Aaron Hope 
We think of Kobe Bryant (and to a lesser extent, Steve Nash) as the modern pioneer(s) of low-cut basketball sneakers, but really, they’re just replicating what elite ballers of yore already realized. Ankle support isn’t entirely about the height of the collar, and that was proven when early-’70s stars like Kareem Abdul-Jabbar trotted out the adidas Originals Greenstar as their weapon of choice. A basketball variation on the zenske Campus lowtop, these Greenstars were released in the same colors some four decades earlier, and are now being reissued with VNTG-style pre-yellowed soles at select Three Stripes retailers.
Photos: FNG
