When LeBron James signed a 7-year endorsement deal with Nike worth a monumental $90 Million dollars — all before playing a single pro game and at the age of 18 — there was never a doubt that he wouldn’t have his own signature shoe for day 1 of his rookie season.<\/p>\n
As you can imagine, Nike’s trio of designers pegged for the project, which included only three of their most accomplished designers in company history — Tinker Hatfield, Eric Avar and Aaron Cooper — were working overtime during the spring and summer of 2003 to finalize Bron’s first shoe, the Air Zoom Generation.<\/p>\n
During that process, several samples with varying overlays, logo placements and outsole designs were created along the way, like this all-black size 9 weartest pair that recently popped up on eBay.<\/p>\n
Differences from the release version include a smaller Swoosh along the quarter, “LeBron” lettering visible on the chrome heel counter, a more sloping collar silhouette height and a fully exposed carbon fiber midfoot shank.<\/p>\n