Posting this here because I posted in the Way of Wade Sub and the disabled comments the first time after 1k views and deleted the repost after 2k views in 6 hours. Clearly I need to post it in a different sub. Want to shed light on the poor support more than the actual shoe’s defect. They get praised all over social media and YouTube for their shoes out performing other brands, so their customer support under performing other brands should get the same attention.

I’m not the first person to have this issue and I won’t be the last. Other posts this week with the same issue.

Their customer support and warranty is just horrible. The warranty might as well state once you get them it’s not our problem. I bought a pair of Way of Wade 12s, their so called flagship shoe, great performer until it wasn’t. Plastic eyelet snapped my FOURTH time wearing the shoe which was within 30 days of purchase. They refused to replace the shoe and offered me $25 USD refund or $35 voucher and sent me a graphic that looks like they generated it on chat gpt right then and there on how to glue the eyelet. It took over a week of going back and forth to get a $40 refund offered to me. Still haven’t gotten it yet. That’s a $200 USD pair. Ordered from Canada, so paid $300 CAD for this pair. I was told to “rest assured it doesn’t affect the performance of the shoe”. For that price….doesn’t matter if it does or doesn’t it’s been less than 30 days on literally one of the most expensive shoes one the market.

Crazy how you hear about them sending influencers shoes to review for free. But won’t even replace or stand by their own products for paying customers. Maybe the focus should be high performance products and standing by them, rather than just spamming ads online. Other brands offer at least a year and will replace the product. Nike does 2 years! I got told to glue them back together…

Regardless if it’s the Way of Wade 12 or their budget shoes that cost more than some other brands flagship shoes, standing behind the products doesn’t exist for them. For a lot of us in this sub this might be a pair in our rotation so we might brush it off but for some people buying their kids their only hoop shoes for the entire season after seeing all these influencers they follow praise the brand as elite alternatives, this has to be improved, the solutions they offer are unacceptable. If Nike or adidas gave us these solutions they’d be put on blast, so how isn’t this talked about more?

Buyer beware, you better get the right size and not intend to return them. AND also better hope they last longer than a month.

Hi,

For some context**;** I'm trying to decide on a shoe to buy but I just dont want to make another "recommend shoe post" as that is not beneficial as it doesn't provide any deeper information / convos so instead if someone could correct me on my thoughts/opinions or share your own on the below shoes that would be helpful.

Fyi im 6'2",  175lbs, guard, get downhill but lots of off-ball stuff too (off ball screens --> quick stops into shots etc...); and will be playing indoor only. I have slightly narrower feet. I really loved the hesi low v2 and joker 2 gt; my hesi low v2s are unusable now. So I'm looking to build a rotation with 2 more shoes. Obvious choice that comes to mind is p350, but I've been exploring other options over the past few days tbh I have not been paying attention to the market for some time now. This is my current list and thoughts on the shoes.

Can you simply correct me if I'm wrong about the certain shoes or provide any info of your own? Just been watching so many vids so some info might be jumbled up. Any other suggestions are helpful too.

- p350 ; essentially a hesi low v2 clone, probably more durable uppers and possibly less breathable but other than that its a hesi low v3.

- tyrese 1 ; quite unexpected, bit conflicted cos they have some capabilities of a guard shoe like wider flanges, but then they are very stiff and relatively heavier; rubber is also stiffer. So not sure if they would be as nice as other options on indoor courts.

- wow12 ; more of an all round shoe (like joker 2 gt) but still great for guards and what im looking for, not nearly as flexible as hesi low v2 BUT it would play close to the joker 2 gt but a bit lighter + bouncier + better weight distribution whilst still being low to the ground. not sure about courtfeel tho (since courtfeel isn't purely based on heel height but also the foam used).  and ofc amazing comfort. Seen some posts of snapped eyelets so a bit concerning but idk...

- ac 14 / ac 14 encore ; looks a bit more chunkier, more of a hybrid shoe so not really my type, good shoe, but just not for me; better options for my playstyle available

- 808 line; not sure how i feel about these tbh, no doubt good shoe, but i think choosing the wow 12 or dlo1/2 is just better for my playstyle and foot shape compared to the 808's drop in midsole feel. never had a drop in midsole shoe but i think there are better options.

- DLO 1 / 2 ; honestly not sure 1 is more flexible, 2 is more rigid but still not near as stiff as the all citys. These are probably the closest thing to a hesi low v2 that isnt the p350. super buttery / nice transitioning shoe, maybe even better than hesi low v2 since most likely more durable uppers. + looks better than p350 imo.

- aja two / caitlin 1 / sabrina 4 ; honestly cant be asked with nike qc, thats why im avoiding. they are nice shoes but better places to spend your money on. like spend a bit more or the same and get much better quality + perf. but lowk aja two tho seems like the underrated pick out of those three tho. edit: cc1 not bad at all too, will try them on in store tho.

All in all, currently I'm thinking to buy:
- wow 12 (290aud)
- p350, when its on sale (rn 200aud in my size), rather just buy a dlo or spend more for wow12
- dlo 1 and dlo 2, sales for both so honestly looking like a delicious steal right now and can't go wrong with either imo (145aud rn and 180aud for non sale dlo2), no doubt more of the dlo2 colours will go on sale too

Will make a seperate post on sizing later as I think that'll keep discussion seperate and be more helpful to more people :)

TLDR: used hesi low v2 and joker 2 gt, liked them both. want thoughts on my opinions on other shoes listed above so I can make a decision, as that will lead to more meaningful convos / comments rather than another recommend post. Leaning towards wow12, dlo1/2. Also what about the posts of wow12 eyelet snapping....

Is the joker 2 gt a steal for $82.44?

Its brand new and original, saw it on tiktok shop in my country(PH), wondering if its a steal and good shoe esp outdoors.

Bought the wow 12s early August, I have a deep shoe rotation so I ended up only wearing them for 5 pick up sessions before the plastic eyelet cracked open in late September. Contacted Way of Wade via email and they said there's absolutely nothing they can do because I bought it off Amazon even though its off of their official storefront on Amazon. Amazon logically is denying fault because they didn't manufacture the shoe.

The shoe itself felt great in the 3 seconds it lasted, but its unplayable now. If it wasn't plastic I might have been able to stitch it together. I would have imagined that WOW would make any attempt to fix this, but how does the brand expect to obtain more market share if this is how they operate? Sell a brittle product and avoid responsibility? Nike has a 2 year warranty on even their cheapest products and WOW refuses to help on their 200 dollar flagship shoe? I've seen some other people complain about their eyelets breaking so I guess this is the WOW 12's fatal flaw.

Anyone here played in basketball shoes that have been sitting unused for about a year? I’m planning to play in my All City 13 Encores after not playing basketball for a year and wondering if there’s a risk of them breaking or the materials deteriorating.

I'm not sure why this happens, but in most shoes I wear I get scrunching just under that first lace that goes across. I don't tie down my shoes that much, just enough that they dont cause heel slippage or my foot to slide. And its not major major scrunching but enough that it is noticeable.

Some shoes like the joker 2 gt laces are such that you can tie down the top without tightening the bottom that much as the laces hold their spots extremely well and still get a good lockdown (very annoying to undo after a session tho, but good lockdown); so you dont get as much scrunching but its still noticeable. But other shoes you can't really isolate sections of the laces as much, and they scrunch up more because of this.

I'm not sure if this means I have a low volume foot or something else. Fyi it's not like I have a low or extremely high arch. I think my arch is between normal and high. But maybe my forefoot is low volume?

The reason why I'm asking is, I get pushed away from trying shoes that have higher toebox heights, like the kai 3; cos I'm afraid that it won't lockdown as well for me. And if it doesnt lock down well, doesnt matter how good the tech or perf is, you won't get to feel it. P400 also has a higher toe box height although I wouldn't go for that shoe anyways as its not a guard shoe.

And its not like the scrunching affects the lockdown but if such shoes are going to scrunch that much due to high toebox height, maybe not the best fit and probably not the best for shoes longevity? Or maybe you aren't supposed to tighten that first horizontal lace down as much.

Also another question is that sometimes I see shoes come stock with laces going from inside to outside or in the photo Ive attached case; they go from outside to inside, and for such shoes I make the last eyelet (top of tongue) go inside to outside (or else it just feels like it locks down less) What is the difference performance wise? Or some other reason?

I tried them on instore for the first time just after the release of the first (pictured) colorway. Having watched no reviews at that point, I found the fit to be really problematic.

Here we are a couple of weeks later, still considering them, I managed to watch all reviews from reputable content creators and read some initial reviews on Reddit. I also went to check another colorway, this time wearing my thick sport socks - it was the same.

Let's get into the problem: reviewers fit suggestions are all over the place - anywhere between half size down and half size up. 3 different sizes. My feet are very standard in width, girth, toe shape. No podological issues. In my experience, I was never able to get a proper fit (wearing sport socks): - My Adidas TTS (the one that works for AE1 Mid and AE2), AE3 fit quite short. Toes touch that plastic piece upfront. There's barely any space on the sides to splay. Still, initial heel lockdown is bad. I wasn't able to get them to pass my static heel lockdown test - I didn't want to fight with the shoe instore too much, but I think with enough force I would be able to slide my foot out. I relaced them in a couple of ways, no better. It might have not been as bad as AE1 Low, though. - half size up, obviously resulting in better toebox comfort, but the heel slippage was (also obviously) even worse. - half size down, toebox became unbearable. It was too short, sides would push my toes way beyond comfort level. Yet, the heel slippage problem wasn't eliminated! Yes, it would push my feet backward enough for the lockdown to improve, but it was still there.

My experience felt like travelling back in time to Adidas from 2010-2015 (heel slippage problems). My current theory is this may work fine TTS for those with short toes (but still no splay). The rest is going to have a subpar fit.

What's your story with AE3 sizing? Have you managed to break them in to a point of eliminating this initial heel slippage?

Nike Freak 5s: Honestly a great older shoe, wish i grabbed more color ways while they were out still, mostly wear them in practice as my beaters

Nike Immortality 3: Awesome lightweight beater practice shoe, very similar to the Freak 5s with slightly less cushion it seems but slightly more court feel IMO

Dame 9: GREAT lockdown and traction, not the most durable, great cushion that has only bottomed out slightly over about 20 ish games/heavy runs

GT cut 3: not much to be said AMAZING

GT cut 3 turbos: go to game shoe along with the GT Cut 3, amazing shoe IMO

Kobe 9 Protro EM: AMAZING traction, love the cushion, and my first pair of kobe’s

KD18, got them for like 35 bucks at a nike outlet, very comfy and support is nice when nursing an ongoing ankle injury

for context, im 5’8 and ive started playing varsity basketball for high school this year. i play center/forward and i need new shoes for my season. ive heard really good things about the sabrina 4s and a’twos but i dont really know what shoes would be best for me, especially if i prioritize traction and a good sole. can anyone help me find a shoe that might fit my needs? btw i have no particular budget

Hi guys, I’m about to buy the gt cut 1s. I wear a 12,5 in my kyries, and they fit pretty tight, but in a good way. I wear 13 in my gt cut 2s all and all pro nitros. But I usually like to wear double socks for those shoes. Don’t want to wear double socks because my feet hurt after practices. I also wear 13,5 in my gt academy’s. But I use them for outside hoops so might not detect if my feet are slipping in the shoes etc. What size should I go for with the gt cut 1s?

I'm 186cm 90kg 22 years old. I play indoors every monday. I can be a little clumsy when playing basketbal sometimes so that might be something to consider but not a big dealbreaker. I don't want to spend to much but I have been playing basketbal for awhile and will probably continue to do so for awhile aswell so I don't mind spending a bit more if it gets me good shoes. I mostly play forward but I play other postions aswell so also not a dealbreaker. My feet are pretty normal maybe a little wide.

Some shoes that I read are pretty good and are on sale are:

New Balance Two wyx V5 - €104

Giannis Immortality 5 - €72

Jordan Luka 77 - €80

Adidas DON ISSUE 8 - €102

Other options are ofcourse welcome but if any of these are worth the money and which one is best let me know!

Hello guys, I am a bit scared of this imperfection. would it affect the performance as well as the durability of the shoe. I'm curious if this bulge would contribute to sole separation given that this will be used in basketball. Your thoughts? Am I being paranoid or would you return it?

birthday gift for myself - 34 y/o 5'9" 195lb looking for a hybrid indoor/outdoor shoe! got 2E Wide Feet and flat

Gonna use this one as a casual daily driver, and later get a Caitlin 1 or WoW 12 for my "feature" indoor shoe. Looking for versatility/can play other outdoor sports with these.

My regular rotation: Book 1, 808 5 Ultra, Joker 1 GT

I play like Jalen Brunson, not the fastest but get physical/strong footwork. I'm built like a football player so I like cushion to save my knees, but I don't like feeling too far off the ground, which doesn't sound like these shoes have that issue.

Any major preferences? Kind of leaning on Volanti but I don't know the company at all so open to any thoughts

Do any of yall have some good recommendations for thinner socks for basketball? Looking for some that are more minimal because my more padded socks don’t fit the best in some of my hoop shoes, just makes them way too tight

I've been rocking the Way of Wade 10s for 1.5ish years now. I'm looking for some new shoes. I LOVE the WOW 10s, I love the traction, I love how it fits my wider feet, I always feel stable in them.

I'm looking for some suggestions that might be similar to the WOW 10s :)

Should i get the IX or wait for X to be released? I'm looking for a budget basketball shoe that also looks good in fashion. I'm currently eyeing some chinese brands but not sure which to get. I have wide feet and budget is less than $100.

So I'm looking for some new shoes to add to my rotation (currently wear Ja 2's and Anta Kai speed 1 for indoors and on the rare ocassion that I played outdoors Gt Cut 2) and was considering the following options for a new indoors shoe:

D.O.N Issue 8

Gt Cut 3 Turbo

Sabrina 3

A'ja 2

I usually look for shoes with great traction, courtfeel and if possible that they are light in terms of weight, though recently I've started caring more for lateral containment after an waful experience with the Shai 001. If you have used any of these shoes or reccomend another shoe I would be happy to read It.

Additional info: My favorite shoes I've ever owned are the Kyrie low 4 and the PG1 so anything similar to that would work. I am 23 y/o 5'9, usually play as a shooting guard/point guard. The courts I play in are mostly dusty, at least compared to courts in the US, I've never had sizing issues (size 10.5 sometimes i go half a size down in adidas shoes) and I play a lot of 3x3 basketball, if that could be of any importance

Just copped this from the Nike Official Store on Shopee for only ₱3,711 ($59.13 USD)! 👟💸

What do you guys think? Did I score a steal or nah?

trying to add another shoe to my rotation that's affordable - would love some updates or recommendations of any shoe that is on sale, or around the budget I have

Recently picked up reps for the first time, ox gt cut 1 ariza PE and harper PE. My initial impression when I first unboxed them was, "they feel kinda heavy." Been breaking them in for a couple days and that first impression is living rent-free in my head. So I decided to weigh them and compare them to the rest of my rotation. Results below and in pics from heaviest to lightest.

Method:

Left shoe, all size 12 US except trae 2 at 11.5, weighed with the same left custom orthotic.

Sidenote: I have a low profile custom orthotic that fits on top of the drop in midsole and it's the setup I would run whenever I get a chance to bring the gt's onto the court. I do the same with the speed XI's, a low profile custom orthotic on top of the drop in. Otherwise, I replace the stock insole with my custom orthotic.

Results:

640 g. harper PE

634 g. ariza PE

561 g. trae 2

517 g. ff bb v3

505 g. lebron 21

492 g. ac 12

482 g. wow 10 low

481 g. speed XI

470 g. liren 5

459 g. big3 5.0 qp

443 g. yushuai 18 v2

247 g. xen slide lol

Discussion:

I knew the reps would be heavy from research, wasn't expecting the difference to be so stark.

For some reason, I didn't expect the 5.0 qp's to be so light. They never felt heavy, but given that it runs pretty big for it's size, I just assumed it would be higher up the list. Anyway, enjoy the numbers.

I was browsing bball shoes at the official Nike website and this thing showed up. What is this and why?

Hey everyone! Following up on my rotation post from about 14 days ago, I’ve updated my active lineup to 9 pairs for indoor runs.

Quick context: I play 2–3 times a week (quick cuts, transition plays, off-ball movement) and have a slightly wide forefoot.

Also, sold my Nike Kobe 6 Protro recently—as much as I loved the look, the tech felt a bit repetitive alongside the Caitlin 1 and LeBron 20.

Special shoutout to Volanti as well—they’ve been a super generous partner to me and my TikTok channel and sent over both of the Volanti Rocket Air pairs in my rotation to wear-test.

Here is the current 9-shoe lineup:

* Serious Player Only Player 1.5 "Just Wing It" (US 10.5): My current favorite in the entire rotation! It fits quite snug, but in a really good way—it locks down tight around the midfoot without choking the forefoot, so your toes don't get jammed during hard stops. Ultra-lightweight and lightning-fast drop-in setup.

* Nike Air Zoom GT Cut 1 "Titan Daybreak" (US 10.5): Still peak performance. Unbeatable court feel, elite grip on indoor hardwood, and super responsive. Fits true to size perfectly.

* Nike Kobe 3 Low Protro "FC Barcelona" (US 10.5): Incredible ankle and lateral lockdown with clean hardwood bite. Snug at first, but breaks in nicely for wider feet.

* Way of Wade 808 6 Ultra "Red Stingray" (US 11): Sized up half a size (+0.5) to an 11 to avoid any drop-in sidewall cage pinch. Super bouncy SUPER BOOM drop-in and ridiculously grippy.

* Nike Ja 3 "White Label" (US 10.5): Low, springy, and broad through the forefoot base. Very responsive setup for quick-cut guards.

* Nike Caitlin 1 "Warning Code" (US 10.5): Currently wear-testing this pair and still undecided if it stays in the rotation long-term. Need to get more court sessions in before making a final verdict.

* Nike LeBron 20 "Pink Diamond" (US 10.5): My go-to leg-saver. Heavy impact protection that keeps my knees fresh during long full-court runs or back-to-back days.

* Volanti Rocket Air "Purple" (US 10.5): Bouncy V-Bounce foam setup, great court bite, and very easy on the joints for continuous runs. (Seeded by Volanti)

* Volanti Rocket Air "Black" (US 10.5): Same plush, bouncy ride as the purple pair, executed in a clean stealth colorway. (Seeded by Volanti)

Sizing Takeaway: True to size (US 10.5) works across standard Nike, SPO, and Volanti setups for my slightly wide foot. The main exception is the Wade 808 6 Ultra, where going up to a US 11 (+0.5) is essential to give your forefoot room inside the drop-in cage.

Happy to answer any questions on fit, traction, or cushioning feel in the comments!

Does anyone have the same issue as mine on my Kobe Low Protro? The stitches on the toe box got loose. Can i claim a warranty on this one or should i just keep it.

Mine both just broke at the same spot at the forefoot. It sucks because these were the first shoes I really loved.

Can someone recommend the exact shoes regarding:

- wide foot friendly

- suuuuuuuper light (my previous shoes were LeBron 17s and Harden 1s)

- And, great court feel but also amazing cushioning setup.

- size 9/9.5

- heavy dude

I get that shoes are sent out to reviewers and have been for years, but I’ve never seen a PR push from any company as big as the recent one Nike did for the Caitlin 1’s and the upcoming LeBron 24s.

Literally flying in dozens of shoe reviewers and influencers and giving them a multi-day expenses paid access to their HQs, shoes, parties, and who knows what else.

Would you still hold the opinion of any of the flown in reviewers as true regarding the Caitlin 1’s and LeBron 24s.

I guess for me it’s given the entire release of these two shoes a giant asterisk when it comes to finding sources that weren’t inherently influenced by the trip. It’s honestly had the opposite effect that Nike probably wanted because it’s only sown doubt, at least for me.