What are the best basketball sneaker technologies?

For most of us, choosing the best basketball shoe is often based on the brand, sometimes on the design or maybe even on the athlete wearing it. All of these are more than legitimate reasons and we have plenty of great models to offer you at Grosbasket for each of these approaches, but we also have some advice that we hope will help you even more!

We want to talk about what’s “under the hood” – the sneaker technologies from all brands that are used to bring you comfort and provide additional energy when you are on or off the court!

adidas

The three stripes reliey heavily on cushioning foams that were battle tested and proven by stars such as James Harden, Damian Lillard, Donovan Mitchell and as of recently Trae Young. Of course, the go-to solutions for adidas are Boost and Lightstrike technologies, while the Bounce was introduced and used with the D.O.N Issue #2 and the Harden Stepback. All you have to keep in mind here is that Boost and Bounce provide comfort and flexibility, while Lightstrike is aimed at giving you responsiveness and speed.

Nike / Air Jordan

In a way, Nike is the trail blazers in the shoe technology field with the Air Max being introduced thirty-five years ago, in 1987. Ever since then we witnessed a lot of great and crazy ideas but we will focus on the ones that are currently being used for basketball:

  • Air Zoom technology provides explosive performance and comfort especially in the Air Zoom Turbo variation
  • Max Air helps keeps your legs fresh all game long
  • Full length Air Zoom Strobel – it’s basically clouds under your feet ;D
  • React – it’s not all about air with Nike and this foam has long been a fan favorite, while Renew, Phylon and Cushlon have all had great results as well
  • Eclipse plate – one of the best features of the Air Jordan 34, 35 and 36 models which enables side-to-side stability and support while it’s hollowed out to help reduce the shoe’s overall weight

Under Armour

First, Steph Curry changed the way that game is being played and then he changed how Under Armour is viewed in the basketball world! His entire line is very impressive, but ever since the Curry Brand was launched within UA in 2020, things got kind of crazy – in a really good way. The Curry Flow 8 introduced an industry-changing outsole made of foam, called UA Flow, which replaced the rubber outsole entirely. This innovation offered unparalleled traction, lightweight performance, ground-contact cushioning, and a grippy on-court feel.

These are the main points that we feel should be included and explained here. Of course, all of these companies are constantly looking for new ideas and solutions together with their athletes and we cover them regularly and in greater detail through our blogs and video reviews on our You Tube channel so make sure that you keep following us!