Nike Basketball 2015 Elite Collection

As the NBA season winds down and the playoff picture islowly takes shape, Nike Basketball unveils this year's Elite footwear series for three of the brand's signature athletes. While the omission of a Kyrie 1 Elite is a mystery at this point, the latest signature models of Kevin Durant, Kobe Bryant and LeBron James will be reworked to handle the grind of the postseason.

Nike Basketball 2014 Christmas Collection

With the holiday season in full swing, Nike Basketball unveils another festive collection of Christmas-themed footwear for three of the brand's signature athletes. Read on for what Nike has to say regarding the design inspirations for the latest round of holiday shoes Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, and Kevin Durant will be wearing on their Christmas day games.

Check Out Three Upcoming Colorways of The Nike LeBron 12

With the NBA season well underway, the 12th sneaker in LeBron James' Nike signature line has enjoyed a ton of visibility on the feet of King James himself. While its local launch happened very recently, it looks like Nike is going full speed with three new LeBron 12 colorways slated to drop over the course of the holiday season.

Each colorway is inspired by sports science. Specifically, all the number crunching and data gathering that grounds just how fast, strong, and explosive LeBron James is when he's on the court. In terms of storytelling, the inspiration points are pretty novel, and the execution as a whole plays rather well with the futuristic design of the LeBron 12 silhouette. Hit the jump for a look into all three upcoming colorways and some words straight from Nike regarding their design.

Nike's Hexagonal Zoom Air - Explained in Simple Terms.

Nobody can ever question Nike's push to create groundbreaking shoes and apparel to help people maximize performance across a multitude of sports. The latest innovation unveiled by the Swoosh is the Hexagonal Zoom Air cushioning system, which is prominently featured on forthcoming shoes such as the LeBron 12 and the Zoom Hypercross Trainer.

Now for the sake of those not as immersed in the tech side of sneakers, Zoom Air isn't new. In a nutshell, it's a lightweight, durable cushioning system made up of tightly stretched tensile fibers inside a pressurized Nike Air bag. When your foot strikes the ground in the act of running, the Zoom Air absorbs the impact by releasing the tension of the fibers, then quickly snaps back to its original shape to help prepare your foot for the next stride. Not only does the technology shave weight off Nike's athletic footwear, it can also be specifically tuned to meet the demands of different sports - from basketball, to running, even skateboarding!

Nike's Hexagonal Zoom looks to further develop on the precedent set by the Zoom Air technology. The hexagon shape isn't just for the sake of looks. It is arguably, nature's strongest shape, seen as a vital construction component in beehives. The use of hexagons shaves extra weight off shoes, allows better flexibility and brings feet even closer to the ground. While Zoom Air was usually placed only in the heel, Hexagonal Zoom provides maximum responsive cushioning for the area of the feet where most explosive movements such as pivots and sudden changes of direction start - the forefoot. Through data culled from research and testing, each hexagon has been tuned to the exact needs of modern athletic training, giving a tailored cushioning system ideal for all parts of your foot.

While Nike could have been content pumping out Zoom Air-laced here throughout, their drive to further improve their products comes as apt response to the state of the modern athlete. Regardless of sport, today's athlete plays at a higher gear, and whether they know it or not, needs a product that's equipped to keep that pace. Though the chances are high that we might not be on the same athletic caliber as LeBron James, the fact that this technology will be made available to gym rats and weekend warriors suggests that it could be possible to get there one day.

Source: Nike

Nike LeBron 12 Launch Event

With LeBron James set to open a new chapter in his basketball career by going back to the Cleveland Cavaliers, Nike Basketball is gearing up to unveil the latest evolution of King James' signature shoe line with a special launch event.

Leaked photos of the LeBron 12 have already made the rounds on the internet, so what the shoes will actually look like won't come as any surprise to a good number of web-savvy sneakerheads. But of course, it wouldn't be official without a proper launch. LeBron fans better check out what Nike has in store for you guys come September 16th. In the meantime, check out the teaser video below featuring official images of the forthcoming Nike LeBron 12.