There’s absolutely no reason to be buying these shoes or any “budget” Nike shoes when the flagship models regularly go on sale for up to 40-50% off. To me these are basically targeted towards folks that don’t know shoes at all and just see $94.99
like me. People who buy one or two sneakers every summer if that and care more about how they look and feel vs. using them for what they were engineered for i.e. running, basketball, hiking, etc. The fact these are $99 I'd probably would of copped if I didn't see this vid. Much appreciated. I still may cop if all I want is some kicks to do walking around activities but hard facts u're better off going to the outlets and getting last years more premium offerings at discount. I like the look of the Hustle 3's but I aint paying $190 for em. Its not that serious for me. Now 120 total or even 99...u may get me.
THIS. Just picked up a Lebron 21 for $75 on Nike. Why on earth would you even buy this when you can have Nikes flagship shoe for over $20 less than this crap lol
@@AnthonySmith-bq2ifyou’re right like the Lebron 19 was cheeks but the 20 and 21 are elite and are often on sale for way less than $100. Last time I bought a budget basketball shoe my knees are shot for a week 🤣
I'm so glad the Weartesters channel exists in the sneaker review space, especially now. No bullshiting and telling it like it is so you can be properly informed when making your purchase choices.
I’ve been buying Nike kicks for a while now, I’m 45, and I remember a time where the take down shoes were still bangers, especially since I couldn’t afford the higher priced shoes when I was a kid. I agree, why even make these??? And yeah, I’d flex their top tier shoes over an sig line of bot top performing tech.
This shoe encapsulates everything wrong with Nike products right now. There’s no insight, no intentionality, and no attention to detail in what they’re designing anymore. On top of that everything apart from the Lebron flagships is made so cheaply that they just start falling apart after 10hrs on the court. Personally I’m buying more from new balance now. They seem like they actually get what sneakerheads and hoopers want out of a shoe.
1: Minus the top paragraph, the description from Nike makes these sound like mall-walking shoes. 2: My brain was filled with a vision of William Shatner hosting Weird Or What when Chris said "why was this made?"
I've tried it and can understand what the intention is for the shoe. It's catered to lighter weighted agility players, low to ground feel, wide toe box and overall softer sole for foot mobility vs plentiful of flagship brick shoes where your feet is completely rigid due to the stiffness of the shoe. I reckon with decent insole inserts would make this shoe good for a PG or SG with lots of lateral and driving movement.
thanks for the honest review as always! if you want to get your bag of money, signature shoes are the way to go. but if you are after the performance shoes, its the brand athlete.. but don't shoe brands give a different shoe specs for their signature athletes compared to the general released ones?
I personally disagree with u Chris. I am located in Asia atm so I copped these when they came out because I really liked how they looked. Like you said, these have nothing for support and cushioning. But you forgot to mention how extremely light these shoes are. The point of the shoe imo was for Nike to create the lightest thing they can still call a hoop shoe. I am a 6'2 185 ib guard. I play mostly on my forefoot so impact protection was never necessary. I will admit these lack sm cushioning that even I, someone who never experienced pain in my joints from impact, felt it in my feet and joints after a long hoop sesh in these. But I do love how they feel the first hour/hour and a half in them because they are so extremely light. If you are a quick, light guard that plays on your forefoot and don't necessarily need impact protection I do think these are worth giving a try. They remind me a lot of a pair of flyknit racers but in "hoop shoe" form. Traction 8/10 Support 4/10 Cushioning 2/10 Materials 7/10 (the flyknit is acc pretty nice) Weight 20/10 (easily one of if not the lightest shoe i've ever worn)
@weartesters 🙋🏻Would you please Review the Nike ‘Jam?’ It is the 1st Nike shoe, Specifically Designed for Breaking (for its Olympic Debut this year), and it is only 1 of 2 Nike shoes that I know of, made specifically for Dancing (the other being the Nike ‘Sesh’). I'd love to see your take on its feel/functionality in regards to Dancing (and maybe see your style in Dancing in them) 🎵🕺🏻💃🏻👟🤔🤓🖖🏼
Reminds me of the 1996 Air Flight model, not the Zoom one. That's a nice tribute if that's even what they were going for but at least that shoe had an air unit in the heel.
I appreciate you keeping it a buck on these. Hey nike if you are reading this we promise we wont complain if you give us forefoot and heel cushioning in your basketball shoes. I know you got something better than this or the stick of gum zoom bs you use in the ja signatures.
Leaving my question again, since it was ❤ed by you two... QUESTION: If you could have one shoe come back every 2-3 years with necessary interior tech/luxury improvements... What would that shoe be?
I'm so with you when it comes to them cutting down their product line. They're in the business of cutting costs to maximize profits, so why go through the process of manufacturing "filler" products like this to begin with?
I just hate that Nike doesn’t give two shits about their product, their customers and still get away with it… Hopefully their stock plummeting will be a nice kick in the butt to get their shit together 🤷🏻♂️
Low tech but I've been playing with these shoe for about 5 games, 1st game straight up trash but on the my third game i get it and traction just needed to be break in feels like a kobe 11 for me. Will suggest for high agility players lightweight players
I got my pair last week for the FK upper. These are so comfortable and lightweight for daily life. These are easy to wear. These are surely short lengthwise but the width of toe box is very friendly for those wide-footers in my EP version.
QOTD: I'd take a team shoe over a signature model. Man, I'd rather be a New Balance athlete, though. These are depressing. Thanks for the review! I left a like and you know I'm leaving a comment... done!
I have the puma stewie 1 with the gum rubber and they can't even grip a clean court. On a dusty court they become ice skates.The traction pattern is literally too bad to be saved by anything.
I just got the GT Cut 3 for less than this retails, directly from Nike. You can also get the Jump or Hustle 2 for about the same. WHY do shoes like this need to exist at all?? I said this in the other video about Nike being shitty now but there's just waaay too many 'budget' options that all offer the exact same thing. Theyre just trying to confuse people who wont do 5 minutes of research and just want a swoosh on their shoes.
Leadership will hand down individual targets to design teams based on brand direction. If I could guess I’m sure this shoe was hit with a recycled content target that ate up most of the margin for everthing else. Doesn’t make sense but that’s probably why it was made.
At first, I was thinking being a signature athlete was sweet, but what you said about Nike not treating them well now gives me pause. I’ll take being sponsored and wearing team stuff. I can take a cool colorway and even my logo on it. It doesn’t have to have my name. The best Barkleys and Pippens didn’t have their names on it either (Force 180 and More Uptempo), but they’re associated with them nonetheless.
Just got my GT hustle ep. and it fits really good. i just don't know why they don't like them. its a good outdoor shoes for me to be honest, worst nike shoes for me is ja1 to be honest.
😂😂 weartesters with the title. Whoever made it, you or your wife, thank you. Nike sucks and people ( shoe content influencers) are afraid to tell them because they'll stop sending them shoes. Who cares though. There's hundreds of other brands and technology is only getting better
After watching this video I question why have a "budget shoe"? There are so many shoes and brands competing for our money that stuff goes on sale and you can get signature shoes at budget prices. I just went to a dsg outlet store (I do work part-time at a dsg) and found zoom freak 5s for $40 dollars. I just bought a pair of curry 11s for $53 bucks and they had a pair of lbj 21s for $65 bucks. $65 for a pair of Lebron 21s is crazy. I agree that nike and these other brands should minimize the amount of "budget" shoes and put that "budget" into making there signature athletes sneakers better. Also to answer the question Id want my own shoe but the gt line is so nice!! I'd want to hoop in the gt cut 3s and gt hustle 2 & 3s all day. IF i was a nike athlete.
Nike hasn't been cooking that well the past year so their flagship models have been on sales a lot, which in turn makes these take down models a lot less valued since their starting prices aren't that competitive and they rarely go on sales. Even if they do they won't be any more convincing compared to when the flagships drop to slightly higher than take-downs' starting price ranges.
As a guy in the Philippines, I would think that this targets the budget hooper probably outside of the USA. I mean honestly when I see comments like the (insert signature or main shoe line here) can be had for 50% off.. I mean we wish that was true here in Southeast Asia since most of the sig shoe lines don't depreciate as much as they do there. We get 10% off most of the time and 30% off is already a steal, and real outlets are too far removed from Manila, offering the same discounts.
The shoe is bad. Whatever excuse someone would use to justify purchasing is up to that person. There are other brands out there offering more for the money spent. But if someone refuses to support anything but Nike then that person is willfully supporting a company that is blatantly ripping off its customers. Buying anything is a choice. The consumer has all the power in these situations.
@@WearTesters I agree! Especially with ripping the off its customers part, and the brand bias that exists here. To be fair, the market has expanded to include Anta and UA having physical stores, but some people still love the Nike branding over anything performance-wise which as you said, is a consumer decision. UA and Anta have started sponsoring shoe deals with colleges, universities, and sometimes, individual players that play in have televised leagues, so awareness is growing. I would even add that Klay, Steph, and Kyrie have made the brands legitimate here.
With how basic some of these signatures are nowadays and how stinking many there are, there's no point in these "team" or ancillary models; and they just keep releasing more. 🤦♂️
Nike bb is and has been on the bottom rung for me for years. I can’t remember the last time I paid full price on anything they’ve put out. Even the quality products are severely overpriced
Absolutely makes zero sense that this thing has no zoom to be seen. How could it be a take down model of a shoe that is cushioned to the max, it has zero resemblance to the shoe its a takedown of.
I think this is a reason why Nike is going down. I understand they want to make cheaper shoes so that more people can have Nikes but at the same time your shoe quality is going down and some of the shoes in my opinion are too widely available and then they make takedown versions of about everything flagship they sell.
There’s absolutely no reason to be buying these shoes or any “budget” Nike shoes when the flagship models regularly go on sale for up to 40-50% off. To me these are basically targeted towards folks that don’t know shoes at all and just see $94.99
like me. People who buy one or two sneakers every summer if that and care more about how they look and feel vs. using them for what they were engineered for i.e. running, basketball, hiking, etc. The fact these are $99 I'd probably would of copped if I didn't see this vid. Much appreciated. I still may cop if all I want is some kicks to do walking around activities but hard facts u're better off going to the outlets and getting last years more premium offerings at discount. I like the look of the Hustle 3's but I aint paying $190 for em. Its not that serious for me. Now 120 total or even 99...u may get me.
THIS. Just picked up a Lebron 21 for $75 on Nike. Why on earth would you even buy this when you can have Nikes flagship shoe for over $20 less than this crap lol
@@misterrivass8696 some flagships suck. I rather buy some cheap LeBrons with a little bit of tech in it
@@AnthonySmith-bq2ifyou’re right like the Lebron 19 was cheeks but the 20 and 21 are elite and are often on sale for way less than $100. Last time I bought a budget basketball shoe my knees are shot for a week 🤣
But the gt cut academy is one of the best basketball shoes Nike has to offer rn
Elite traction
Solid cushion with no real problems
you already know the shoes arent that great when Chris calls them "guys" and not "badboys" or "badgirls" lol
I’ve been gone from this channel a while but it’s great to see y’all still putting out the highest quality performance reviews 🔥🔥
The title says it all, and chris with the tease of a story. C'mon man, any chance of bringing back the Saturday podcast/show back?
Bro I’ve never heard Chris say stay far away from a shoe 😂
Last time was the OG adizero I think those got the smack down but you right it takes a lot to get the do not buy treatment.
He’s full of shit, it’s actually a comfortable shoe. I’d definitely buy
I'm so glad the Weartesters channel exists in the sneaker review space, especially now. No bullshiting and telling it like it is so you can be properly informed when making your purchase choices.
I really hope you can share the story one day. Seems really interesting 😂
The upper reminds me of the grey Zoom Flight 96. Could use a retro of that model.
I was thinking the same thing!
Always appreciated your performance reviews! The guru of performing!
glad to see you're back doing performance reviews
Fully support your point, Chris, that making trash out of trash is not truly "move to zero" as energy is waisted anyway. Thanks for good review!
Always appreciate Chris’s no nonsense reviews
At least back in the 90s, takedown models cushion, instead of zoom air, they replace it with air sole units
It’s great that you’re back doing performance reviews. I rather wait for the high tech models on sale due to my bad knee
I’ve been buying Nike kicks for a while now, I’m 45, and I remember a time where the take down shoes were still bangers, especially since I couldn’t afford the higher priced shoes when I was a kid. I agree, why even make these??? And yeah, I’d flex their top tier shoes over an sig line of bot top performing tech.
This shoe encapsulates everything wrong with Nike products right now. There’s no insight, no intentionality, and no attention to detail in what they’re designing anymore. On top of that everything apart from the Lebron flagships is made so cheaply that they just start falling apart after 10hrs on the court.
Personally I’m buying more from new balance now. They seem like they actually get what sneakerheads and hoopers want out of a shoe.
This!
Agree on NB 💯
1: Minus the top paragraph, the description from Nike makes these sound like mall-walking shoes.
2: My brain was filled with a vision of William Shatner hosting Weird Or What when Chris said "why was this made?"
Had this same thought! You’re better off running errands in these than running up and down the court…..
I've tried it and can understand what the intention is for the shoe. It's catered to lighter weighted agility players, low to ground feel, wide toe box and overall softer sole for foot mobility vs plentiful of flagship brick shoes where your feet is completely rigid due to the stiffness of the shoe. I reckon with decent insole inserts would make this shoe good for a PG or SG with lots of lateral and driving movement.
thanks for the honest review as always!
if you want to get your bag of money, signature shoes are the way to go. but if you are after the performance shoes, its the brand athlete.. but don't shoe brands give a different shoe specs for their signature athletes compared to the general released ones?
Hey nightwing are you going to make a review on the AJ4 RM?
At of all the shoes in your collection, and you had to give them all away except one, which shoe are you keeping?
Changed to New Balance and I felt quality again ! Only the heavily discounted Lebron and top tier Nike are worth it
It’s crazy because I really like the way these look and Nike hasn’t been exciting me lately, I would’ve expected more from looks alone
I personally disagree with u Chris.
I am located in Asia atm so I copped these when they came out because I really liked how they looked. Like you said, these have nothing for support and cushioning. But you forgot to mention how extremely light these shoes are. The point of the shoe imo was for Nike to create the lightest thing they can still call a hoop shoe.
I am a 6'2 185 ib guard. I play mostly on my forefoot so impact protection was never necessary. I will admit these lack sm cushioning that even I, someone who never experienced pain in my joints from impact, felt it in my feet and joints after a long hoop sesh in these. But I do love how they feel the first hour/hour and a half in them because they are so extremely light.
If you are a quick, light guard that plays on your forefoot and don't necessarily need impact protection I do think these are worth giving a try. They remind me a lot of a pair of flyknit racers but in "hoop shoe" form.
Traction 8/10
Support 4/10
Cushioning 2/10
Materials 7/10 (the flyknit is acc pretty nice)
Weight 20/10 (easily one of if not the lightest shoe i've ever worn)
Nike needs to hire Chris. We would have such amazing shoes. He knows this stuff like no other.
@weartesters 🙋🏻Would you please Review the Nike ‘Jam?’ It is the 1st Nike shoe, Specifically Designed for Breaking (for its Olympic Debut this year), and it is only 1 of 2 Nike shoes that I know of, made specifically for Dancing (the other being the Nike ‘Sesh’). I'd love to see your take on its feel/functionality in regards to Dancing (and maybe see your style in Dancing in them) 🎵🕺🏻💃🏻👟🤔🤓🖖🏼
Did you get 'em from Indonesia? Cause i saw the retail pricenin Rp (Rupiah)
First. Shoutout to nightwing for consistently producing quality content for over a decade 🙏🏾
Reminds me of the 1996 Air Flight model, not the Zoom one. That's a nice tribute if that's even what they were going for but at least that shoe had an air unit in the heel.
This'll end up as a decent gym/casual shoe for those that like how it looks lol thanks for the review!
Wher's the story? Oh no ...
We need it!
Maybe you guys concider recording episode with that type of stories.
I miss podcast😢
These are beautiful though, I could put an orthotic in there and make it work maybe
I appreciate you keeping it a buck on these. Hey nike if you are reading this we promise we wont complain if you give us forefoot and heel cushioning in your basketball shoes. I know you got something better than this or the stick of gum zoom bs you use in the ja signatures.
Glad someone told the truth.
Leaving my question again, since it was ❤ed by you two... QUESTION: If you could have one shoe come back every 2-3 years with necessary interior tech/luxury improvements... What would that shoe be?
I'm so with you when it comes to them cutting down their product line. They're in the business of cutting costs to maximize profits, so why go through the process of manufacturing "filler" products like this to begin with?
sheesh but the pink colorway of this go hard
Good review.
I'm gonna need to hear that story!
I can’t resist that weight how often they make basketball shoes that light definitely trying these on a clean court
Thanks for the great honest review Chris! I was considering this for my son, but I’ll pass. It’s Nike doing Nike things…
Man... I really wish you told that story, lol! I'm really interested in what you know about who's contract, now
Thank u Chris!
The black/grey/white color way really reminds me of the Nike Zoom Flight 96, too bad the shoe isn't better.
I just hate that Nike doesn’t give two shits about their product, their customers and still get away with it… Hopefully their stock plummeting will be a nice kick in the butt to get their shit together 🤷🏻♂️
Time to boycott them boys. Stop buying their bullshit.
Adidas, way of wade, anta makes way better shoes
Low tech but I've been playing with these shoe for about 5 games, 1st game straight up trash but on the my third game i get it and traction just needed to be break in feels like a kobe 11 for me. Will suggest for high agility players lightweight players
I got my pair last week for the FK upper. These are so comfortable and lightweight for daily life. These are easy to wear.
These are surely short lengthwise but the width of toe box is very friendly for those wide-footers in my EP version.
The only thing i like about this sneaker is the colorway. It has strong Nike Air zoom flight 96 vibes
QOTD: I'd take a team shoe over a signature model. Man, I'd rather be a New Balance athlete, though.
These are depressing.
Thanks for the review! I left a like and you know I'm leaving a comment... done!
We need the hear the Nike story someday!
What socks are you wearing?
Tell that story! Very curious now
Straight to the heart.
This is why Nike is no longer recognized or trusted as the maker of the best technology in performance footwear
I have the puma stewie 1 with the gum rubber and they can't even grip a clean court. On a dusty court they become ice skates.The traction pattern is literally too bad to be saved by anything.
the soundtrack to the GT hustle academy: billie eilish - what was I made for?
You can get the NB twoway vol4 for cheaper if you dont like air cushion
This is why i tried to 361°, Xtep, and Li ning when it comes to budget shoes. Their budget shoes are so much worth it compared to this.
Crazy that overseas brands have better take down models than Nike does
I just got the GT Cut 3 for less than this retails, directly from Nike. You can also get the Jump or Hustle 2 for about the same. WHY do shoes like this need to exist at all?? I said this in the other video about Nike being shitty now but there's just waaay too many 'budget' options that all offer the exact same thing. Theyre just trying to confuse people who wont do 5 minutes of research and just want a swoosh on their shoes.
That "story" got me curious 😬😬
I couldn’t get to this video fast enough. Nike, why you no Renew? That’s crazy
That's why people come here. No bs. Keeping it real SINCE 1999. Kinda sad Nike.
Leadership will hand down individual targets to design teams based on brand direction. If I could guess I’m sure this shoe was hit with a recycled content target that ate up most of the margin for everthing else. Doesn’t make sense but that’s probably why it was made.
At first, I was thinking being a signature athlete was sweet, but what you said about Nike not treating them well now gives me pause. I’ll take being sponsored and wearing team stuff. I can take a cool colorway and even my logo on it. It doesn’t have to have my name. The best Barkleys and Pippens didn’t have their names on it either (Force 180 and More Uptempo), but they’re associated with them nonetheless.
Just got my GT hustle ep. and it fits really good. i just don't know why they don't like them. its a good outdoor shoes for me to be honest, worst nike shoes for me is ja1 to be honest.
😂😂 weartesters with the title. Whoever made it, you or your wife, thank you.
Nike sucks and people ( shoe content influencers) are afraid to tell them because they'll stop sending them shoes.
Who cares though. There's hundreds of other brands and technology is only getting better
AE 1 Low review soon?
I like the looks. I'll get them when they're one sale 😂
After watching this video I question why have a "budget shoe"? There are so many shoes and brands competing for our money that stuff goes on sale and you can get signature shoes at budget prices. I just went to a dsg outlet store (I do work part-time at a dsg) and found zoom freak 5s for $40 dollars. I just bought a pair of curry 11s for $53 bucks and they had a pair of lbj 21s for $65 bucks. $65 for a pair of Lebron 21s is crazy. I agree that nike and these other brands should minimize the amount of "budget" shoes and put that "budget" into making there signature athletes sneakers better.
Also to answer the question Id want my own shoe but the gt line is so nice!! I'd want to hoop in the gt cut 3s and gt hustle 2 & 3s all day. IF i was a nike athlete.
They went even that bad bro 😂
And i like the look
😂😂😂 this the first shoe I've seen you say helllllll to da naw😂😂😂
Nike hasn't been cooking that well the past year so their flagship models have been on sales a lot, which in turn makes these take down models a lot less valued since their starting prices aren't that competitive and they rarely go on sales. Even if they do they won't be any more convincing compared to when the flagships drop to slightly higher than take-downs' starting price ranges.
So technically these are just like Roshe runs but for basketball? No Torsional support and no ankle support whatsoever?
Damn that tell the story!
They need to just update them and fix the zoom air problem
And then you have a second GT Cut Academy model that's barely distinguishable from the first Academy 😵💫
Looks like it could be a Reebok Question
I love my gt cut academys!!!! Better than my gt cut2
the white one reminds me of fila gh 5. 😂
I’m still waiting on my all star 17😭😭😭
Funny that sole drop said that this shoes actually is nice 😂
I have to say this shoe looks like a nice casual shoe
As a guy in the Philippines, I would think that this targets the budget hooper probably outside of the USA. I mean honestly when I see comments like the (insert signature or main shoe line here) can be had for 50% off.. I mean we wish that was true here in Southeast Asia since most of the sig shoe lines don't depreciate as much as they do there.
We get 10% off most of the time and 30% off is already a steal, and real outlets are too far removed from Manila, offering the same discounts.
The shoe is bad. Whatever excuse someone would use to justify purchasing is up to that person. There are other brands out there offering more for the money spent. But if someone refuses to support anything but Nike then that person is willfully supporting a company that is blatantly ripping off its customers. Buying anything is a choice. The consumer has all the power in these situations.
@@WearTesters I agree! Especially with ripping the off its customers part, and the brand bias that exists here.
To be fair, the market has expanded to include Anta and UA having physical stores, but some people still love the Nike branding over anything performance-wise which as you said, is a consumer decision.
UA and Anta have started sponsoring shoe deals with colleges, universities, and sometimes, individual players that play in have televised leagues, so awareness is growing.
I would even add that Klay, Steph, and Kyrie have made the brands legitimate here.
Review 808 4 ultra pls
With how basic some of these signatures are nowadays and how stinking many there are, there's no point in these "team" or ancillary models; and they just keep releasing more. 🤦♂️
Nike bb is and has been on the bottom rung for me for years. I can’t remember the last time I paid full price on anything they’ve put out. Even the quality products are severely overpriced
Like playing ball in some chucks
A low profile drop in cushlon or react insole and a mid foot shank would have saved these, Nike is Falling off big time
The line should be renamed to LT....lesser than
In terms of a silhouette, this is everything I want, but in perms of quality, nothing I want.
The slim shady of shoes
Another poor quality shoe by a company that doesn't care about the general consumers is all it is.
I wonder how would chris review a shoe explicit style 😅.
lets hear that story!!!!
Absolutely makes zero sense that this thing has no zoom to be seen. How could it be a take down model of a shoe that is cushioned to the max, it has zero resemblance to the shoe its a takedown of.
Chris is Hot Mad 😂
I think this is a reason why Nike is going down. I understand they want to make cheaper shoes so that more people can have Nikes but at the same time your shoe quality is going down and some of the shoes in my opinion are too widely available and then they make takedown versions of about everything flagship they sell.
Nike Walmart specials?
Tell us how you really feel Chris 😂😂😂!