Lebron 17 Performance Review
“Future Air” Color-way
The Cushion Is Real!
Cushion: 3
The cushion on the Lebron 17 I feel is going to be more of a personal preference on the rating scale. I am basically rating the cushion so high because honestly there are not too many sneakers out there right now with this much actual cushion in them. If you like a ton of cushion/impact protection in your basketball sneakers then these will be a great performer for you. The Lebron 17 features the largest max air unit ever in any Lebron shoe which is in the heel. It also features air zoom units in the forefoot to help give great impact protection, so as I said before if your totally looking for a very cushioned sneaker you will want to check these out!
Traction: 2
I have heard many people say that traction has given them a lot of problems with this Lebron model. I haven’t had any issues up to this point in the shoe. I did all of my testings indoors in these and the court I played on was pretty clean each time. I never really noticed myself favoring the traction or anything in a negative aspect whatsoever. Laterally and vertically on the court, the traction worked out well for me. I will not say that the traction is the best overall I have played in recently but it did have a decent bite or grip to the floor, but it is not as good as say the Jordan 34 in my opinion.
Lockdown: 2
Ok, so here is where the review could get a little tricky. I tested the first color-way that was released which was the “Future Air” CW. On this actual pair the tongue overlaps the actual laces and to this point, this is the only CW that features this kind of setup. With that being said it was very difficult to get the shoe to the tightness I would really like when playing because the tongue constrained the shoe from being able to be tightened to my liking. On foot, the heel counter and actual tech aspects of the shoe do give you a very good lockdown feel, but this actual pair as I said is just a little difficult to get laced up if you like your shoes to be fairy tight when playing. Now on the other hand while playing I didn’t actually feel a lot of moving around or as if I wasn’t contained well in the shoe meaning that the lockdown does actually work well. My point or what I am ultimately trying to get at here is that I feel like this CW is a little more difficult to play in then say maybe the “Lakeshow’ CW. I am ultimately glad to have this color-way in my overall collection, but I do feel some of the others will perform better especially in the lockdown category on the court.
Materials: 3
With the previous Lebron 15 and 16, we had battle-knit on the 15s, then an upgrade with battle knit 2.0 on the 16s. We now get what is being called another upgrade to the knitposite material on the 17s. I was a fan of battle knit and thought it held up very well and was comfortable on foot. I have gotten basically the same vibe from these materials and I feel from an aesthetics standpoint that they are going to have overall more options for colorways with these materials used on the 17s. Sure, we have gotten some awesome colorways in lebrons the last two years with the battle knit, but I feel this material makes it a little bit easier from a design/building or actually manufacturing standpoint to get it done. The materials still feel great to me to the touch and on foot, they feel very comfortable in my opinion. If you enjoyed the Lebron 15 and or 16 in the materials category these will not disappoint you either.
Overall: 2
Here is where most of the comparing is going to come into play. Let me start off by saying I absolutely loved playing in the Lebron 16. That shoe worked out so well for me and I honestly could play in it every time I went to the court. I have always loved playing in Lebron sneakers and they are highly anticipated for me every year.
The 17s are in no way a bad shoe. I actually really liked playing in them, but I would not rate them better than the 16s. The shoe reminds me almost identical to the Lebron 15 but with obviously quite a bit more cushion. I enjoyed playing in the Lebron 15 as well, but at times I felt it needed a bigger outrigger for the reason of feeling like I was going to tip over on the court so to speak at times. The 17s did not give me that same issue as the 15s, but the biggest issue it did give me was how bulky it felt for me on the court. My best judgment of the 17 is to take the Lebron 15 give it a ton of cushion and make it beefier and you’ve got the Lebron 17.
Now remember I enjoyed playing in the Lebron 15s, so I am not saying this as a negative opinion or aspect, but I am trying to give you a vivid picture that if you played in the 15s and enjoyed them I believe you will really like the 17s, but these are not really comparable to the Lebron 16 as they were more on the low top to mid-top side where these are definitely a high top.
Overall The Lebron 17 is not a bad shoe on the court in any real aspect, and I do see myself more than likely picking up some more pairs/CW's before the next model comes out. I always like picking up some of the exclusives they bring out each year and I believe there will be awesome things they can do with the materials on the 17s! From a performance standpoint, I hope to eventually get another pair with a normal tongue on them and see how they feel when I can get them tightened up to my complete liking!
Thanks So Much For Checking Out This Review On The Lebron 17!
Have A Great Week & As Always Happy Hooping!
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