words & images // Zack Schlemmer
We have an awesome Kicks on Cards Collection this week with a full group of signature shoes, none of which are being worn by their signature player, and NBA offseason news maker Steve Nash as a young lad in...hockey skates!
Steve Nash made the biggest splash in the NBA free agency news this week by opting to sign with the Los Angeles Lakers. Lakers fans are surely excited to see how Nash will do with Kobe and Pau Gasol in the pick-and-roll game. Before Nash became one of the best point guards in the game with the Dallas Mavericks and won two MVP awards with the Suns, the fine folks at Upper Deck thought it was a good idea to have him pose in his Suns uniform (from his first stint witht the Suns) on the ice in hockey skates...apparently since he's Canadian and played hockey when he was younger...for his trading card photo.
Next up is one of my all time favorite Kicks on Cards finds. Here we have Larry Krystkowiak in a pair of Larry Johnson's signature Converse Aero Jets, which he hilariously customized into number "42" with the help of a marker. I guess there's more than one way to get your own signature shoe!
Our next two sneaker sightings are both Scottie Pippen shoes, with Jeff McGinnis in the Nike Air More Uptempo "Olympics" colorway and my main man Bonzi Wells in the Air Pippen 5. Jeff McGinnis' most notable event from his NBA career seems to be when he got in a fight with Charles Oakley, but here we catch him as a rookie in Pipp's famous 1996 Olympics shoe. Bonzi is seen in Pippen's last signature model, the Pippen 5 from 2001, which utilized Nike Basketball's Skin technology which was composed of an inner bootie for snug fit with a "skin" outer shoe.
To complete this week's assortment of signature shoes not being worn by their signature player is Vladimir Radmanovic as a Sonic in the Air Jordan XVI.
Steve Nash -- Hockey Skates
Larry Krystkowiak -- Converse Aero Jet
Jeff McGinnis -- Nike Air More Uptempo
Bonzi Wells -- Nike Air Pippen 5
Vladimir Radmanovic -- Air Jordan XVI
