Top 10 Signature Sneakers 1988-2008

#9 - Grant Hill

Top 10 Sneaker Lines Ever
Fila Grant Hill - Photo by David Sherman/NBAE via Getty Images

When Grant Hill was destroying competition in Detroit, he had Fila at the forefront of basketball. He kept Fila afloat by himself…literally. Matter of fact, after he won 1995’s Rookie of the Year award, sales of his Original Fila Grant Hill skyrocketed to more than 1.5 million pairs. For this reason alone, Grant Hill’s sneaker line sneaks into our list. Dear Mr. Grant Hill, Thank you for helping us gain a basketball fan base for a few years… I started the letter for you Fila!

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135
  1. Boog

    the grant hills need to ranked higher

  2. tobi

    A.I. had one of the best signature shoes.. i had almost all of them back in the day

  3. mark

    mommy shoes suck!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!yup my grandma has better shoes dan thoes jordans its all about them nikes

  4. Tony..

    Ohhh come on everyones its saying David Robinson,Chris webber bla bla bla ok ok its right but what about Mr.KEVIN JOHNSON and those CONS RUN N SLAM ahhhh anybody?remenber this shoes?or the AERO JAM FROM LARRY JOHNSON GRANDMAMA!!! please give a break

  5. marcus12

    ANYBODY LIKE THOSE TRUE FLIGHTS BLACK/RED

  6. marcus12

    maaaaaaaaaaaan ya’ll picked grant hill and kobe over KG..OH NAW YA TRIPPIN

  7. Jerrelle

    jerrelle_santana@comcast.net if anyone got them penny’s for me.. no less than A grade please, preferrably dead stock

  8. Jerrelle

    Yeah def J’s and Penny’s top two spots… but how did you leave the glove out of the top ten… everybody rocked dem jonts on the court for a minute… but i like the list regardless, and i need the penny 1’s in a 8.5 - 9 hit me up

  9. key d

    the shawn kemps kamikaze I is da best kemp shoe my fav

  10. Kim N Brandt

    killer k is in the jucn
    come cugt sum us ppucnks
    guv u a wink
    i am inegissisiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinc
    lucv u fsad poau sdgibgoih we4 misierw jburnt
    i doooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooomythatn g wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet to udfsssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssuisdfo tiooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooogodooo

  11. 2s and 3s

    WHERE ARE THE GRIFFEYS!!

  12. Andy Quis

    Kobe shoes should have come second

  13. Mr. Chi Town

    1. Jordan
    2. Penny
    3. Barkleys
    4. Pippens
    5. Kobe & AI
    6. David Robinson
    7. Kemp
    8. Chris Webber
    9. Alonzo Mourning
    10. Grant Hill

  14. Mr. Chi Town

    It is unbelievable that you put those tremendously ugly and heavy leg weights of Lebrons shoes on this countdown, his shoes are garbage, his designers are weak, instead of getting down with the Jordan line, he has terrible sneaks. It is amazing that you did not put the David Robinson line on this list, his shoes were way more impressive then those ankle weights of Lebrons!

  15. 23

    kinda figured 11s would prevail.

  16. mexiking

    kamikazeeeeeeeessss…
    kemp was killin dudes on the court and chicks off it..!!!!!

  17. DETROIT FRESH

    p.s. i guess basketball is the only sport that exists. barry sanders and emmit smith had nice shoes. so did ken griffey and the big hurt.

  18. DETROIT FRESH

    i guess the list was okay. it was top ten lines and not top ten sig shoes. i commend shaq on looking out for us underprivildged with the cheap shoes but they were ugly. on that note, the hakeem payless kicks were nice and affordable. shoulda got honorable mention. elsewhile, pretty accurate.

  19. jones

    BTW, great list

  20. jones

    no larry johnson aka grand momma with the converse react juice? c’mon!!!

  21. J-Real

    haha c’mon man…but i thought i seen u had a pair of larry johnsons n ur closet…ya

  22. george

    Bet. didnt u say u wanted dennis rodman’s shoes in there?

  23. J-Real

    holes n em…jus like donuts…ya man. But good list top to bottom

  24. george

    chill out boi…krispy kreams? the boy mite go nuts!

  25. J-Real

    Ya i can get with this list, alot of krispy kreams on here…n i like my shoes krip kream…get at me G

  26. G 4 Real

    Those KB8’s were very ugly and WEREN’T MORE POPULAR THAN SHAQ’s LINE WHEN HE WAS WITH REEBOK. Shaqnosis straight destroy them cuz. Grant Hill should be a little higher.

  27. YUNG N

    EVERYBODY LOVE DEM 11′S KOME ON DA PATENT LEATHER U TO TOUGH JORDAN

  28. g man

    i love this shoes guys dont u

  29. JerseyCityStandUp

    oh yeah, charles barkely should have been #2………he has the 2nd best line of basketball sneakers, in which he has NO!!! ugly sneakers, the penny hardaway line is off the hook too but his sneakers arent touching the cb’94s at all besides the foamposites

  30. JerseyCityStandUp

    nah the XI’s are hot which i have a pair in my closet but i think the retro VI’s should have been #1 since he won his first championship in those c’mon pay homage lol

  31. ghostface

    MY GRAILS!@!!!

  32. lilrip133

    and how can you keep kidd off? the zoom flight fives were one of my top 5 fvorite shoes of all, then the 95′2, 96’s, hyperflights (even though they technically werent his). id put him as high as number five for the zoom flight fives alone

  33. lilrip133

    i cant agree with putting grant hill on there. and i think ewing shouldve moved up the list. barkley over penny most definately. penny’s are nice, but barkley’s line was absolutely insane. id move kobe down a couple notches too and payton should be above lebron

  34. justd3rd

    CB2’s come on man….. The Air Max B were way better and hold more story than thoses. The Fab 5 and Charles wore them!!!!
    Penny 2’s come on man your way off….Penny 1 was better.

    And Larry Johnson’s Cons?

  35. J.Wynter

    XI and Crazy 8’s go real hard.

  36. oldjumpman

    I GET TO BE THE 100TH PERSON, YEAH.
    MATT, I WAS THINKING, WHAT ABOUT THE 10 WORST BASKETBALL SNEAKERS…REMEMBER THE STARBURY’S, THE OLAJUWONS, ETC.

  37. Mike B

    I was in 7th grade when the 1st Iverson’s dropped and everybody had them. That was a really tough year for my family and I was pushin payless suede pumas wannabe’s dying for a pair of gold and black Iverson’s. My boy even let me ball in his and remeber the air pockets in the sole felt crazy under my feet. I wish Reebok would bring em out again, I would def scoop’em up

  38. c rod

    This was a good article NICKICKS….great choice and honorable mention def top 20 with Gary, Jason, and KG, thanx for giving Hill, Kemp, and Sir Charles their props

  39. jonathan

    how cum da reebok pumps rnt in here

  40. greenmaker24

    great top ten list

  41. integradr1

    Honorable Mention:
    Chris Webber
    Dennis Rodman
    Dee Brown
    They were all 1 hit wonder with signature kicks.

  42. MARVIN

    2 FILL IN THE BLANK I GOTTA GO WITH THE WHITE RED TWELVES BUT THE ELEVENS R THE BEST SHOES ON THE PLANET WHEN I DIE IM GONNA B PUT 2 REST WITH THE SPACE-JAMS ON MY MY FEET

  43. solesaved

    Can’t disagree to much with the list there is always gonna be someone left out or a lot of disagreement with the order someone is in.

  44. Harry

    come on Matt, how were the 2K4’s not Kobe’s ????? You placed him just about right on the list but the 2K4’s were his period.

    Those are still the greatest shoes to play ball in. Out of the current players with signature shoes, the Nike Kobe series beats all of them out as far as playing basketball is concerned. The Wade’s are horrible, the Melo’s are heavier, and the Lebrons are plain heavy even though they have the lockdown strap. The Kobe line is always light, and fits tightly. Most recently, the Hyperdunks.

  45. SKLEE MONEY

    Tim Hardawy’s didn’t make the cut?

  46. Brave

    Where can i find those GP’s that zipped up the black/ white made out of that stocking material was crazy!

  47. Jon Blaze

    id flip flop barkley and penny cuz barkley

  48. djreality

    what happened to David Robinson?????????

  49. Ponomo

    Almost perfect list! My only disagreement is the inclusion of shawn kemp. I don’t remember any kid back in elementary/middle school wearing shawn kemps and I know for damn sure that ain’t nobody looking for them now and it aint like im from Idaho or some s**t that don’t know about kicks….im from jersey we don’t play with our sneakers.

    I got beats yall
    http://www.myspace.com/ponomobeatz
    http://www.wemix.com/ponomo

  50. stapha

    Thats all my teenage years. Penny is still my favorite player. I agree with the list 100% especially the top 3. we need some more retros cuz new sneakers sucks. Anyone knows if those blue/white penny 2 on the picture are coming back out?

  51. texasrep

    man this brings up old memories.EVERYBODY i knew balled up in them reebok questions man.it might as well have been the team shoe.that was back in middle school though.

  52. orthotic

    oh, and you too #81

  53. orthotic

    @ #68 & #80:

    If you have read correctly, Nice Kicks had already mentioned that this was just a basketball list. Be cool fellas, I already put in a good word about putting in a signature cross-trainer list. You can look at what I wrote at #46.

  54. -RAI-

    Prod has only 2 models but the coloways have been off the chain he should be an least an honorable mention.

  55. danny

    LeBrons shoes should not even be in the top 50 what about the jason kidds–gary paytons-griffeys–what about grail the dan marinos—etc his shoes are a disgrace to Nike products i dont understand why people buy them

  56. kufre inyang

    what about griffey lets think outside the box

  57. Stoj23

    Vince was rocking shox at the jump of the release.

    He broke many necks as a result. He should of made the cut.

  58. Stoj23

    Yeah, Vince had some cool kicks, surprised he didn’t make the cut, very surprised.

  59. ken

    Love the site! I have to agree with you on most of the players & their sneakers…But since you brought up Grant Hill and how he carried Fila…I felt that someone has to rep for the most slept on player and his kicks, Dominique Wilkins the “Human Highlight Film” and Brooks!

  60. Nice Kicks

    Vince and Melo made it out of the first round, but couldn’t make the final cut. While we loved the Melo M4, we weren’t as nuts about the 1.5 or M3.

  61. dredre

    what about the melo’s? i mean it is under jordan brand. but he has had some decent kicks. or what about vince carter?

  62. PuffDaGod

    Sick Line up

  63. Dub-Smitty

    LOL @ the T-Mac comment…even though Grant Hill has never made it out the first round either…

    Dope list though…

  64. Pete

    This is the penny shoe nike should re-relaese, this was the best color and that suede made the shoe hot!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  65. Oneal

    Woooooooo the Tim duncan foamposites def Classic!! but anything Foamposite i believe should Go to Penny or Kevin Garnett…

  66. Oneal

    The CB5 1 of the Best Barkeley Kicks to come Out.. Lebron shouldve been atleast number 5. Tim hardaway needs to be on here, as well as Kevin Garnett.. Penny should also be recognized for the Foamposites and Pippen also who had his own Red and white Bull’s prototype

  67. jackfrost601

    Of course MJ would be number one but what about Ken Griffey, Bo Jackson, or even the Junior Seau joints? Pat Ewing, Grant Hill, Shawn Kemp had cool sneaks but they dont add to the Griffey’s or the other two guys signature shoes I named. Cool list though this is just my opinion lol………………..

  68. 90snikehead

    nice list great job I take Barkley over penny just because number of shoes alone

  69. kream

    hey guys!

    i’m a great follower of what you guys do at nice kicks, and i’d like t salute all of you for doing so!

    I just wanted to ask what the phrase Nike Urban accounts mean cause that’s the only place available i hear you can get Citron Flight Lite Highs. A friend of mine is going to be in Toronto and i was wondering about the availability of the aforementioned shoes there? What store will probably carry it? I’m talking about the Citron colored Nike Flight Lite Highs you guys featured. thanks!

  70. Daniel

    I agree. I have a pair of these 11s the black and red one. One of the best Air Jordan ever!!!

  71. damnneardeadstock

    i can’t believe shawn kemp snuck onto the list, but my dude penny holdin down at #2 was no surprise

    sick list!

  72. oldjumpman

    YES, JORDANS ALL THE WAY… THE CONCORDS RULED…!

  73. Derick

    That was a solid and very fair list. I didn’t quite grow up in the 80’s but that era and throughout some of the 90’s we saw some of the dopest sneakers ever. There are actually a couple people who deserve some love though. I think David Robinson should get some shine cause some of the kicks this guy wore were ridiculous and another guy who seems to have fallen off of everybody kicks radar since 03′ is VC. He pretty made nike shox the sucess that it is. The guys first first three sig shoes were arguably better then LBJ’s first three so maybe its just me but his sigs deserve a spot on the list. Maybe not top 10 but deservingly so at least top 15.

  74. Ryan

    Amen to his Airness…bring more 11 back!!!

  75. og4444

    Dwane Wade honorable mention?????? His shoes are horrible.

  76. D-Fresh

    I know Michael Jordan would hold the number one spot. I hope the Space Jam Air Jordan XI gets retroed soon!

  77. Kidkrazy

    Yo Matt, I sent an email but not about the Griffeys or other shoes…Hit me back!

    I agree with this list as well, Athough I forgot all about Iversons…

  78. sci

    ANYONE hear about the next DMP heard it was 2 jordan 5’s

  79. JAy

    Jordan retro 5 was the best jordan shoe ever created. Whats yours?

  80. Nice Kicks

    Many emails have come in about Griffey, Deion, and Bo Jackson, but rest assured that these guys were NOT overlooked. This was a list of just basketball signatures.

  81. joe

    HOW CAN YOU FORGET GRIFFEY??????HES NOT BASKETBALL BUT STILLL

  82. Stephen Hardy

    Man, Gary Payton’s “The Glove” was SICK!! I remember being in 4th grade when those came out lol. Nike needs to release all of the colorways again. I would buy any of those over 2/3 of signature jordans!!!

  83. timmy

    i love pippen sneakers the pair in this photo n the jumpman 11 and thats probably it i think kobe’s crazy 8s are horrible but good ball sneakers

  84. yung albino

    Jordan changed the game but the game in turn changed it i mean look at it they went from the Golden Age (retros 5-11 with the exception of the 9’s) to just putting out enough to get by and then after years of crawling they toppled over

    In 2 YEARS MINIMUM Jordan will be a foot note if they keep the current trends up like fusions and mash ups

  85. kstate

    grant hill was good enough to make me buy a pair of filas… smh

  86. SOLE-MAN

    Penny at #2…i’ll take that.

  87. eric

    air jordan 1st, of course. air penny line is so perfect but only 6 models…i like the pip’ and i could kill someone to refound my kamikaze in black-white and my grant hill 3( 96-97 season) too nostalgy… foamposite one, air penny II and air jordan VII playoffs complete my top 5
    kobe’s shoes are ugly. i agree with admiral’s shoes.
    can you send me the pic of penny? thx man

  88. ghostin36chambers

    lebrons, Ewings, and kemps shoes should not be on the list. throw kidd on there and Garnett. not sure who else.

  89. orthotic

    Hey, Nice Kicks, I got an idea. Since you already made the signature basketball top 10 list, why don’t you make a top 10 signature cross-trainer list? Now that would be hot.

  90. TE STANDARD AKA THE FOOTWORK KING

    all the gary paytons, those alonzo mournings with the strap when he played in charlotte,the foamposite max,no reebok pumps, no hurrache 2k4s,the 1st boings vince carters,those first garnettes when he was with nike,those dennis rodmans, i could go on all day but i wont

  91. TE STANDARD AKA THE FOOTWORK KING

    only ones that deserve to be on that list are jordan,pippen,penny,barkley,and shawn kemp. those other shoes sucked

  92. youngharlem

    Yo the the top 10 are the retro 5,1,9,15,8,7.10,3,6,19

  93. Simba

    i think in a few years chris paul’s shoes might make the list…some colorways didnt sell well but i think the CP3 was a pretty decent shoe

  94. bobby

    was this a basketball biased list? because theres no way Ken Griffey `and Deon Sanders could be left off of a signature shoe list.

  95. Scooterman

    If anything A.I.’s Question’s should be the second best signature sneaker! The Question’s Have sold Twice over what the penny’s have!

  96. the1andOnlyCHASE

    YO TO ALL THOSE PEOPLE WHO WANT TO COPP THE FILA GRANT HILLS CHECK THIS OUT —> http://theshoegame.com/articles/fila-ninety6-grant-hill-ii-mid-coming-soon.html

  97. Gwapo

    For the most part I agree with the list, but you gotta respecet Dr J’s influence on the game and the impact the Converse Pro Leather made before Nike was king.

  98. the1andOnlyCHASE

    I Agree With Number 1. Hands Down JB Changed The Game.

  99. danny

    Jordan XI’s ~ Hands Down!

  100. AJ

    i remember wanting the kamikaze’s bad when i was a kid lol and i was at that all-star game! bday gift from my pops…ah 90’s hoops were dope!

  101. MACK

    This list seems right, but I would put lebron at 6-8. His line delivers every year

  102. damien

    What about the silver and black foamposites the tim duncans???

  103. Hotsizzle

    i dont have a pair of jay’s

  104. Nice Kicks

    Tuno,

    That was the Pippen V. He wore those when he was with Portland and if I am not mistaken those were the last Pippens ever made.

  105. iceberg313

    jordans will always be the best basketball shoe ever made

  106. jerronimo

    MJ alllll day baby!! Gotta love the 11’s. That was cold what u said about Kobe tho….but hey, a pink diammond and a lambo makes everything right!…right?

  107. BK-Big-Jay

    what about the CB 94′S?or the CB 93’s? what about the Nike Air Super CB’s? or the Air CB4’s? or these
    http://www.pickyourshoes.com/vintage/nike_cb34_wht_purple_orange.htm

    or the Air CB4 II 2?

    or the other cb34’s that came out again from a different year?
    http://homepage.mac.com/watchmepea/_Media/nike-cb-34-og-retro_large.jpeg

    i think its very tough to choose who comes in 2nd. i like barkleys, but i like penny’s too. i do like more penny’s than barkleys, so i agree with penny being 2. but its a close one where you cant argue with either choice. but i think that as soon as chuck went to the suns, he had his name on all his shoes. the ”CB” logo. even in Houston at the end of his career. i think most of the stuff he wore before that didn’t have his likeness to it, but he made em popular

  108. tuno

    I have a question I remeber some nikes coming out between the late 90’s to 2002 I think it was ppippens. They were like two sneakers in one. THe whole sneaker had a cover that could be removed and under it the sneakers were I think a bright orange or red

  109. orthotic

    Yup, yup, I totally agree with the top 5 of this list. MJ at an OBVIOUS #1, Penny at the 2 spot, and big Chuck at a very close #3. Also AI at #4 and my dude Pip at the 5 spot. I do agree Pip does deserve a lot more props. His kicks were simpler than the rest but still wicked. A clean, smooth player gets a smooth, clean shoe.

  110. Dave

    Are you kidding me? DR FUNK Nike commercials were off the chain! Vince Carter needs some mention,maybe even a top 10 position… even if he is one of the softest competitors in sports today.

  111. infamos

    i wish i could argue about the list, but i can’t even open it!
    everytime i try to open it it say http 404 not found, whats up with that can someone fix please i want to see =[

  112. stormgren

    I also disagree with post #1, and I don’t think that Barkley had more signature shoes than Penny, I only think that he had 2 pairs of signature shoes with Nike while the other Nikes he had was not signature shoes.

  113. Nice Kicks

    We were careful about where we placed Barkley on this one. Barkley had a series of great shoes that were not his signature shoes. Sure, when anyone sees the Delta Force, Alpha Force, Air Force 180, they may think of Big Chuck, but these didn’t have his name attached to them like Penny had on his sneakers.

  114. xnyles

    I disagree with #1

  115. alex2223

    the list doesnt work i cant see anything

  116. Nice Kicks

    David Robinson had some great sneakers, but they were never his. We have another top 10 list coming soon that we expect to see him on ;-)

  117. Twebb

    yeah david robinson definately needs to be in there.

  118. P3

    I would kill for a pair of concords.

  119. sneakerfreakbill

    damn you guys went tooo HARD on my boii tracy this will be the year tmac this will be the year =)

  120. disr

    I want the Grant Hill’s you better release them again Fila.

  121. bobby

    “Shawn Kemp didn’t have as many signature sneakers as baby mommas”

    lol very true

  122. SOLOFLIGHT22

    Considering New Balance didn’t make the list (and it’s understandable) any honorbale mention for the Worthy’s??

  123. BxBomber

    REEBOK needs 2 wake up and put the kemps back on the shelves…!!!!

  124. D.North

    Im mad. How in the HELL do you leave out David Robinson?

  125. 34SHIRK41

    the Lebrons were not called Fruty Loops, they were the Fruity PEBBLES and they go HARD!

  126. SvenBlack

    Penny just got mutilated in that pic…LMAO.
    I actually remember that game.

  127. Marque

    wow good work with the list….i almost forgot about the glove until i seen the honorable mention section. i thought i was killin them on the court with the paytons.

  128. Biggins

    Also–Did Bird & Magic wear the Weapons in ‘88? I know they did in ‘87…

  129. Biggins

    Wow. Matt. I can’t believe you didnt have the Magic Johnson Converse from 1990 Thrillin. Chillin. Remember those?

    I would also like to see a top signature shoe (any sport) list.

  130. HueyHardbody

    “We want to credit him with the Nike Zoom Huarache 2K4 but that blonde in Colorado prevented this from happening.”

    LMAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO…

  131. PR CHewwin

    Yeah Jordan is #1 and Penny #2 hands down!! NIKE first!! JCKS On the map

  132. sneaker los

    Shawn Kemp was my dude!! I need those Kamikaze IIs in a sz. 12. I agree with the list!!!

  133. THE REALLEST

    I NEED THOSE PENNY 1′S!!! SIZE 9.5 OR 10 HIT ME UP PPOL….

  134. john

    I understand that Penny’s signature line is sick , but over Barkley’s line ? Y’all bugging, plus Penny only had 4 signature shoes and Barkley has way more than that.


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