Ron Artest: Now Officially BALL’N

by Chris O’Leary/@olearychris

As CounterKicks noted yesterday morning, Ron Artest is rocking some new shoes this season.

The latest stop in Ron Ron’s sneaker endorsement tour is BALL’N, who are no strangers to SLAM. I briefly spoke with Artest about his new shoes last night after the Lakers beat the Rockets.

“I just went with a different company,” he said of his departure from Chinese brand PEAK. As CK’s story details, the company hasn’t taken it personally. Ron loves changing up what he’s got on his feet.

“I started out with Nike, Converse, a little bit of adidas, some And 1,” he paused and it was here that I realized just how many shoes he’s worn. He couldn’t even remember them all.

“K1x,” I say, remembering his Sacramento days. That jogs his memory.

“K1x, Peak, Protege for a little bit. I like to keep it moving.”

He said he liked what the shoe offered him on the court.

“It’s a geat shoe. They’ve got a high top and a low top, it’ll be out soon. It’s great for me, I like a light shoe.”

I’m wondering now if Ron has worn more sneaks than any other NBA player. I know Chris Webber and I think Latrell Sprewell pushed it in their respective days, but Ron has hit eight companies at the start of his 11th season in the League.

I snapped this pic of Ron’s shoes while he was prepping with CNN for his Larry King appearance tonight. What do you guys think of the shoes?

Ron Artest BALL'N