Image via Getty / Andrew D. Bernstein
It should come as a surprise to absolutely no one that sneakers became a focal point of the NBA All-Star Game in 1985, Michael Jordan’s first appearance in the midseason classic. He famously paired his black and red Air Jordan 1s with a matching nylon Air Jordan tracksuit in Saturday’s Dunk Contest, then laced up his red, black and white game shoes on Sunday. They stood out tremendously compared to the more subdued, everyday sneakers worn by the other All-Stars. And while other players seemingly took offense at Jordan’s bid for attention, All-Star weekend would soon become a sneaker showcase.
Eventually, the shoes became a bigger deal than the game itself. And sometimes a single shoe would overshadow the entire weekend. Like in 1988, when Jordan debuted a brand-new shoe in his home city of Chicago, winning both the Dunk Contest and All-Star MVP. But by then it wasn’t only Jordan who pulled out all the stops over All-Star weekend. And sometimes a shoe wouldn’t even have to be worn on the court to stop the show.
Third Time's a Charm
Player: Michael Jordan
Shoe: Air Jordan III
Year: 1988
Location: Chicago, Illinois
To say that Michael Jordan owned 1988’s All-Star weekend in Chicago would be, if anything, understating things. He won the Dunk Contest on Saturday, outduelling Dominique Wilkins, then followed it up by scoring 40 points in Sunday’s game, taking home the MVP award for the first time. And, oh, yes, he debuted some new shoes.
The Air Jordan III was Tinker Hatfield’s first Air Jordan—one that was presented to Jordan when he was considering leaving Nike and is often credited with keeping him with the brand. The new Air Jordan ad campaign debuted over All-Star weekend, too: a black-and-white spot featuring Spike Lee’s hyperkinetic Mars Blackmon as pitchman. Lee also directed the spots, which were written by Jim Riswold of Wieden & Kennedy, who smartly gave most of the lines to Mars and kept the focus on the shoes.
The shoes! Jordan wore the white pair in the Dunk contest—a pair that would later be immortalized twice in retro form, as the 1988s and the Free Throw Lines—and the black pair in Sunday’s game. It was a shoe as ahead of its time as was Jordan himself, a sign that everyone else needed to catch up. Well, at least they could try.
Red February
Player: Scottie Pippen
Shoe: Nike Air Maestro
Year: 1994
Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota
The 1994 All-Star Game in Minneapolis was Scottie Pippen’s fourth, and his third as a starter. But it was also his first without Michael Jordan by his side. As such, it was fitting that his footwear choice befit his new lead-dog status. His all-red Nike Air Maestros did just that.
Oddly enough, Pippen—though he’s become synonymous with the shoe thanks to his MVP performance in Sunday’s game—wasn’t the first to wear the shoe that weekend. That honor actually belonged to Blazers rookie James Robinson, who wore them in Saturday’s dunk contest. But Robinson didn’t make it out of the first round, finishing dead last, and all eyes were on eventual winner J.R. Rider.
On Sunday, Pippen did what you were supposed to when wearing the flashiest shoes in the game—he was the game’s best player. Pippen posted game highs of 29 points and four steals, and added 11 rebounds (second only to Shawn Kemp’s 12) en route to a nine-point East win. Jordan would be back, but Pippen had his moment. So did his shoes.
Rise and Shine
Player: Chris Webber
Shoe: Dada Supreme Cdubbz
Year: 2002
Location: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
By 2002, the NBA All-Star game had become a veritable sneaker showcase. 2001’s game in Washington, D.C., was arguably the peak of the insanity—from Rasheed Wallace’s red Air Force 1 highs, straps to the back, to Kobe Bryant’s “Sunshine” yellow Adidas KOBEs. But in 2002, Chris Webber took things to another level.
Webber had started out in Nikes, the brand he wore at Michigan, receiving a signature shoe in just his second season. But he moved on from the Swoosh fairly quickly, reportedly because his shoe’s $140 retail price was unattainable for many. He became something of a sneaker nomad, wearing Converse, Reebok, FILA (who also gave him a signature model), and And1. But in 2002, he was wearing Dada Supremes.
You might not remember Dada Supreme, but Webber’s sneakers—you’d remember those. Because they were chrome. Like, the whole sneaker. And while they creased something terrible, and were only the second craziest on-court shoe Dada made (Latrell Sprewell’s had actual working spinners), they were certainly the bright and shining centerpiece of the 2002 All-Star Game.
Split Personality
Player: Tracy McGrady
Shoe: Adidas T-Mac III
Year: 2004
Location: Los Angeles, California
What do you do when your sneaker brand makes two different All-Star colorways of your signature sneaker? If you’re Tracy McGrady, you wear one of each. Which is exactly what he did with his red and blue Adidas T-Mac IIIs.
By 2004, the All-Star palette had become more subdued, mostly because the NBA had gone back to All-Star uniforms after a few years of having players wear their own team’s gear. And while this may have made things a little easier on the eyes, it gave players fewer options for outlandish footwear.
Not to say they didn’t try. Then-Pacer Ron Artest actually sported four different brands during the course of the game—one on each foot in each half—starting off in one Adidas and one Nike before switching to one Dada Sprewell and one And1. But he was upstaged by McGrady, who in his one red and one blue signature Adidas—in L.A., no less—flipped the ball off the backboard to himself for an alley-oop dunk, a repeat of something he’d done the previous year.
Calling All Size 22s
Player: Shaquille O’Neal
Shoe: Shaq Shoe Phone
Year: 2005
Location: Denver, Colorado
The sheer size of Shaquille O’Neal’s sneakers was a thing from the moment he entered the NBA—Reebok sent size 20 versions of his Shaq Attaq signature shoe to retailers so potential buyers could marvel over Shaq’s actual shoe. By the time he established his own low-cost brand in the early 2000s, he found even better uses for his gigantic shoes.
On All-Star weekend, he’d turn them into usable props. In 2005, he had one of them converted into a cell phone, one that Diddy got to use from his courtside seat. The previous year he had his name in lights on the sides, the following year he’d have one of his size 22s (yep, his feet grew) turned into a radio-controlled car. One can only imagine what he’d be doing with them now.
AF1s Don't Lie
Player: Rasheed Wallace
Shoe: Nike Air Force 1
Year: 2006
Location: Houston, Texas
As the last player in the NBA to regularly wear Nike Air Force 1s on the court, Rasheed Wallace was following in the literal footsteps of the likes of Moses Malone, the Hall of Fame center who won championships for the Sixers and Rockets. For the 2006 All-Star game in Houston, Wallace laced up a pair of 1s that Malone could have never imagined.
Wallace was one of four Pistons named to the ‘06 squad—he played only 17 minutes and scored just two points. But his sneakers stole the show. They featured red and blue patent leather at the heels and light grey faux ostrich at the toe and up the eyestay—a feature that would have been right at home on a pair of high-dollar cowboy boots.
Sheed’s best-known All-Star shoes are probably his first, the red patent leather Air Force 1 highs he wore in D.C. in 2001. These, though, these were the pinnacle. And while an untold number of players wore an untold number of Air Force 1s in the NBA, no one ever did it better than this.