Air Jordan’s & Nike Account For 75% Of The Footwear In NBA This Season (19,334 Players Currently Wear Nike Or Air Jordan’s)

Using data from Kix Stats, analysts at Basketball Insiders crunched the numbers to determine the most popular shoe brands in the NBA.

During the 2023 season, Nike accounted for 67.2% of the shoes worn by NBA players this year. When combined with its Jordan line, Nike and Air Jordan covered nearly 75% of the NBA market.

Nike Is The No.1 Brand Worn By NBA Players (67%)
Nike and Air Jordan Make up 75% of the NBA Shoe Market in 2023
6x more NBA players currently wear Nike than Adidas
82% Of Centers Wear Nike & Air Jordan
79% Of Forwards Wear Nike & Air Jordan
Only 68% Of Guards Wear Nike & Air Jordan

Nike Is The No.1 Brand Worn By NBA Players

Nike finished the regular season as the No.1 brand worn by NBA players but its stranglehold on the market has started to loosen ever so slightly.

Nearly every player in the NBA has signed a deal with Nike or was an ambassador at some point during their basketball career and that seems to have played a role in its popularity throughout the league.

As a result, it comes as no surprise that Nike is the No.1 brand worn by NBA players. In total, 67.2% of the shoe choices made by NBA players incorporated the Swoosh logo.

Check out the list below for the most popular shoes brands in the NBA.

Nike — 17,398 Players (67.2%)
Adidas — 2,873 Players (11.1%)
Jordan — 1,936 Players (7.5%)
Puma — 762 Players (2.94%)
Under Armour — 565 Players (2.18%)
New Balance — 517 Players (1.99%)
Anta — 512 Players (1.97%)
Li-Ning — 433 Players (1.67%)
Converse — 407 Players (1.57%)
361° — 147 Players (0.56%)

Nike, Adidas, and Air Jordan Make Up 86% of the NBA Shoe Market

The three biggest shoe brands in the NBA are Nike, Adidas, and Jordan. For the 2022-2023 NBA season, the three brands combined to make up 85.8% of the shoe market.

In total, players wore one of these three brands for a combined 484,165 minutes or 83.1% of the total minutes played in the NBA this year.

All other shoe brands combined make up about 15% of the market or 16.9% of the minutes played. Those brands include names like New Balance, Puma, Under Armour, Anta, Li-Ning, Converse, and more.

Check out the top basketball shoes worn in the NBA, sorted total by minutes played.

Nike — 370,212 Minutes Played
Adidas — 69,909 Minutes Played
Jordan — 44,044 Minutes Played
Puma — 22,027 Minutes Played
New Balance — 15,072 Minutes Played
Under Armour — 13,093 Minutes Played
Anta — 12,191 Minutes Played
Converse — 11,685 Minutes Played
Li-Ning — 11,673 Minutes Played
361° — 4,707 Minutes Played

Top NBA Shoes by Position

Fewer NBA guards (6.8%) wore Jordan than any other position. Meanwhile, Anta, the world’s third-largest shoe manufacturer behind Nike and Adidas, was more popular among forwards than more well-known brands like Puma, Under Armor, and New Balance.

Among the three NBA positions, guards, forwards, and centers, Nike was still the No.1 brand worn by players. In fact, 61.4% of NBA guards, 70.5% of forwards, and 73.3% of centers still chose to wear Nike-branded shoes.

The second-most popular shoe brand among all three positions was Adidas. For NBA guards, Adidas is worn 12% of the time. Meanwhile, forwards and centers chose to wear the shoes 9.5% and 10.2%, respectively.

Check out the shoe breakdown by position below.

Nike No.1 Brand Among Guards

Nike — 8155 Players (61.4%)
Adidas — 1599 Players (12%)
Jordan — 898 Players (6.8%)
Puma —514 Players (3.9%)
Under Armour — 479 Players (3.6%)
New Balance — 396 Players (2.97%)

Nike No.1 Brand Among Forwards

Nike — 10,052 Players (70.5%)
Adidas — 1356 Players (9.5%)
Jordan — 1203 Players (8.4%)
Anta —349 Players (3.9%)
Puma— 316 Players (2.2%)
New Balance — 247 Players (1.73%)

Nike No.1 Brand Among Centers

Nike — 3967 Players (73.3%)
Adidas — 550 Players (10.2%)
Jordan — 488 Players (9%)
Puma —161 Players (3%)
Under Armour — 84 Players (1.55%)
Anta — 78 Players (1.44%)

Courtesy of https://www.basketballinsiders.com/