Jayson Tatum and the Boston Celtics take on Tyrese Haliburton and the Indiana Pacers, while Anthony Edwards and Minnesota Timberwolves tipoff against the Dallas Mavericks in the NBA's version of the final four. Their individual games aren't the only thing flashy about the matchups; each of these stars sport some serious basketball sneakers.
Among them, we have two players rocking Jordans each night, one who is a Nike athlete, and one who stands alone with Adidas.
As you may have noticed, each player in the NBA is free to express themselves with the shoe style and color of their choice these days. Typically, the only restriction is that they must wear the brand that sponsors them. From there colorway options and which shoe to wear on which night is totally up to them.
For example, in the five games vs. the Cleveland Cavaliers Jayson Tatum wore a different color variation of his new Tatum Jordan 2s. Any fan paying close attention to the game will notice that gone are the days of wearing a white, black, or team primary color based shoe. In fact, the player does not need to match their sneaker to the uniform color the team is wearing.
Basketball Sneakers Continue To Be Fashion Statements
When you browse Kevin Durant's Boardroom.TV company website, you will notice there is a section completely dedicated to sneakers. In fact, one of their lead stories today is about the arrival of the KD17 sneaker.
When these conference finals get underway we are bound to see many players on each team showcasing their latest and greatest pair of kicks. With each round the team advances, more eyes are on each game, which means more exposure.
So, let's zoom in on which sneaker each of these players has been wearing during their 2024 playoff run so far.
Tyrese Haliburton - Nike Kobe 6
The Kobe 6 has become one of the most popular basketball shoes this year. Fellow Indiana pro basketball player, Caitlin Clark also wears these.
An interesting and fun Pacers fact here, is that with all the different uniform options a NBA team has now, only the Indiana Pacers have opted for a "playoff uniform" this year. Though it's not a new design, the Pacers have worn their yellow "statement" edition uniform in every game of the postseason so far. Given that no team remaining has a yellow option in their set, this will likely continue as it can be worn for both home and away games.
Jayson Tatum - Jordan Tatum 2
As one of Jordan brand's main NBA athletes, Tatum and his design team have done a great job of not making a ton of different sneaker model options. Instead, they have had dozens of different colorways of his "Tatum" shoes over recent years. For example, last week during game four, Tatum debuted the "Avocado Milkshake" colorway of the Tatum 2s. Tatum may not debut a new option during the series against the Pacers, but it is likely that he wears a different color for each game.
Luka Dončić - Jordan Luka 2
Like Tatum, Mavs star >Luka Dončić is also a Jordan guy. He too has his own model simply called the Jordan Luka 2s. So if both the Celtics and Mavs advance to the finals we will have a Jordan vs. Jordan superstar sneaker matchup containing the Jordan Tatum 2s vs. the Jordan Luka 2s. #77 seems to always write "Gabriela" with a heart on the sole of his sneakers. That is his baby daughters name.
Anthony Edwards - Adidas AE1
The player who has been perhaps unlike anyone else also stands alone in the sneaker category, Anthony Edwards, goes with a less flashy Adidas model appropriately called the "AE1." Though they've worn two different styles, the Wolves have only worn white uniforms so far in the playoffs, allowing Edwards shoe choice to always pop, just like his game. It will be an interesting matchup now vs. the Mavs as both teams have similar colors navy-based colors. 
