The Technology Powering Adidas Signature Basketball Sneakers

James Harden hoops in Boost cushioning from Adidas. You’ll see Donovan Mitchell playing on unique Lightstrike combinations, a different foam compound from the German-based company. Trae Young uses a special combination of foams that wrap the foot. And Damian Lillard has his own mix of foam, all part of a range of under-foot cushioning technologies from Adidas.

Each of the four signature basketball athletes from Adidas works with the Los Angeles-based basketball design team to focus the technology throughout their signatures shoes to match the style of game they play on the court. Led by the cushioning compounds, but flowing into the uppers, outsoles and shanks, Adidas Basketball tweaks technology to fit the athlete’s play.

The signature athletes aren’t the only ones with a style-matching technology design. The “select” Adidas Basketball offerings, highlighted by the Adizero Select and the Women’s Exhibit B, also offer a singular take on technology that gets played at the highest levels of the NBA, WNBA and NCAA.

Eric Miller, Adidas Basketball design director, tells me that Adidas splits players into three main architypes, even if not every player fits squarely in a category. “We break it down into speed, agility and explosivity,” he says. “What we try to do is find the architype of each player with their signature and use that as a design focus.”

By using a range of technologies, from foams to shanks and uppers to outsoles, “within those three types of players, you have a suite of technologies we put under foot and on court and package it together.”

Newly released, the Harden Volume 7 for James Harden of the Philadelphia 76ers, is the longest-standing signature sneaker in the Adidas lineup and a showcase of explosivity. “We really pulled up next to him and learned to hit the ethos of what he wanted to be and be represented from footwear,” Miller says.

The calling card of the technology comes in the brand’s use of Boost foam, now focued in the heel. A cross-category technology known for the step-in comfort, Miller says Harden has long preferred the feeling of Boost since joining the brand.

In the Harden 7, designers encapsulated the Boost on the lateral side with a semi-soft TPU cage to add containment and stability throughout lateral movements. The brand’s Lightstrike cushioning also makes an appearance in the forefoot. “Boost is comfortable, but we need to make sure it is stable,” Miller says. “We added (containment) around the sole and through the heel.”

But Boost doesn’t fit every style of game. Donovan Mitchell of the Cleveland Cavaliers, who plays in the D.O.N. Issue #4, falls within the “speed” category. The brand has used the lighter Lightstrike foam, also popular in the Adizero lines.

“Putting that on an athlete in the NBA has a different nuance,” Miller says. “There is nothing holding him back from blowing past a defender and finding space for his shot. There’s no additional weight and he’s ready to be as quick and responsive as he can.”

To improve the comfort level on the fast-focused shoe, Miller says Adidas included an additional Lightstrike package on top of the foam close to the Strobel board just
just
under the foot. “It is really juiced with a lot of Lightstrike,” he says, “our most premier foam compound.”

When it comes to an agility focus, Trae Young from the Atlanta Hawks fills that bucket. Miller says Young’s nimbleness has him moving in unique ways. Using a special combination of foam in the Trae Young 2.0 signature shoe that combines Boost in the heel and Lightstrike in the forefoot allows for maneuverability on the court.

“If you have a foot that creates more of a dynamic movement on court, this is a compound that wraps around the upper to provide containment and flexibility,” Miller says. “This is a really responsive agility-based foam.”

The Dame 8 for Damian Lillard of the Portland Trail Blazers also puts a focus on agility, using the composite Bounce Pro foam underfoot.

While foam compounds signify the biggest factors in shaping a signature shoe’s on-court feel, there’s plenty more to work with. Each shoe includes a shank to protect the player’s foot. Created from TPU material, the shanks differ throughout the lines. Miller says that by using varying stiffness and placements, they can properly handle the forces and massive energy placements exacted on the shoes.

“We have typical placements that we know you need to add for rigidity and strength to protect the player’s foot and protect the placement of the stride, but at other times we are playing with the architecture to move it forward to get a bit more spring and flex,” he says.

Miller says that sometimes a shank placement will remain through a few iterations of a signature sneaker, while other times they embrace a new strategy. He calls the Harden 7 design one of the premier shanks in the lineup and the team used a translucent rubber under foot to call out its placement. Expect something new coming for the next Lillard iteration.

“There are special kinds of design considerations in both the upper and through the design and shank plates and placements to make sure we are really delivering the most customized approach to each design,” Miller says.

The outsole rubber takes on a distinctive approach for each model. The brand can tweak the durometer—hardness—and thickness to balance between weight and traction. At times, Adidas will trim away the thickness in areas to shed weight in one spot to allow them to add more in another area. The volume of rubber is also dictated by the player’s style. At times the outsole wraps the upper to allow for traction during extreme movements.

For example, Adidas separated the heel from the toe on Mitchell’s shoe, removing weight through he arch, while the Harden design features a full-length rubber coverage.

Every shoe features some style of herringbone traction pattern, what Miller calls “an undefeated level of traction.”

The upper packages across the Adidas Basketball lines often feature a resilient, lightweight non-stretch breathable mesh. Sometimes the uppers come in a single layer and other times it includes a backside reinforcement laminate to provide stability in places more force is applied. Adidas may also add an external skin to help enhance the aesthetics, but a breathable mesh is often the focus. “A decade ago, there was no mesh, but this is the standard,” Miller says.

The latest Young model features a knit design meant to pair with the high-rising outsole for comfort while ensuring compressive support and breathability.

Through the designs, each signature must have its own personality, both with technology and aesthetics. The elite athletes expect their shoe to fit performance standards, but they also want fans and family to be proud of the way it looks, Miller says. Taking that call seriously, he says they aim to deliver singular designs that represent both the athlete and the brand with a “benchmark level of confidence.”

“From a high-level perspective of basketball performance footwear,” Miller says, “it is a collision of both art and science.”