There was once a time when the signature basketball shoe was the absolute pinnacle of the sneaker world. High-dollar runners and cross-trainers—once they were invented—occupied rarefied air as well, but basketball shoes had something extra. The unveiling of a new Air Jordan, or, later on, a new Iverson or or Kobe or LeBron, was a happening. Sometimes they still are. But more often than not, now the release of a new signature basketball shoe is met with indifference.  

There are a lot of reasons for this. Retro has swooped in and captured a large part of the buying public—it’s easier to buy a classic that everyone already knows is cool rather than take a risk on something new—and runners and running-esque shoes have taken nearly everything else. Comfort has become more important to would-be sneaker consumers than it has been in years. And the sneaker market, nimble in some ways, has proven glacially slow in others. One definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. In that sense, the entire signature basketball sneaker process is insane. Adidas overtaking Jordan as the second-largest sneaker brand in the U.S. should serve as something of a wake-up call.