If there's one thing NBA players are extra proud of aside from their individual awards, it's their sneakers. In recent years, guys like PJ Tucker and DeMar DeRozan have been showing off their so-called shoe game more and more. They regularly post pictures on Instagram or make videos.
Tucker is widely known in the NBA as the Sneaker King. The Houston Rockets forward allegedly has a whopping 5,000 pairs with a separate loft in his house solely dedicated to them. Most of his fellow players have bowed to his unbelievable collection.
Most, but not everyone.
It looks like DeRozan is trying to steal the throne from Tucker, who also has his own sneaker store. The San Antonio Spurs guard called out the burly Rockets bruiser on Instagram, saying: “I will show everybody who really is the shoe head when it comes to these kicks! I'm just playing it cool. You got another post to show off and I will also show off.”
Of course, the long-time reigning sneaker champion of the NBA responded quickly. Tucker said: “Can somebody tell my little bro, DeMar DeRozan if he wants the smoke. He knows better than anybody where to find me.”
The 31-year-old DeMar DeRozan also has a room filled with sneakers. He likes collecting signature kicks of Michael Jordan, Penny Hardaway, and his childhood hero Kobe Bryant. He said he started his love for shoes when he saw Kobe's Crazy 8's for the first time in high school. During one of DeRozan's stints with the Toronto Raptors, he wore 15 different Jordans in their first 15 games.
But until DeRozan proves his worth, PJ Tucker is still the undisputed NBA Sneaker King. He owns hundreds of what they call Holy Grail kicks or the rarest pairs in the business. Plus, there are countless stories about Tucker's shoe obsession: He once wore six pairs in a single game; he impressed MJ himself with his Js, and; he spends over $30,000 on sneaker shopping (even once dropping around $200,000 on kicks in one year).