LeBron James spotted in RTFKT Nike sneakers—Clone X NFT holders rejoice
LeBron James, arguably the most famous basketball star today, was photographed wearing special edition Nike sneakers that can only be purchased by stamping a Ethereum NFT made by Nike’s subsidiary, RTFKT. And the RTFKT founders apparently also presented the living legend with their very own Clone X NFT avatar too.
James was spotted wearing the RTFKT x Nike Air Force 1 Genesis sneakers on Tuesday ahead of the Los Angeles Lakers’ Game 1 win against the Golden State Warriors in the NBA’s Western Conference Semifinals. Lakers tweeted a photo of James wearing the black and red kicks, along with a photo of teammate Anthony Davis.
The photo quickly went viral among RTFKT NFT holders, and then the company itself – which was acquired by Nike in December 2021 –tweeted it out with a zoomed-in look at the shoes.
Shortly after, RTFKT co-founder Steven “Zaptio” Vasilev shared a photo by himself and RTFKT COO Nikhil Gopalani presenting James with an honorary Clone X avatar. “We got [to] aboard the legend [LeBron James] to RTFKT with his 1/1 Clone X,” wrote Vasilev.
Decrypt reached out to RTFKT and Nike representatives for further details on the interactions with James, including whether it is an extension of his existing long-term sponsorship deal with Nike and whether he actually took custody of any NFTs. Neither company responded immediately.
The RTFKT x Nike Air Force 1 Genesis is a set of a total of 1,776 pairs of sneakers in the style that can only be obtained by purchasing an NFT and then redeeming it for the physical product. Secondary market prices for the Genesis NFTs start at 0.4 ETH, or $740 at OpenSea. The physical sneakers can only be redeemed until May 8, according to an official FAQ.
There are several other RTFKT x Nike Air Force 1 styles of NFT-based kicks also available in varying quantities and at different secondary market prices. The most limited style, dubbed “Alien” and featuring something of a neon twist on the Lakers’ own yellow and purple look, has a total supply of just 60 pairs which starts at 5 ETH ($9,245).
Clone X is an Ethereum NFT profile picture (PFP) project which was launched in 2021 as a collaboration between RTFKT and the Japanese contemporary artist Takashi Murakami. It has become one of the most prominent and successful PFP projects in the space, generating nearly $835 million in trading volume to date, per data from CryptoSlam.
Last September, RTFKT changed the metadata– or the data that defines the unique characteristics of a particular NFT asset – for a single Clone X NFT to have an “LBJ Beard” and a yellow and purple crown, both of which no other NFT in the collection has.
The Clone X avatar that James is holding in the photo shared on Tuesday has the same visuals as that NFT, albeit with an all-blue color scheme. It is unclear whether there is a separate NFT from the one that was changed in September last year. That one remains in custody of the “RTFKT_CORE_VAULT” wallet, per data from OpenSeaand was last transferred in January.
Beyond the various NFT creations of the RTFKT subsidiary, Nike has also launched its own digital sneaker and apparel platform called .SWOOSH on the Ethereum scaling network Polygon. Nike said last month that it already has over 330,000 users on .SWOOSH and will begin creating for “Our Force 1” NFT-based trainers starting on May 8.
