When LeBron James’ jersey first dropped in 2003, I dragged my father through the sweltering streets of Brooklyn to the nearest Foot Locker to buy it, alongside a headband and pair of wristbands to parade around in for the next month. I’d beg my mother to take us to the nearest Barnes & Noble with every new Slam magazine cover James appeared in, just to see if it was in stock. With Space Jam: A New Legacy on the horizon, my hopes of getting my hands on more coveted LeBron James memorabilia dwindle in the face of scalpers and buggy sneaker apps that seem to torture me incessantly.
Enter Nike and Xbox’s newest and dopest project with Space Jam: A New Legacy. Xbox Designer Elliott Hsu and Nike designer Jason Petrie teamed up in one of the sleekest collaborations since 21 Savage and Metro Boomin’s Savage Mode II.
The collab focuses primarily on combining inspirations from the film and LeBron James’ Lebron 18 Lows with the popular Xbox controller. Some of the greatest pieces of pop culture come together in this inspired collection, with characters from Looney Tunes highlighting the awesome designs on both the sneakers and accessories.
For the first time ever, a gaming accessory is going to be available for purchase when the collection becomes available on the completely functional Nike app SNKRS. Hsu sat down with the folks at Hypebeast to chop up some more of the details around the legendary collaboration.
He described the different design choices and inspiration behind them, saying, “The LeBron 18 Lows provided great inspiration with Road Runner being the right shoe, Wile E Coyote the left shoe and all the little details that were integrated. We looked at the colorways of the characters and explored graphic elements that best represented them to then create the controller design.”
Sadly, the Space Jam: A New Legacy, Xbox, and Nike LeBron 18 Low bundle will more than likely soar beyond my reach when it lands on Nike SNKRS July 15.
At least I’ll be able to enjoy more LeBron James time when A New Legacy hits theaters and HBO Max on July 16.
