You have one more day to get those New Year’s resolutions squared away… but in the meantime, join us for some kicks talk and a cool sendoff for an NBA player who ended up having a pretty great career career.

Today’s Lineup

Merry Kicksmas to All

Six days after Christmas and we can’t stop thinking about two things: Saint Nick and fresh kicks. This year’s slate of Christmas Day games brought us some flashy hoops, but our eyes were also focused on the holiday sneakers of our favorite players. Let’s run through our top four favorites worn on Christmas 2023: 

Damian Lillard: Adidas Dame 8 EXTPLY

These Dame’s are definitely merriest we saw. The Christmas tree lights motif? The wrapping paper strap? We’re surprised they didn’t have little antlers too.

Klay Thompson: Anta KT9

Woah! This pair is all over the place but really clean at the same time. We recommend you pull up to next year’s family holiday party in these. The argyle pattern up top would give you street cred with your Grandma and then you can go ball out against your younger cousins on the hoop outside 🏀 

Luka Doncic: Jordan Luka 2s

The Jordan Luka 2s aren’t even out yet, but Doncic rocked this custom holiday colorway as he picked the Suns apart for 50 points and a win!

Jaylen Brown: Nike Kobe 6 Protro

JB wore this Kobe “Reverse Grinch” design with the Swoosh branding removed. Why did he take it off? Brown and Nike have beef, though he usually still rocks Nikes with swooshes in tact 😅

FYI, in researching for this fun list we came across this article from The Athletic which takes you down memory lane of the greatest Christmas sneakers of all time! 🎄🎅

A Slovenian Legend Retires

After 20 years of professional basketball, the original Slovenian star is retiring.

Before Luka Doncic, Goran Dragic was the guy from this small European nation. Despite being drafted just 45th overall in 2008 and immediately getting traded, the crafty guard crafted out a stellar 15-year career for himself as one of the most underrated players in basketball. A former All-NBA selection in 2014, Dragic is most remembered in the league for his stellar stints with the Phoenix Suns and the Miami Heat.

But, ask any Slovenian, and they’ll tell you his crowning achievement was undoubtedly EuroBasket 2017, when Dragic led the nation of just 2.1 million all the way to the championship in one of the biggest upsets in international hoops history. What a legend.

Fun fact, he was also a part of perhaps the most unique occurrences in NBA history. Back in his Phoenix days, Goran played six games with his brother Zoran and, on one magical night against the Sixers, they both shared the court along with the Morris twins, the only time two pairs of brothers have played at the same time for the same team. Pretty cool if you ask us.

Congrats on an incredible career Goran! We’re 100% booking tickets to your farewell game this summer. 🙏

Signing Off

Guess we’ll see you next year! Wow. That was the dad-joke of all dad-jokes. But seriously, it’s been a special year with you and we can’t wait to have another 365 together Enjoying the game we love! 🏀 

-Team Enjoy Basketball