The No. 1 overall pick hits the hardwood in high-fashion chrome, debuting a personalized silhouette that blends Jamaican roots with futuristic design for his highly anticipated pro debut.
Former BYU star AJ Dybantsa is making waves in the sneaker world again.
Last year, the No. 1 overall NBA Draft pick was seen practicing in a Nike Air Bakin-inspired KD18. He then wore a pair of Nike GT Futures in November that included his AJ initials. Then in January of this year, Dybantsa wore a Spider-Verse inspired Nike GT Cut PE. This was all before he then revealed the “Starboy” Nike Signature athlete logo before the draft.
Sneaker platforms everywhere began reporting this week that Dybantsa would be setting another trend with what's being described as a ‘chrome’ Nike GT Cut. The sneaker model does have mid-sole/lower upper sections that include "elevation changes."
In the GT Cut 4, the model takes on the form of single lines moving up. In the Dybantsa GT Cut model, the changes seem to be slightly chunkier. This model maintains the low profile several players like. The primary structure is a fundamental inner sock, common in signature shoes over the years. With the chrome moving up from the floor, they almost wrap up the sides.
The Starboy logo was met with mixed reviews. With many online commenters claiming it looked like a collection of Degree antiperspirant ‘checks’ creating an old Dodge car logo. Dybantsa would later explain the origins and meaning behind his logo.
“I had a logo before, but it wasn’t official,” Dybantsa said on the All the Smoke podcast. “But when I used to sign my signature, I always put a star. But if you look at it, every single point of the star is either an A, J, or D, which are my initials.”
AJ would go onto tell a story about visiting his mother’s home country of Jamaica when he was four years old. Everyone referred to him as star this or star that, and it confirms that it's simply part of their linguistic style. When he met with Nike, he asked how they could incorporate a star into the design.
Dybantsa will make his NBA Summer League debut tonight when his Washington Wizards face off against the Utah Jazz. Creating an intriguing No. 1 vs No. 2 overall draft picks match-up between Dybantsa and Kansas product Darryn Peterson. In that game, Dybantsa is also expected to debut his chrome Nike Air GT Cut model with his Starboy logo.
The Jazz and Wizards face off in the Summer League on Thursday (7 p.m. ET, ESPN).
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