Who knows how much traction they had out there with the cool desert air circulating throughout the hardwood! Matter of fact many of the players complained about court traction and chilly weather. Shaq was quoted as saying, “It was colder than a mother—— out there. And you can quote me on that.”

As basketball season approaches, it is safe to say the Nike Hyperdunk is now the face of basketball.

Thanks to Yahoo! Sports for the pics.

We have shown you a lot of Nike Hyperdunks because basketball season is right around the corner, in fact, the NBA season is only 25 days and counting, away from tip-off. Hopefully Amare can get his feet cooled off by then, but more importantly we hope that Nike will come with some more Player Exclusives for us to drool over. Who doesn’t want to see exclusive shoes on the feet of their favorite player?

So that brings up the question, who has the best player exclusives? Let us know after the jump. Personally I dream of getting a pair of OG Jordan IX’s worn by Mitch Richmond.

Nike is the official outfitter for the US Olympic Squad and on the court of the Beijing Games, Kobe and company will be unite in the fight for gold. On the feet of most of the US basketball squad as well as many other nations is the Nike Hyperdunk - the lightest Nike Basketball shoe to date. This Flywire featuring shoe is said to be the most revolutionary basketball shoe designed for today’s game of basketball that plays 5 men of sheer athleticism as opposed to yesteryear’s games of clearly defined, concrete positions and roles.

For the Olympics Nike is running a United We Rise campaign around the entire Olympic team. The unique United We Rise reflective 3M print makes its way to the upper of this pair of Hyperdunks as well as other models in the Nike, Jordan, and Converse line. This pair of “United We Rise” Nike Hyperdunks was released exclusively at Nike’s House of Hoops, but are available online now at Osneaker.com. Stay tuned for more Olympics coverage every day leading up to and through the games on NiceKicks.com.

The Olympic Hyperdunks will be available Saturday, July 26th,  for $125 but only 24 pairs are available for each country. The teams represented in this release include Argentina, Australia, China, Germany, Lithuania, Russia, Spain, and Puerto Rico (who did not qualify for the Beijing Olympic Games). Best of luck to those trying to get their pair!

The Olympic Basketball will tip off August 10th.  Team USA will face host-nation China for their first game.

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