Houston Rockets: P.J. Tucker hosts his first Sneakerhead Night

Houston Rockets forward P.J. Tucker has another side to his rambunctious personality on the court, which is his affinity for sneakers. What’s the latest?

Houston Rockets faithful — usually when a man signs a deal or starts playing for an NBA team, if he’s fortunate enough, more often than not he’ll also sign a shoe contract. As I’m sure many of you already know of this concept in the NBA, I’m going to explain it a little deeper for others like myself who just recently discovered this concept a little over a year ago.

To understand NBA shoe contacts a little better, I think it’s important to understand that a shoe deal in the NBA is not guaranteed as a player. Shoe brands are very picky about who they choose because they want someone who will represent their brand in the highest manner on and off the field, and ultimately to push their product.

As you would probably imagine, the bigger more known brands go after the similar “bigger” and more known players. It’s usually the guys that are on the starting lineup that get the bigger, longer deals from the popular shoe brands that we all know.

The usual second five guys usually still get persuaded by the same big-name brands, but their contracts are usually not as hefty or as long in terms of years. The other guys that fall after those categories, usually the ones that don’t see much playing time, the rookies or the three-way contract guys usually sign deals with not as popular shoe brands, or in some cases foreign brands that are just trying to get their shoe on an NBA court.

A shoe contract initials many things, with cash being of greatest importance, a personal account in which they get their products from, and another sponsorship account for when the player puts on camps or programs that the shoe brand sponsors. The product and sponsorship usually remain consistent, but in a lot of cases depending on the contract, money and bonuses are affected by how you perform, your statistics, and All-Star appearances.

To put into perspective what shoe brand contracts look like, James Harden has a shoe contract

with Adidas worth a combined total of $200 million, Russell Westbrook has a contract with the Nike subsidiary Jordan brand in which he created his first signature “Why Not Zer0” shoe, Clint Capela also has a contract with Nike, and up until just a few months ago the infamous “Sneaker King” P.J. Tucker was deciding between offers as to who he would sign a contract with.

Tucker has become an infamous face in the sneakerhead community, effortlessly earning the title of “Sneaker King.” You can look inside Tucker’s sneakerhead lifestyle, and see his collection of more than 500 shoes, displayed every day on his Instagram account. Tucker recently ended his last shoe contract and was undeniably living it up as a sneaker, free agent.

He has a very diverse shoe game, not to mention his multilevel sneaker only loft in Houston. It’s

clear that shoes are a huge part of Tucker’s life so much so that he has created his own, very credible brand in the sneakerhead community.

With all of this being said, Tucker was a very high commodity to shoe brands as he searched for the best brand to sign with, he received many shoe offers but no one knew who he was going to sign with, and it seemed as if he loved being a sneaker free agent so much, that he might stay that way.

Tucker took to Instagram and produced an IGTV video titled “Dear The Shoe Game” where he explained his love of shoes from a young age, as well as discussing shoes he’s worn on the court that “were worth so much, I wouldn’t dare tell my Mom.” Not only was he expressing his love for the shoe game but to our surprise he also announced that he was “signing back with the swoosh.”

Take a look at the video here:

As Tucker finally sealed a deal with Nike, and with him being such a big name in the shoe world, he has teamed up with the Houston Rockets as well as Bun B, to put on the Houston Rockets very first Sneakerhead Night for tonight’s game against the Los Angeles Lakers.

Houston Rockets fans, as you can guess this is a very exciting thing, not only for Tucker but for all of the sneakerhead fans as well. All sneakerheads are encouraged to stay after the game tonight for a Q&A session with the sneaker king, as well as Bun B.

Not only is Tucker taking to the community with his newly signed shoe contract, but Russell Westbrook is also making an appearance for all the sneakerheads tomorrow at the Galleria House Of Hoops — scheduled for 3:30 p.m. CST — to premiere his “Why Not Zer0.3.”