Amare Stoudemire’s Nike history reads like a Choose Your Own Adventure book. It’s gone in so many different routes but inevitably finished up with the ‘unhappy’ ending we see today. STAT is a hell of a talent, but big men are the George Custers (and Costanzas) of the sneaker world. Before Nike pulled the plug on the STAT signature line, a sample (presumably the STAT III) was designed and manufactured before it was officially scrapped. Several design cues of the shoe are quintessential Nike Basketball, like the gaudy, jagged midsole and the oversized swoosh. The shoe actually features a number of deliberate touches, like the intricate embossed graphic on the heel, Amare’s logo on the insole, a polka-dotted inner heel counter, and perhaps the most detailed bottom sole in recent memory. Although it isn’t good practice to think “what could’ve been”, check out this Nike Basketball design that will be locked up in the Nike’s vault for a long, long time.
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