Flashback // The Nike Air Wayup

The Nike Air Way Up gets its first ever retro release tomorrow, so we'll celebrate by taking a look back at the originals on the NBA court.

words // Zack Schlemmer

images via Yahoo!

The Nike Air Wayup gets its first ever retro release tomorrow, so we'll celebrate by taking a look back at a plethora of the originals on the NBA court.

The Nike Air Wayup released in 1995 and was promptly found on basketball courts at every level of play.  Considered a takedown of the Air Penny, the Air Wayup featured a "wing" with a jeweled Swoosh just like Penny Hardaway's shoe, but minus an Air Max unit.  Although its price and amount of visible Air were takedowns, the number of players that wore them in the NBA was certainly not.  The Air Wayup could be found on at least one player's feet on literally any NBA court on any given night of the 1995-96 season. 

The Wayup was almost the perfect basketball shoe, with great performance and just the right amount of style: not too plain, not too flashy.  Everybody from point guards to centers and benchwarmers to stars like Kevin Garnett, Dennis Rodman and Reggie Miller wore them, but the Wayup is probably most closely associated with Scottie Pippen, who was actually the only player to get his own colorway (added black accents to the white/red version other Bulls players wore). 

The Air Wayup goes down as one of the all-time classic Nike Basketball models, and after viewing the amount of players wearing them in this gallery it should be easy to see why.  Check out all the vintage NBA shots below, along with a couple future NBA stars in college, and get ready for the Air Wayup's first and well-deserved comeback tomorrow.

 

Anthony Peeler

 

Chris Mills and Scottie Pippen

 

Damon Stoudamire

 

Dennis Rodman

 

Eric Murdock

 

Eric Snow and Randy Brown

 

Greg Graham

 

Horace Grant

 

Jon Barry

 

Juwan Howard and Theo Ratliff

 

Kevin Garnett

Mitch Richmond

 

Reggie Miller and Jim Jackson

 

Ron Harper

 

Ronnie McMahan

 

Alvin Robertson and Scottie Pippen

 

Scottie Pippen

 

Scottie Pippen and Gary Payton

 

Shawn Bradley

 

Vin Baker and Dennis Rodman

 

Vlade Divac and Scottie Pippen

Marcus Camby

 

Stephon Marbury

Allen Iverson