Kyrie Irving debuted the fourth signature shoe of his evolving Nike series, filled with personal touches and motivational nuances. The tributes seen on his last shoe to his late mother Elizabeth and young daughter Azurie still remain, but there's a new, more timely layer to the "Confetti" colorway of the Kyrie 4 that Irving unveiled on Friday evening.
The sneakers serve as a constant reminder of how the 2017 NBA Finals ended for Irving when the final buzzer of Game 5 sounded at Oracle Arena this spring.
As he left the floor and made his way to the visitors locker room, he noticed white, blue and yellow confetti firmly stuck to the bottom of his sneakers from the Warriors' celebration. The first colorway of the Kyrie 4's outsole features pods of the same hues.
"Kyrie took some confetti for himself, to remind himself that he was going to be back and win a title," Nike designer Ben Nethongkome said. "It's inspiring him to get back to that spot."
Around the league, several stars broke out new versions of their season-long kicks. For his return to Indiana, Paul George wore a "Wild Wild West" theme of his signature PG1. It's unlikely he expected Oklahoma City's start to the season to be this rocky when conceiving of the sneaker theme to highlight his move westward.
Karl-Anthony Towns continued his trend of wearing custom-painted editions of his size 20 Nikes, celebrating the 10-year anniversary of Kanye West's "Graduation" album with artwork featuring West's bear icon on the collar of his Hyperdunks. As he continues to switch shoes at halftime of nearly every game, Clippers center Montrezl Harrell finds himself garnering attention yet again for his random rotation of coveted and vintage Air Jordan models.
Check out all of the best sneakers worn in the NBA this week and vote on your favorite pair below.