The basketball landscape shifted July 1, 2018, when Klutch Sports Group announced LeBron James had agreed to sign with the Los Angeles Lakers. His arrival marked the end of a drought for the historic franchise and they had been passed over by marquee players multiple summers in a row.
The four-year contract James signed represented his longest deal since inking a six-year pact with the Miami Heat in 2010. The season didn’t go as planned, however, as James and multiple Lakers suffered injuries.
He was in and out of the lineup for a brief stretch and ultimately was shut down for the final six games. James went into the summer determined to silence doubters and leading up to Media Day for the 2019-10 season, teased which sneakers he would wear.
James wound up opting for a Nike LeBron 7, but outfitted in purple and gold to match his new team. Now in the midst of a second season with L.A., the Nike LeBron 7 ‘Lakers Media Day’ is set to release Saturday, May 16, on Nike.com, the SNKRS app, and select online retailers at 7 a.m. PT.
James has wore various versions of his seventh signature shoe throughout the season, including on March 8, when he laced up a white pair that featured a gold Swoosh and purple accents.
The LeBron 7 returned late last year with a limited release of the ‘Red Carpet’ colorway that originally debuted in 2009. That moniker was then lent to James’ latest signature shoe, as he donned an all red version of the LeBron 17 for the Lakers’ first home game of the season.
The LeBron 7 was James’ first Air Max sneaker, as it introduced an all-new, full-length, basketball-specific Max bag that featured 80% more Air than the previous full-length Max bag. It additionally was the first LeBron shoe built with Flywire, which debuted in basketball in 2008 with the first Hyperdunk.
Furthermore, James’ seventh signature model was also the first designed by Jason Petrie, who now has completed more than 10.
