Fake LeBron 14s Are Already Out

Rather than leaking over the summer and dropping in time for the start of the season, the Nike LeBron 14’s timeline differed from what we’d come to expect from the line. James began the season wearing the Soldier 10, a shoe that’s popularity (thanks to its NBA Championship credentials) has made the delay on the 14 less obvious. He then transitioned to wearing shoes like the LeBron 10, 13 Elite, and 13 Low as the eventual unveiling of the 14 neared.

The official debut of the LeBron 14 came during the James’ Christmas NBA Finals rematch against the Golden State Warriors. The shoe wasn’t in team colors, nor was it very Christmas-y, but it was highly noticeable on court during the Cavs dramatic come-from-behind victory. We’ve since seen it in a Hardwood Classics variation as well as a launch colorway dubbed the “Black Ice.”

Since only a few colorways of the actual LeBron 14 have been seen, the fake manufacturers have taken inspiration from some very unsurprising sources–the archives of the Nike LeBron line. While we must give them props for the speed in which they brought to market a shoe that wasn’t even seen until roughly three weeks ago, we certainly don’t advocate buying any of these variants.

The release of the real LeBron 14 won’t come until late January, but you can take a look right now at some comically bad rehashes of old LeBron colorways that are already out, complete with photoshopped double Swooshes, undoubtedly done to give the manufacturers deniability on copyright infringement.