NIKE Basketball Combines Best Footwear Innovations In “Greater Than” Series

In sport performance, great design creates new opportunities for athletes. The design of a shoe should fundamentally help the athlete control space on the field of play. The new Nike Basketball Greater Than (GT) Series take essential movement principles from hoops and levels them up through a systems-based approach in three new silhouettes: the Air Zoom G.T. Cut, for cutting and change of direction; the Air Zoom G.T. Run, for energy return and running economy; and the Air Zoom G.T. Jump, for vertical jumping and impact protection, all of which are applied through new combinations of the Zoom Air Strobel.

Designers at Nike Basketball learned from the same findings that guided the ZoomX Vaporfly 4%: the type of movement being tested matters.

It makes sense that different sports with different movement patterns need different systems. For example, a runner who’s stretching space ahead of the field on the marathon course; the challenge is to design a shoe that will provide a propulsive feel in one direction. Now look at basketball. A rangy forward whose game is predicated on quick footwork in the post, a guard who has a slower player defending him and needs to exploit the matchup, a point guard who soars in for a rebound to get the critical put-back — they all need versatile systems that help enable special movements to their games, not just to their positions. That’s in addition to having a superb all-court shoe, of course.

Air Zoom GT Cut
The curved Zoom Air Strobel geometry caters to a low-to-the-ground sensation, and is also designed to provide comfort and responsiveness.

Air Zoom GT Run
The unique system includes a full-length Nike React sockliner, double-stacked Zoom Air in the forefoot and a full-length Nike React midsole.

Air Zoom GT Jump
The tooling includes a stacked Zoom Air system, a full-length Zoom Air Strobel, a Pebax jump frame and a JumpWire woven upper.

Ross Klein, Senior Creative Director for Men’s Performance Sport at Nike, compares the scaling of the GT family of systems to the player rating scores in gaming.

“All basketball players cut, run and jump at various points in a game. They all possess those corresponding skills, but they might be stronger at maybe one or two of them,” says Klein. “This whole family of shoes can play ball, depending on any which way you want to move. The difference is that because one area is the focus for each silhouette, we’ll help enable the player’s ability to do that one thing that makes them ‘greater than.’”

The Air Zoom G.T. Cut releases April 1 in Greater China and April 22 in North America. The Air Zoom G.T. Run will release in summer 2021, the Air Zoom G.T. Jump will release later in 2021.