Durant retraces roots in shoe launch

WASHINGTON, D.C. – It was a sentimental homecoming for Oklahoma City star forward Kevin Durant who launched his sixth Nike signature shoe, the “transformative” KD VI, by introducing his Seat Pleasant, Maryland, hometown to 78 media specialists from 10 countries, including the Philippines, the other day.

Durant, 24, was the perfect host as he even rode the bus with the visitors to show his grandmother Barbara Davis’ two-storey home on Sultan and Faye Streets, the Fairmount Heights concrete court where he learned the game and the steep, inclined road called “The Hill” on Balsamtree Drive and L Street where his elementary and high school coach Taras (Stink) Brown watched as he did over 1,000 upward runs in five formative years of playing basketball.

The tour ended at the Seat Pleasant Activity Center, established in 1979 after the local town government took over the former elementary school building under the supervision of the Department of Parks and Recreation.  Durant played endless hours at the Center which was about a 15-minute walk to his grandmother’s house and sometimes when it was too late to go back home in the dark, he slept behind a curtain on the far side of the gym until it reopened at 5 a.m.

At the Activity Center, Durant unveiled his new shoe with event host and ESPN commentator Mike Wilbon and Nike shoe designer Leo Chang.  â€œAs I look to evolve my game, my shoe plays a big role,” said the three-time NBA scoring champion who took the Thunder to the NBA Finals in 2011-12.  â€œWith the new shoe, precision is the focus and everything is on point.  The shoe makes me as quick as a point guard and as firm as a center.  It’s watch-inspired like all the pieces working together with precision.  It’s like a clock that doesn’t stop.  It’s low-cut, light and it gives a perfect fit.  As a performance shoe, it gives me the ability to glide, move and jump like never before.”

Durant has now been involved with Nike for six years and Chang, born in the US of Taiwanese descent, has worked closely with the 2008 NBA Rookie of the Year to develop a series of six shoes whose storyline traces his basketball odyssey and roots.  A stickler for details, Durant said he tried out the shoe three weeks ago and was amazed at its lightness, durability, comfort and reliability.  He said he’ll wear the shoe next season and hopes others in the NBA use it, too.  

Chang, a former toy designer who worked with Tumi luggage before stamping his mark at Nike, said it’s a myth that low-top shoes do not protect the ankles like high-tops supposedly do.  â€œAbout 50 percent of NBA players now wear low-tops, a sort of a throwback thing,” the Rhode Island School of Design graduate.  â€œIn creating KD VI, we thought of doing something new, not a high-top or a mid-cut but a low-top.  Whether you’re wearing high-tops or low-tops, if you step on a foot, you’re liable to still roll your ankle.  It took 18 months to produce the shoe with about 100 people involved in every aspect of the development.  The shoe connects to Kevin’s versatility especially in the bamboo version, one of five KD VI colorway variations.  Our Nike graphic designer Eric Goto even put in a map of Maryland in one of the transluscent variations.  To some, the shoe appears to be soccer-inspired.  We put in a lot of detail in the shoe because we believe that precision means performance.”

Chang said he has worked on other Nike shoes for Kobe Bryant and LeBron James but is exclusively assigned to Durant whom he described as the nicest athlete in the world.  â€œIt’s great working with Kevin,” he said.  â€œKevin wanted a shoe that was light and tight.  The first time he wore the shoe at practice, he fell in love with it right off the bat.  He liked the style because the first thing a fan looks at in a basketball player is his shoe.”  Responding to a question by Filipino journalist Mico Halili of Slam Magazine to describe the shoe with six adjectives, Chang said the KD VI is bold, iconic, different, low, light and obsessed.  

The shoe has five colorway variations, including the bamboo, NYC66 (commemorating Durant’s 66-point eruption in a Rucker playground game during the 2011 lockout), the meteorology (Durant’s other dream profession was to study the weather as a meteorologist) and the preheat. Chang said the five variations will be in stores this fall, starting this Wednesday.

The KD VI’s basic variation carries the Activity Center’s colors teal and yellow.  At the heel is inscribed the name Chuck who was Durant’s Amateur Athletic Union coach. Chuck Craig was murdered at the age of 35 which is why Durant wears the number on his jersey.  At the toe is inscribed Seat Pleasant.  The multi-layered hexagon traction pattern was conceptualized to celebrate Durant’s sixth signature shoe.  Other shoe features are the ultra-thin two-layer upper with Flywire for lock-down support, an optical illusion logo on the tongue revealing “35” and “6,” radial-brushed texture marks on the midsole, KD logo and Nike swoosh.

Durant was accompanied on stage to introduce the shoe by his mother Wanda Pratt and older brother Tony.  Later, Wilbon presided in a panel discussion on mentoring with Durant, his mother, Chang, WNBA player Kara Lawson and soccer star Oguchi Onyemu.  The audience consisted of global media and about 140 kids within the age range of 6 to 17 enrolled in summer camps supervised by Activity Center facility director Sherri Kittrell.  After the panel discussion, the media visitors took turns interviewing Chang and Durant at the Activity Center.