HoopsHype.com Rumors

Nike stands with Kevin Durant to support the victims of the Oklahoma tornadoes. $1M worth of Nike products will be donated to those affected by the storms, and the profits from Oklahoma City KD V Elites sold on Nike.com between May 23 and June 15 will go towards Oklahoma Relief efforts. Nike.com

Oklahoma City Thunder, Kevin Durant, Sneakers, Oklahoma City 

Nike generated $300 million in U.S. retail sales in 2012 for James’ signature shoe, LeBron X, according to research firm SportsOneSource. Nike’s haul represents a 50% increase from sales of James’ kicks in 2011. “The first thing is the aesthetics. The shoes look great and his star stature continues to rise,” says SportsOneSource analyst Matt Powell. “The media attention on him helps him sell more footwear.” Forbes.com

Miami Heat, LeBron James, Sneakers 

The second best-selling active NBA pitchman is Kobe Bryant of the Los Angeles Lakers. His Kobe 8 signature shoes sold $50 million at U.S. stores last year. Bryant has been part of the Nike family since 2003. The 15-time All-Star was an Adidas athlete for the first six years of his career. Bryant’s shoe sales in the U.S. were down in 2012, but he is the NBA’s biggest star in China and his Nike sneakers sell briskly in Asia. Forbes.com

Los Angeles Lakers, Kobe Bryant, Sneakers 

Carmelo Anthony of the New York Knicks ranks third with U.S. retail sales of $40 million for his Jordan Melo M9. Anthony is part of the Jordan Brand roster, which also includes Blake Griffin, Chris Paul and Russell Westbrook. Forbes.com

Los Angeles Clippers, New York Knicks, Oklahoma City Thunder, Chris Paul, Blake Griffin, Carmelo Anthony, Sneakers, Russell Westbrook 

Adidas’ other top endorsers have really struggled. John Wall signed with Adidas subsidiary, Reebok, in 2010 for $25 million over five years. Reebok had high expectations for Wall, who was a heavily-hyped star after a year at the University of Kentucky, but sales of his signature shoes have disappointed. Retail sales were only $5 million in 2012 and in January Wall departed the Reebok brand for that of its parent, Adidas. Forbes.com

Washington Wizards, John Wall, Sneakers 

Dwight Howard continues a longtime trend of NBA big men struggling to sell shoes. Adidas moved only $5 million worth of Howard product last year. Powell says the soap opera surrounding his departure from Orlando and first year in Los Angeles hurt him in the marketplace. “Your average 10-year-old can envision being Kobe. He has no way of being Dwight Howard,” says Powell. Forbes.com

Los Angeles Lakers, Dwight Howard, Sneakers 

Rapper Bow Wow learned this the hard way as a teenager, when he became friends with MJ’s sons. According to a recent interview, he once wore a pair of Allen Iverson’s signature Reebok shoes when he slept over at Jordan’s house, and His Airness was not impressed. I’m actually real cool with his sons, Marcus and Jeffrey…I would say, we kinda grew up together. Being on tour, every time we came to Chicago, even at the age of like 15, they would come around and we just clicked. There’d be times I stayed over at the family, ya know, Mr. Jordan’s house…actually a funny story, I actually wore some Iverson’s to their house…and Michael Jordan woke us all up and was like ‘Whose is these?’…and I was like ‘they’re mine’…and I never saw My A.I.’s after that moment. I was in some Jordan’s going down to play some basketball. For The Win

Michael Jordan, Allen Iverson, Sneakers, Bow Wow 

Jared Zwerling: Top dollar-selling men's sneakers this year to date: Jordan VIII, Jordan V, Nike Air Force 1 Low, Nike Air Monarch IV and Nike Dual Fusion. Twitter @JaredZwerling

Sneakers 

Chris Haynes: Former #Blazers COO @sarahmensah2 will begin her new position with Nike Brand Jordan as the strategic planning director next week. Congrats! Twitter @ChrisBHaynes

Portland Trail Blazers, Sneakers, Sarah Mensah 

A few days ago, Chris Paul’s wife, Jada, put a picture of CP3′s shoe collection on her Instagram account. The picture shows hundreds of pairs of Jordan’s in Paul’s shoe “museum.” According to the caption, they converted an entire bedroom of their house into this shoe room. Next Impulse Sports

Los Angeles Clippers, Chris Paul, Sneakers 

A day later, courtesy of Complex and Deadspin, we’ve learned that these very expensive Jordans (to a 17-year old kid on an allowance in 1997) actually ranked second amongst the two pair that Robinson strung up that night. Nate Rob played the first half in a pair of Nike Air Yeezy 2s, which are apparently a thing that sell for $250 and, according to Deadspin, fetch up to $2000 on second-hand online retailers that don’t actually turn the shoes into “second hand” kicks by, y’know, wearing them in an NBA basketball game on national TV. Take a look at these (probably not suited for NBA basketball) things: Yahoo! Sports

Chicago Bulls, Nate Robinson, Sneakers 

There are a few things that are bizarre about Nate Robinson's decision to wear Air Yeezy 2s during last night's Bulls-Spurs game. For one, those shoes are ridiculously expensive. Although they retail at $250, the demand for the shoes has become so high that they routinely fetch prices upwards of $2,000 on eBay and other sites. Also, these are not shoes that are really meant to be used on an NBA court. Deadspin.com

Chicago Bulls, Nate Robinson, Sneakers 

Set to host his own event next month at SXSW, it only makes sense that renowned music head Matt Bonner would enlist the services of teammate/rapper Stephen “Stak 5″ Jackson to fill out the set list. Jackson will be one of six acts performing at Bonner’s Sneakers and Speakers extravaganza, to be held March 13 from noon to 6 p.m. at Club Deville. The event will serve as a fundraiser to help launch the nonprofit organization Bonner recently founded with his brother Luke, the Rock On Foundation. San Antonio Express-News

San Antonio Spurs, Matt Bonner, Stephen Jackson, Sneakers 

It’s 1996 all over again as not only is “Reebok Back,” but FILA is attempting to become relevant in the NBA once again. After a long absence, FILA is rumored to be bringing back the Grant Hill classic GH2 (or Ninety6 as some people like to call it) at some point during the year. Kicks On Fire

Los Angeles Clippers, Sneakers, Grant Hill 

But while a lot of attention is being paid to Grant Hill’s kicks, FILA actually kicked off their comeback with another endorser during that time, Brooklyn Nets guard Jerry Stackhouse. The timeless wonder, who also doubles as the guy you would least like to mess with under any circumstances, has rocked his signature shoe, the FILA Stackhouse, during several games this season. And during last night’s contest against the Minnesota Timberwolves, Stackhouse wore a grey “Camo” colorway that has never before been released. Kicks On Fire

Brooklyn Nets, Sneakers, Jerry Stackhouse 

Unfortunately, it looks like the “Camo” will stay unreleased as there is no information at the moment of that particular colorway dropping. But I don’t think Stackhouse and the Nets are going to mind too much as the team has gone 12-2 since P.J. Carlisemo took over as the team’s head coach. As for the rest of the night in kicks, Russell Westbrook liked the “Black Flip” so much he had to rock it again, Tony Allen continues to support the adidas Rose 3 movement and the Memphis Grizzlies decided that yellow was the color of the day. Kicks On Fire

Brooklyn Nets, Sneakers, Jerry Stackhouse 

Michael Lee: Asked Jordan Crawford if he got orange & green pair of Jordan Vs at POR Nike store: "Naw, MJ came to my house & personally delivered them." Twitter @MrMichaelLee

Washington Wizards, Sneakers, Jordan Crawford 

Jerry Zgoda: Wolves are wearing special edition shoes for today's MLK Day game: kind of camouflagey with neon orange laces and accents Twitter @JerryZgoda

Minnesota Timberwolves, Sneakers 

Dwyane Wade has debuted a limitless amount of Li-Ning Way of Wade colorways this season, including a recently-worn “Caution” pair. One that we haven’t spotted him in yet is this “Oreo” version of the Way of Wade. This particular pair features a primarily white-colored base with the black/white, Oreo-like, speckled midsole. To coincide with the latter section, the entire midfoot, tongue, and inner lining are also detailed with the Oreo attribute. This pair is similar to the Black/White Way of Wade that “Flash” wore in late November. Stay tuned to our Kicks On Court column to see if Wade rocks the “Oreo” Li-Ning Way of Wade soon. NiceKicks.com

Miami Heat, Dwyane Wade, Sneakers 

San Antonio Spurs G Tony Parker has left Nike to join Chinese shoemaker Peak, where he will serve as the company's ambassador according to Marc Limacher of SPORTUNE. His new deal pays him anywhere from $2.6m-4m. His Nike deal was between $1.5m-1.32m. Ballabroad.com

San Antonio Spurs, Tony Parker, Sneakers