 at 7:53 pm
This could be the start of something new or the end of Lebron commercially. I can see Skip Bayless now ranting and raving about how LeBrick and the Heatles (his words not mine.) are not only over rated but Lebron is selling 250 dollar kicks to kids in a recession. Lol. Imagine if the NBA lockout happens and he doesn't win a Championship? He will be buried in bad press.
September 15th, 2011 at 7:57 pm
These better come with a damn 1 year wear warranty.
September 15th, 2011 at 7:57 pm
What plannet have you been living on dip smack? Air Yeezy's go for close to 2 grand, Lebron South Beaches atleast a thousand. Pull your head out of your ass.
September 15th, 2011 at 7:59 pm
What plannet have you been living on dip smack? Air Yeezy's go for close to 2 grand, South Beach Lebrons go for atleast a thousand. Pull your head out of your ass.
September 15th, 2011 at 8:03 pm
On the real, some of you guys need to shut up, you pay 175 for jordan crap, 200 for made-in china foam crap which feel like cardboard boxes on your feet! What do you expect to pay for something that will be innovative and revolutionary. Mannnn, don't get me started!
September 15th, 2011 at 8:11 pm
great insight. thanks for that
September 15th, 2011 at 8:33 pm
First they saturated the market with retroes de-valuing all of the classics most of us had now there doing this its really sad I remember when if you had any pair of foams you were the man now i see old ladys with them on. Nikes greed has destroyed a sub culture. I really feel bad for new sneakerheads who never got the chance to hunt shoes sown and go on road trip to find that “grail” shoe cause every other weekend they’re releasing a classic
September 15th, 2011 at 9:00 pm
$250 still doesn't buy you a championship
September 15th, 2011 at 9:26 pm
what are they made of solid gold?
September 15th, 2011 at 9:27 pm
my take on the price of these shoes is that $250 is a lot for shoes to ball in. but if i were copping them, id wait until they hit the outlets; the tech on this shoe is something to not miss out on.
(rant)
u have a point in saying that the market has become saturated with retros, and to be honest its one of the reasons why im slowly coming out of the game.
but in retrospect of that point, im kinda glad that classics are continually being rereleased despite the quality differences from the OGs and retros. i've only been heavily into the sneaker game since 2005 so ive missed out on some greatest releases in the early 2000s and the original releases back in the 80s and 90s. but thats due to my age. ive managed to get a couple of the OGs over time and grown to appreciate the difference in quality.
i remember in my short time as a sneakerhead the difficulty of trying to get some of the shoes i wanted and all the releases i missed. seeing the constant rerelease of classics gives not only myself the opportunity to cop shoes i missed out on, but it gives that opportunity to EVERY OTHER SNEAKER HEAD.
exclusivity is overrated in my opinion. the reason why im a sneakerhead to go out and cop the shoes the i want. i really could care less if everyone else is wearing the same shoes as me. whats important to me is that i have the shoes i want and thats it.
i apologize for the long rant, but i just needed to that out of my system.
September 15th, 2011 at 10:00 pm
nike, stop
September 15th, 2011 at 10:31 pm
More car will get stolen!
September 15th, 2011 at 11:01 pm
250 for a shoe and lebron doesnt even have a ring. Lets hope he doesnt choke on these
September 15th, 2011 at 11:20 pm
good post. i'm a little like you in that at the end of the day i just pay up for the kicks i want. but i would be lying if i said i didn't care about every other motherfu#ker rocking the same shoes as me. it's a little different for me in that regard though as i live in new zealand where the sneaker game is relatively small. our population is 4 mil in total let alone the sneakerhead population! this makes it easier to own something a little more rare as we often miss out on certain colorways/ releases etc so if one hunts online then its easy to get something that isn't around. it's not all about exclusivity though. i agree with you there too. i have to like the shoe first.
i agree with your retro re-issue point. i have only been collecting for 3 years and have enjoyed grabbing many jordans that have released over that time. i remember them all from when i was young. no bucks for them then.
on the subject of these lebrons. $250 is pretty steep for a shoe that would sell tonnes of units at full price if they retailed for $160-$180. considering minor advances in technical improvements add $10-$20 increments to certain shoes it's wild to think what tech aspects will apply to these. i guess we will wait and see.
September 16th, 2011 at 2:01 am
what does it matter if he has a ring or not?
September 16th, 2011 at 3:02 am
I need some pics to understand the $250 price tag….but still….dayum!
September 16th, 2011 at 3:31 am
Stealth 3's = Flop
September 16th, 2011 at 3:33 am
If you get started, somebody is going to finish you
September 16th, 2011 at 10:43 am
Really, question where do you think are these being made ? jesus christ what in the world is going on in peoples heads these days , also what is that with GROUNDBREAKING if you have not noticed most of theses tech's are used in the shoes alredy, you know what i think MAYBE YOU JUST IN BEAVERTOWN OR SOMETHING JESUS THERE IS A FREAKING CRISIS
September 16th, 2011 at 11:57 am
$250?! mane they better make lebron's hairline come back
September 16th, 2011 at 1:17 pm
250? for dat ugly ass shit? no way jose
September 16th, 2011 at 4:30 pm
$250..thats like four pairs of KD's on sale
September 21st, 2011 at 1:30 pm
Nike must fail in their indevor to take advantage of the ignorant. We as the ignorant must not sucumb to materialism and buy this (awesome) crap. In order to make their quota they are bending us over. Would you pay to be taken advantage of? With out us there is no them! Viva la revolution!
September 28th, 2011 at 9:02 pm
$250 retail? WOW!!! I don't think so Bron Bron