A completely new model and the first new signature for an up-and-coming star! High hopes from me for these! Will they live up to the expectations??
What is going on everyone?? AirJayP is back, and I hope you are all having a great start to 2025! Today we are going to talk about a brand new model from Curry brand for one of the best Pg's in the league! De'Aaron Fox! From initial images, I thought these could potentially be a really good basketball shoe for 2025, and a low-key sleeper for something maybe not quite as hyped but a prime performer. Did they live up to it?? Let's find out!
Fit: 3/5
The fit was something that offered me no real issues straight out of the box, but I did feel like after breaking in, they loosened up quite a bit for me. I personally went down half and loved the fit I got straight out of the box. I played in these quite a bit, including some outdoors and they seemed to loosen up to the point I almost could have gone down a full size in the length category. I would not want to do that in the width department, but I noticed my foot wanting to slide a little back and forth on cuts/stops. The lockdown and strap did help some but not a ton with this, and it was something to notice or note and once again I didn't notice it straight out of the box. I would definitely recommend down half for a snug fit, but maybe trying these on might be the best option or advice overall.
Traction: 4/5
The traction is more of the same that you are used to from Curry brand with the shoe featuring "Flow" cushioning and outsole as well. If you aren't familiar with this setup it is basically the signature setup from the brand and has had very good success since debuting. The traction worked very well for me indoors and would pick up some dust at times on dirty courts, but for the most part performed very well. I thought that the traction was probably one of the best or my favorite parts of the shoe overall on court. We all know I love a good traction setup and these did offer that! Outdoors though, it wasn't that they didn't perform, but they just aren't going to be durable over a long period. This has basically been a complaint of "Flow" outsoles in general, and I think if that were to get corrected this would be a great setup for everyone. Until that though, I would recommend these indoors, or just be prepared for the outsole to wear fairly quickly. Indoors Though, you are covered and I didn't have any serious complaints or issues from these.
Cushion: 3.5/5
I went ahead and mentioned this in the traction section, but the shoe does once again feature a "Flow" cushioning setup. I have been a fan of the setup from the beginning of Curry brand as I like the simplicity and consistency of the "feel" of the setup. It almost seems like you at least always know what you are going to get from the setup. One thing I will say here though with the Fox 1's is I didn't feel they were as soft as some other models I have played in with the setup. I thought these felt a little stiffer, but also at the same time a little more responsive. I wish they had a little more give to them, but kept the same responsiveness. Had that been the case, I would have given them a 4 out of 5. In words here though to describe what you are going to get is something like this. A comfortable semi-stiff/semi-cushioned feel, with some good responsiveness. If you are looking for a max cushion shoe, these aren't it, but a good mix?? These will be right up your alley.
Materials: 4/5
I am being very nice on the materials here, and some may not be quite as kind. The materials offered me no issues performance-wise, and that is what I am trying to grade them on here. They are definitely nothing premium and do honestly have a little bit of a cheap feel to them in my opinion. Performance though? They work and they worked well for me. You basically have a mesh upper with some synthetics and overlays throughout detailed areas of the sneaker. The shoe is very breathable, and one of the most noticeable details of the shoe in general is it is very light! That is something we have come to know from Curry brand is very lightweight materials/sneakers and these are no different.
Lockdown: 3/5
If I am being honest here I was a little disappointed with the lockdown setup. I love the addition of the strap aesthetically, but if you have followed my reviews for a long time I have said on many occasions if there is a strap I want it to make a difference in the performance and I just didn't get that here. We will come back to that. Once you put the sneaker on as long as your fit is well you are going to feel nice and locked into the shoe once laced up. Once these broke in and the materials loosened a little, I started having some issues. My foot wanted to slide vertically, and my toes kept wanting to hit the end of the shoe. Laterally though, I had no issues it was just on the vertical end. Had I gone down in size, they would have been too small for me in the width category so that wasn't a solution either. Going back to the strap, I thought maybe tightening it would help this area a lot, and I just didn't get that from it. I think these will have mixed experiences from the lockdown section, and personally, I think they may even work better for others than they did for me. This was just my experience, and I felt they could have performed better here than what they did.
Overall: 3.5/5
A new model means a new line, which in turn means new sneakers for the basketball court! That is always exciting and brings not only new opportunities for brands but also more options to choose from to play basketball in for us players. I had high hopes as mentioned before for these, and I probably set the bar a little high. These are by no means a bad basketball sneaker. They just in my opinion feel like another Curry basketball shoe. They do a lot of things well and offer you a very lightweight shoe on court. I think it was great as a first signature shoe for D-fox, and aesthetically I think they look really cool! Some of the best cw's too are yet to come! The future is definitely bright for the line, and I am intrigued to keep following it from here on out.
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