phrases, pictures & design // Nick DePaula
A yr after being chosen #1 general within the 2020 WNBA draft, SLAM stamped New York Liberty star Sabrina Ionescu as “The Subsequent Queen of NY” for the magazine’s Future Concern.
Two years after SLAM #231, Sabrina was launching her very personal signature shoe with Nike — simply the twelfth participant in W league historical past to have her personal namesake sneaker — a distinction each historic to replicate on, and aspirational to look forward in the direction of.
“I do know the numbers — solely 11 gamers in 27 years have come earlier than me,” she beamed after the launch. “It’s one of many highest honors in our sport and one thing past humbling to be part of.”
The second instantly took Ionescu’s starpower and impression on the sport to one more degree.
An All-Star and All-WNBA PG in every of the final three seasons since, the 3-Level Contest document setter is as soon as once more operating level for a loaded Liberty squad that reached the WNBA Finals a yr in the past, and aspires to but once more this yr.
Her debut signature mannequin broke limitations and noticed adoption in any respect ranges of the sport, inspiring “anybody, anyplace,” simply as she had hoped.
“It’s loopy to consider now, however the imaginative and prescient that Nike and I had collectively has actually come to life,” she added.
The momentum round her second sneaker made it one of the vital anticipated fashions of the whole yr. It’s led to gamers of all positions, in any respect ranges and from all backgrounds feeling impressed each time they’re lacing up their pairs of Sabrinas.
“That’s been one thing that we’ve been capable of see occur, from NBA gamers to varsity gamers and now younger boys,” mentioned Ionescu. “They’ll be capable of put these sneakers on and really feel like they will exit and achieve something.”
With the expectations rightfully excessive as Sabrina entered her fifth season this summer time, there have been additionally equally excessive expectations for her follow-up signature shoe, the Nike Sabrina 2.
Returning a glossy silhouette and versatile colorblocking choices alongside the higher, her second shoe has provided up each a lighter weight sneaker and a extra responsive cushioning platform. The recognizable Swoosh placement on the within of the primary shoe returns but once more, angled upwards by a shattered glass graphic to suggest Sabrina’s barrier breaking sequence.
To focus on her impression within the sneaker sport and on the signature shoe enterprise, SLAM teamed up with Nike to create a Sabrina 2 that might be unmistakable on court docket — flooded out in all seafoam.
As SLAM celebrates its thirtieth anniversary and the journal’s upcoming induction into the Naismith Basketball Corridor of Fame, we collaborated with a batch of manufacturers to focus on essentially the most memorable covers, most impactful gamers and defining sneakers that made their mark through the previous three a long time of SLAM.
Amplifying the brilliant seafoam teal all through, the SLAM x Sabrina 2 options quite a lot of further particulars all through. The heels of every shoe incorporate SLAM’s emblem together with a nod to the thirtieth anniversary, whereas the insole additionally consists of our celebratory thirtieth banner icon.
The Swoosh logos are elevated all through, standing out with a mirror end that speaks to the younger ladies and boys that may take inspiration from the sneakers and “see themselves” in Sabrina’s path.
“My favourite element is the Swoosh and having the ability to see your personal reflection,” mentioned Ionescu. “I need everybody to see themselves, what it’s that they wish to create and what it’s that they wish to dream — to have the ability to exit and try this in my shoe.”
As SLAM turns the literal web page, with not solely 30 years of impression and a Corridor Of Fame designation cementing the legacy of “the basketball bible” into hoops lore for good, it’s the way forward for the sport of the sport that the journal can also be centered on celebrating and highlighting going ahead.
A future that Sabrina Ionescu helps to outline. Each by her play, and the impression of her signature sequence with Nike.
“I do know what some folks may suppose: ‘It’s only a shoe…’
“However actually,” she continues. “I believe signature sneakers like this can assist proceed to push the sport ahead, for all.”
As SLAM celebrates 30 years within the sport, our latest Sabrina 2 collaboration appears to be like forward to The Future, linking again up with one of many journal’s iconic cowl athletes that’s positive to proceed to pave the way in which for the subsequent era of the sport.
