On Nike Basketball’s roster of elite athletes is none other than Nikola Jokic, the point-center who was named as the league MVP for the second season in a row. Breaking records in PER rating while leading a depleted Denver Nuggets roster to 48 wins, Jokic — once an improbable superstar — has risen into the posterboy of the position-less NBA player.
A signature shoe for someone of The Joker’s status would seem like the right play to run; two league MVPs, youth, and a global fan base sounds like a can’t-miss recipe, but historically throughout the industry, big men have never been effective pitch-men for sneaker sales. Instead, Nike is drawing up an unexpected play by re-releasing the Nike Hyperdunk X — a personal favorite of the Serbian.
Although Jokic has been regularly rotating some of the brand’s newer models such as the Zoom GT Jump and Rize 2, he’s been rather partial to the Hyperdunk line. The tenth model in particular has been in frequent use as its been regularly spotted on-court. In fact, the shoe in question was the focal point of a viral video posted by former Torrey Craig, who compared his thorough sneaker collection to Jokic’s one-shoe line-up.
A release date for the Hyperdunk X “Nikola Jokic” hasn’t been revealed just yet, but expect a drop on Nike.com soon.