The King honors Prince.
LeBron James took to Instagram Thursday to share yet another exclusive edition of his signature line, a Nike LeBron 15 “Purple Rain” paying homage to the late, great musician Prince. He gave the first glimpse of the shoe on his Instagram Stories.
Now that he is a Los Angeles Laker, the color purple will play a major role in his signature line beginning in the upcoming NBA season, but the hue isn’t utilized to represent his new home team for this sneaker.
Captioning the story with the title of Prince’s album and hit song “Purple Rain,” James was undoubtedly paying homage to the music icon. The never-before-seen rendition features a white and black Flyknit upper layered with a purple floral motif embroidery across the toes. Further detailing includes a metallic purple heel shank, “BREATHE” printed on the visible Air units within the midsole and a translucent purple outsole.
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This isn’t the first time we’ve seen James in a purple sneaker recently, as he made his first public appearance as a Laker wearing the purple suede colorway of his first signature shoe, the Air Zoom Generation.
The LeBron 15 in tribute to the Purple One is assumed to be a one-of-one production only for James himself, with no retail release expected. Since the kicks match his new team uniform, perhaps we’ll see them on the court in L.A. sometime soon.
