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Eric WoodyardESPN
Joe Ingles is the NBA’s model of consistency.
The Utah Jazz swingman has played 379 consecutive games in a league game, and he has done so while rarely changing shoes.
While other NBA players rip through sneakers – sometimes switching three or four times in the same game – Ingles once wore the same size-13, yellow and white pair for six weeks, even though they had a ketchup stain on the toe from a mishap of first name flour.
“All my teammates laughed at me like, ‘Why don’t you get new shoes?'” He said. “It just does not suit me. The shoes are comfortable, my feet feel good. We’re trying to win a basketball game, I’m not worried. Of course, now that I look back, it’s probably a little dirty that I did that.”
The Nike Kobe AD Mid, the shoe of choice for Ingles, was originally released in August 2017. Ingles has worn it for each of its 162 games in the past two seasons, despite the fact that it has not been made since the season 2017-18. Wearing a discontinued model was already a challenge, but all Kobe Bryant-related merchandise became harder to reach after the death of the NBA legend in January. Nike has not released any Bryant products since, but the company will celebrate Bryant for a week with new shoes and clothing starting Sunday, which would have been Bryant’s 42nd birthday.
The lack of availability of Bryant-related products has forced Ingles to take unusual measures to get his preferred kicks on the court, even though he has signed on to a Nike deal that supplies him with clothing and sneakers.
Jazz equipment manager Adam Klauke said he gets Ingles’ shoes “wherever we can find them”, including retailers on Amazon, eBay and the popular shoe retailer StockX. So far, they have not had to pay foreign prices to keep Ingles happy, which Klauke called “happy”. However, buying shoes through public heart channels has led to some awkward moments for the Jazz forward.
“You forget your name is on the bill,” Ingles said. “I’ll order and guys will respond like ‘Aw, is this Joe Ingles of the Jazz? I can not believe you bought my shoes!’ I never answer, because I’m probably just too lazy to answer, but I would just do anything to find a shoe I liked. “
Once he finds such a pair, he is reluctant to let it go.
“We know how he is and always the same style,” said teammate Royce O’Neale.
Teammate Donovan Mitchell has already worn 11 different colorways of his Adidas signature shoes during the NBA rematch. Ingles could take two seasons to reach that number.
“Joe will probably go through five or six pairs of shoes in a season,” Klauke said. “Same model all season, for practice and games. He feels comfortable in those shoes and he wants those shoes, so if it’s not broken, do not fix it.”
Klauke is sticking to six or seven new pairs – stain-free, to be clear – to help Ingles out this season. A few slightly used pairs are also on deck.
“When they start to get really dirty and upset, that’s kind of when we start using them for exercise,” Klauke said. “Joe will tell me when he’s all done with the shoes.”
Ingles will take the court again in Sunday’s first round playoff game against the Denver Nuggets on the first day of Nike’s “Mamba Week,” an extension of a tradition that began in 2016 with “Mamba Day,” who honored Bryant’s last game – coincidentally against Ingles and the Jazz.
That same day, the company received all of its sponsored athletes worldwide with a pair of black and gold Kobe 11s for the first “Mamba Day.” Ingles wore the custom pair in warm-ups, but by the time Bryant finished his 60-point masterpiece, Ingles was back in the Kobe 10s – the model he wore three seasons before transitioning to the Kobe AD, which focused on that. point was already ended. The contrast in the shoe was evident in the third quarter when Ingles was matched on the perimeter against Bryant, who was wearing the special black and gold sneakers when Jack Nicholson looked on his regular court.
“Ten years ago, I never thought I would play in the NBA, let alone [Bryant’s] last game, “said Ingles.” One of the coolest things that ever happened was playing in that game and signing him the shoe, when Nike made us all a shoe, and it had the date of the game on it and everything that stuck in it. “
As his consecutive playing streak grows, he plans to keep sneakers from Bryant’s line. Just maybe not the last.
“I will carry the Kobe until no one else wears the kind and if everyone else moves on to the next one, I will move on to the one everyone has now,” he said.
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