Adidas or Nike?—some big names in the NBA would tend to lean towards the American sports brand, but not Nick Young. The former NBA star was among the rare breed of NBA stars to move from Nike to Adidas. But more than that, he was the first one to take Kanye West-designed Adidas Yeezy 750 Boosts to a game.

Young recalled the game was in Madison Square Garden and signed with Adidas; he found a lack of old-school shoes with the brand. “I had to throw those (Yeezy) on… They wasn’t as bad as I thought they was gonna be… I thought it was gonna hurt my feet in them. But it was all right,” he said on the Club 520 Podcast. But it turns out it was Young himself who made hooping easy in those shoes.

The podcast co-host, Dwight Howard, recalled getting the Yeezy sneakers during a fashion week in New York. Forget about playing; just wearing them in the fashion show made him scared of anyone hooping in the sneakers. Howard believed Nick Young to be something else for being able to do it with Kanye West-designed sneakers. Well, it’s no surprise, considering Young had once stated that West was partly the reason that he signed with Adidas.

Young stated he was influenced after the rapper signed with the German brand for $10 million in 2013. However, he also mentioned that the craziest shoes he played in were also Yeezy. “The high-top boot meat… no stability,” he said on the podcast. Notably, the Yeezy sneakers have been more of a lifestyle shoe than meant for basketball. But Swaggy P believes his feet got accustomed to being able to hoop in possibly anything. No wonder that he wore them in more than one instance.

Other instances that Nick Young donned the Kanye West-designed sneakers

One of the most popular instances was the time that the ex-LA Lakers star wore Yeezy 750 Boosts against the Philadelphia 76ers. This move came after West had released a diss track on Nike and Swaggy P extended his complete support. “Nike just die 5 hours ago,” he wrote in a tweet.

Although he played wearing the shoes in the entire first half, Young managed to lead the Lakers to a 93-84 win. Yet another instance of Swaggy P playing wearing the Yeezy sneakers came against the Houston Rockets earlier in 2015. As per the reports, it was this instance that marked his new deal with Adidas. But why exactly did the 2018 NBA champ leave Nike?

Well, the reason turned out to be Young feeling Nike to be too exclusive. “Nike is really only three people. Kobe [Bryant], Kevin Durant and LeBron James,” he once said. Meanwhile, praised the brand’s German competitor for being more accommodating of everyone in their commercials. Well, this understandably seems to be a major reason, as he already admitted some on-court struggles with Adidas.

Stay tuned for more such updates. Join us for the exciting second episode of the “Dual Threat Show” as our host BG12 sits down with Georgia Bulldogs star and Mountain West All-Freshman Team Selection, Asia Avinger.