Remember when the self-lacing Nike Hyperadapt came out with its eye-watering $720 price tag in 2016? We aren't going to be pretentious and say we did, because we only remembered they exist because of the new Adapt BB.
They've refined the tech and, more importantly, halved the price–probably to prove that this can be an actual playing shoe and not something you buy just for the clout. But do we really need app control and firmware updates to make their way into our shoes as well?
Nike's rationale behind sticking self-lacing FitAdapt tech in a basketball shoe is that your foot size doesn't remain constant while playing ball–with your feet expanding by as much as half a size over the course of a game. With a smart shoe like the Adapt BB, your laces can automatically loosen for comfort during timeouts or even set a different tightness setting during warmup drills. That does sound nice and all but it also sounds suspiciously like an answer to a problem that never really existed.
Let's be real: how many times do you readjust your laces in real life? And, after decades of being told a lockdown fit is key, do we really want the squirming sensation of our kicks adjusting themselves mid-game? What if the FitAdapt starts lagging like an old iPhone a year down the line? And if you just want the novelty of a shoe that simply tightens up with no fuss, then you can simply cop the Air Jordan XXXIII, which features a one-pull cable tightening system very similar to the Adapt's motorised guts–all while coming in P7000 cheaper because the BB should retail for a cool P17,000 or so. The J's look like a proper basketball shoe too–the Adapt BB's are clean but no one is getting excited over their looks.
We have a feeling the brains at Nike know this is the truth though, and it reflects in their choice to pick budding superstars like Jayson Tatum and Luka Doncic to debut the BB. While this is a big step to making Tinker Hatfield's Air Mag dreams a reality, we're probably still a generation away from tech shoes becoming the new normal. By then Tatum and Doncic will probably be franchise faces and the kids who grow up fully addicted to tech will be wearing their signature Adapt BB 3's with pride.
But enough of the pseudo-expert opinion. The true, most relevant question is this: Will you play in them on your Barangay basketball court? With half the knockoff-sneaker-wearing dudes in your neighborhood never giving a fu*k if they landed on your Adapts in the thick of a violent rebound play?
Didn't think you would.