Paul George likes to play video games. The Oklahoma City Thunder forward likes PlayStation so much, in fact, that he incorporated it into his newest signature sneaker.
George announced his new sneaker, the PG2, has an atypical colorway that pays homage to his favorite gaming system.
“Whether I’m at home or on the road, I’m always playing on my PS4, which is why I’m excited to announce my official collaboration between Nike Basketball and PlayStation with the PG-2 ‘PlayStation’ colorway,” George, who was recently featured on the cover of NBA2K17, wrote in a blog post for PlayStation. Nike also announced the shoe’s debut — on George’s feet during the Thunder’s game against the Cleveland Cavaliers on Saturday.
The shoes are designed in the pattern of PlayStation’s cosmic Galaxy theme, and the eyelets are colored to look as if they are the square, circle, triangle and x buttons on PlayStation’s DualShock controllers. But perhaps the most eye-catching feature of the sneakers is the light-up PlayStation and Paul George logos on the tongues. Illuminated by LED lights and controlled with a power button on the inner side of the tongue, the logos light up in blue and can be set to solid or pulsating mode to mimic the blue power indicator on the PlayStation 4, according to George.
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But that isn’t the only technological enhancement the shoes offer. On the back heel of the left sneaker, the designers at Nike and PlayStation included a bar code that nets PS4-owning wearers the Paul George Dynamic theme for their system. That same theme appears on the soles of the shoes.
“As a kid, I’d make sketches of what I wanted my Nike shoes to look like because it’s something I’ve always wanted to be a part of,” George wrote. “Now I have the opportunity to make something very special and personal to me with the help of two of my favorite brands.”
“Think about the heritage of Nike Basketball in general and all the signature athletes we’ve had along the way and how exciting a lot of those products have been and how they’re so culturally relevant,” Tony Hardman, Nike’s designer of the PG1 and PG2 sneakers, said in a statement. “To be a part of that legacy is heavy; you just try to put your stamp on it along the way.”
The PG2 PlayStation colorway is available beginning Feb. 10.
PG2 PlayStation. @ygtrece @nikebasketball pic.twitter.com/LPaXbdA26E
— OKC THUNDER (@okcthunder) January 20, 2018