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Nice Kicks: Which teammate of yours, past or present, is the biggest sneaker collector?
Nate Robinson: It would have to be Eddy Curry, hands down. Eddy has more shoes than anybody I’ve seen in my life. He has the best shoes. Guys like Ray Allen, Quentin Richardson, Jared Jeffries have a lot of shoes, and they’re with Jordan Brand, but Eddy has more than all of those guys. As for the guys with the Jordan deals, I’d say Quentin Richardson, man. He saves every pair of Jordans he gets. He and Ray Allen are tied in my eyes.
Nice Kicks: Speaking of collecting, what sneaker started it for you?
Nate Robinson: Oh, the patent leather Jordans for sure; the black, white and red ones got me over the edge. I got those when I was in 8th grade. Everyone on my basketball team wanted those shoes at the time. I went home and told my mom that I had to get those. So, all the money that my mom gave me throughout the week, I would save, save and save. I think I saved like $90, and then she paid the rest of it so I could get them.
Nice Kicks: In our new column, What I Wanted & What I Got, we ask the interviewee to recall a shoe they ended up with (as sort of a consolation prize) instead of the shoe they really wanted at the time. Describe your childhood story in regards to this.
Nate Robinson: When the patent leather Jordans first came out, so did the Air Max Penny Is. My dad made me choose one or the other that day. So, it was either the Jordans or the Pennys for me. That was around the time when Nike featured the commercial that had Jordan wearing the ?Concords? and dunking on the tall hoop in the gym, and he was hanging. It?s one of my favorite commercials ever. But I had a lot of Jordans already at the time, so I picked the Penny 1s over the Jordan 11s. I really wanted the Pennys, but looking back, I really, really wanted the Jordans too. Penny was doing his thing at the time though. I loved the Penny commercials with Lil Penny too.
Nice Kicks: What are your thoughts on the sneaker community today?
Nate Robinson: I love it because I’m a real big fan of the Foams and they’re releasing like crazy right now. I like when Nike brings out those classics in new colorways. Like I said earlier, I really want to fuse that crazy, crazy lime green with a Foamposite One.
Would you like to see a My 5 from Nate as well?
