Nick Young, Gilbert Arenas & The History Behind the Benihana x adidas Gil II Zero “Hibachi”

Last night in Oakland, Nick Young stole the show as far as sneakers go by breaking out the 10-year old Benihana x adidas Gil II Zero “Hibachi” in a Game 3 win. While only 1,000 pairs were made and sold exclusively in DC back in 2008, the model’s endorser himself is a one-of-one that doesn’t get enough credit as far as hoops or sneakers are concerned.

Gilbert Arenas as a 2007 All-Star starter in the adidas Gil Zero (photo via Zimbio)

You might think the sneaker’s original endorser, Gilbert Arenas, is wild now on IG or on Complex’s Out of Bounds, but the dude was on another level during his playing peak with the Wizards.

In the mid-2000s, Agent Zero was known to play an inordinate amount of Halo, sleep only three to four hours a night — occasionally in a Hyperbaric Oxygen Chamber — and assembled a collection of 262 game-worn jerseys that ranged from Penny Hardaway’s McDonald’s All-American tank to Jason McElwain’s #52 Greece-Athena High School top. You surely know who Penny is but if by chance you forgot about Jason, he’s the inspirational autistic high school student who came off the bench as a team manager on senior night and scored 20 points in the final four minutes of play.

Quirky, compulsive and creative — that’s Gil.

While Gil’s peculiar personality and pro playing career averages of 20, 5 and 4 make him an obvious signature athlete, it took time, numbers and protest for Gil to realize his potential at adidas. Making his second straight All-Star Game in 2006, Arenas would cover up adidas text and logos on his shoes during the game, putting the brand on blast in an effort to ask for more attention and opportunities in regards to his marketing dreams.

“When I first signed my deal, they said if I made the All-Star Game in the first three years, we could rip up this contract and sign a new one,” Arenas told ESPN’s Darren Rovell back in ’06. “Well, I made it last year and they blew me off, and nothing has happened this year either. All I want is to get my face out there. If I’m the last person on the totem pole, just tell me I’m not in your future — don’t keep my hopes and dreams up.”

Athletes going public and getting vocal over contracts was nothing new in 2006, but asking for more opportunities to create while threating to leave both the brand and cash on the table was Kanye before Kanye.

“It’s not about the money,” said Arenas in ’06. “I want to be in their advertising, have a commercial, be in a print campaign. I’ll even pay for the commercial to be made. If they terminate me, I won’t have a problem with that. I’ll pay them the money they owe me and the money they just gave me. Just let me out clean, don’t hold anything against me and let’s pretend like we didn’t even know each other.”

Well, adidas listened as Arenas would have his first signature shoe — the adidas Gil Zero — before the end of the calendar year. He’d walk it like he talked it, becoming a first-time All-Star starter one year after his protest.

The two talked about seasons (05-06 & 06-07) would make for a lot of walking and a lot of talking. On the court, Arenas would average right around 29 points and 6 dimes a night during the time of his public protest and signature shoe arrival. Now putting the pressure on his opponents, the high-energy hooper would prove the marketing maven he believed he could be in an era before memes existed.

How so? Always ahead of his time, it would be years before Lil B would invent the cooking dance and James Harden would bring said phenomenon to the hardwood that Gilbert Arenas would use the term ‘Hibachi’ — a Japanese charcoal stove — to big up his flame-throwing right hand that blazed the league city after city. Funny enough, Hibachi even cooked Kobe — named after a Japanese beef and also a postshot catchphrase himself — to the tune of 60 points in LA.

Heating up the headlines, Gilbert’s second signature shoe would take on that of his nicknamesake with the release of the “Hibachi” adidas Gil II Zero. Said by Darren Rovell to be limited to 1,000 pairs at its time of launch in 2008, the shoe saw the Wizards wild man getting silly in the kitchen to promote his new shoes. The Benihana collab — yes, official collab — would be one of 20 takes on the Gil II Zero that played off his off-court interests ranging from Halo to rooting on the Washington Redskins. This incredibly individual and lifestyle-driven approach to an athlete endorsement deal is all the more impressive considering it was ten years before the similar reality we live in now and also concurrent but utterly opposite of adidas Basketball’s then “Believe in Five” team signature campaign.

Adidas had their man and Gilbert had his way with marketing, collaborating with the brand on GilTV.com and a series of viral video ads — one of which themed around the Benihana collab. Sadly, while creativity was on Gilbert’s side, health and timing were not. The 07-08 season that saw the Hibachi Gil II Zeros release never actually saw the shoe on Gil on court as he was limited to only 13 games that season and sadly two the next.

While Gilbert never played in the “Hibachi” pair that’s not to say he didn’t try. As Rovell reported for CNBC back in ’08 on the day after the launch, Gilbert was said to be “so sure that he was playing against the Pistons,” the team the shoe was designed to debut against “that he didn’t bring a suit to sit on the bench.” Sadly, doctors didn’t clear him to play. Even sadder, it was said that day he wouldn’t return for the rest of the season.

Because Chef Gilbert couldn’t cook the Pistons in his Hibachi sneakers, there was little buzz when the shoe actually released. Funny enough, the biggest buzz would come ten years later when his protege Nick “Swaggy P” Young would surprise everyone — Gilbert included — by giving the Benihana x adidas Gil II Zero its belated debut in Game 3 of the 2018 Western Conference Finals.

Another Nick — our own Nick DePaula — would break the news during shootaround with the official Benihana Twitter account Retweeting the post as their sign of approval.

Swaggy P — who appears a reborn basketball player with the Warriors — would play limitedly but wisely in the Hibachi sneakers, going a conservative 1-3 from beyond the arc and helping the Dubs on both side of the basketball in a swing game win.

As expected, the sighting would garner a funny reaction from his mentor for whom the shoes were made.

“Nick has stolen a lot of shoes in his lifetime from my closet,” Gilbert Arenas said with a smile on Out of Bounds, “but I can’t say if those are mine or he re-ordered them — but I’m pretty sure he stole them.” Still smirking, Agent Zero expected more of a themed performance in his themed signature.

“17 minutes, 17 shots, that’s what you’re supposed to do in those shoes! A shot per minute in those shoes! This is the Hibachis,” said Hibachi himself, “You’re supposed to light up! When you put them on the whole fucking arena knew what was about to happen.”

For reference, what ‘was about to happen’ is what Gilbert would’ve done himself in a big game or really just any game.

What’s that look like? Well, during Gilbert’s best personal playoff push with the Wizards he averaged 34 points a night off 23 attempts. It sure wasn’t the Conference Finals, but it certainly wasn’t conservative either.

Regardless, we — and we’re sure Gil — love Swaggy P providing the debut of a shoe cemented in folklore. You’ve also gotta love that Nick Young has been able to grow up his game while still staying truly young and swaggy on foot.

While Hibachi may be serving up more hot takes than hot shots these days, it’s easy to forget he’s the godfather of Kicks On Court as an amateur at Arizona, as a signature star in Washington and as a footwear free agent in Orlando. Here’s to celebrating the legend that is Gilbert Arenas and hoping that Agent Zero and Swaggy P celebrate the moment this summer at Benihana.