In December of 1891, James Naismith created one of the world’s most popular sports to date, the sport of basketball. Ever since the start, the trend during basketball has been to match jerseys with your teammates and as far as shoes go, you should be individual in your own style.

With everything evolving in one way or another, one would assume that basketball shoes would start to evolve right alongside everything else. And that would be correct. Over time basketball shoes have gone from low-top to high-top, back to low, then high again. Changing color and fashion, thickness and grip style, every element has evolved for the better. From the first man to ever score an NBA bucket, Ossie Schectman, who wore low cut Converse, to the face of the NBA right now, LeBron James, wearing his own shoe brand combining with Nike to make both high top and low top basketball shoes.

Back in the day, it was very common to share team shoes and they were usually one solid color with the logo on it, or else they would be mildly different with little change to each of them. The main shoe back then was the Converse low tops because that was the “in” back in the early 1900s for athletes around the world. Yes people would look at the best players in the world and think that they had to get what they were wearing, but in reality, it was what everybody was wearing. In today’s age, people look at the NBA players and say that they want to “be like Mike” with Michael Jordan’s 30 different pairs of his own shoe brand “Air Jordan’s”, and that is not including the different variations of every shoe and their colorways. Or they want to “jump higher and run faster” with Nike. Today that is acceptable due to the diversity in shoe brands, color and uniqueness inside of the brand.

From 11 total NBA teams during the start of basketball now to 30, the chance that there is a player out there wanting to start his own shoe brand is very, very high. Including all of the deals they get when they sign with a huge corporation like Nike, Under Armour, Adidas and so forth, the variety is going to exponentially grow. One must wonder why basketball shoes had to change along with the game. From the technical foul to the three point line, games are getting more heated and aggressive, so shoemakers worldwide had to make shoes that could support the new breed of athletes ready to take on the big stage and go to work in the trenches.

The science of the game has changed so the shoe is forced to fit the beast. With the physicality rates skyrocketing, scientists and shoe makers are teaming up to make the shoe versatile, but bulky enough to protect the ankle and foot from injury. Along with that, one would have to add the element of style. If someone were to look at the evolution of the basketball shoe, the most noticeable part would be style. Until the end of the basketball era, the shoe will continue to grow alongside the players wearing them, the question is, what is next?