Tuesday, October 19th, 2010 at 11:45 am  |  54 responses

NBA Bans ‘Performance-Enhancing’ Shoes

The League doesn’t want its players wearing kicks that allegedly give them a competitive advantage. Say goodbye to your dreams of seeing Brian Cardinal throwing down windmill dunks. From Yahoo! Finance: “For the first time in its 64-year history, the National Basketball Association (NBA) has banned a new line of shoes based on the league’s rule against an ‘unfair competitive advantage’ that increases a player’s vertical leap. The league’s ban on Athletic Propulsion Labs’ Concept 1 confirms the company’s claims that the shoe, with its Load ‘N Launch™ Technology, performs as advertised. No professional player will be allowed to wear the product in games for the upcoming 2010-2011 NBA season. This action comes on the 25th anniversary of the NBA’s ban on Nike’s Air Jordan shoes, albeit for reasons of their colorful appearance rather than any performance advantage. Athletic Propulsion Labs (APL) was notified by a senior NBA official who stated, ‘League rules regulate the footwear that players may wear during an NBA game. Under league rules, players may not wear any shoe during a game ‘that creates an undue competitive advantage (e.g., to increase a player’s vertical leap).’ In light of that rule…players will not be permitted to wear the APL shoes during NBA games.’”

(H/T: Darren Rovell)

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  • http://www.need4sheed.com Tarzan Cooper

    Phil, I dont watch wrasslin

  • http://shreeve10@googlemail.com Steve

    I like this move from the NBA, when you watch players do the amazing things that they do, you want to know that they can do what they can because they are gifted or have worked hard, not because they’ve strapped on a pair of performace enhancing shoes. If they’re going to do that, they might as well start wearing jet packs!

  • Yesse

    Somewhat, i like the idea, but how do you define “performance-enchancing”? At the end i think this rule doesn’t make sense. First they can’t show emotion and now they can’t do this. Are we watching WNBA soon?

  • http://google c_cantrell

    man they expensive! but jus imagine if dwight n lebron n wade had 3.5 more inches on their verticle.. i know it may not sound like much but jus an inch can make a huge difference in many situations and sometimes determine the outcome of a game.. i would like a pair but theres no way in hell im payin 300 for them lol

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