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Houston Rockets<\/a> forward Kevin Durant<\/a> liked what he saw when Bucky Irving took the field in custom KD cleats. But the footwear also prompted Durant to question why Nike has yet to give football players a version of his signature shoes designed specifically for their sport.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m tired of my dogs having to customize the classics,\u201d Durant wrote on his Instagram story. \u201cWAKE UP.\u201d<\/p>\n Nice Kicks shared<\/a> screenshots of Durant\u2019s posts, which show him responding to Irving\u2019s customized KD 4s before describing a restriction from his longtime footwear partner. Durant has a lifetime Nike agreement and 19 signature basketball models, but he said the company turned down his request to make cleats.<\/p>\n His complaint centered on bringing those designs to football through Nike itself. Irving\u2019s custom pair already showed how players have adapted the KD line for the field.<\/p>\n Bucky Irving\u2019s custom KD 4s draw Durant\u2019s attention<\/p>\n Durant opened his response with praise for Irving, tagging the football player alongside a direct appeal to Nike.<\/p>\n \u201cHard @bucky2x. Yo @nike can yall make me some cleats?\u201d he wrote, before expressing frustration about players needing to customize his existing designs.<\/p>\n The screenshot features Irving wearing a pair that translates the KD 4\u2019s appearance into football footwear. Durant\u2019s message acknowledged that effort while asking the brand to take the next step.<\/p>\n Irving has company among football players who have worn customized KDs. Stefon Diggs and Rashod Bateman have also used custom versions of Durant\u2019s shoes over the years.<\/p>\n Diggs appeared in Durant\u2019s other post, which paired an image of the football player carrying footwear with a more pointed statement about Nike.<\/p>\n \u201cNike told their lifetime athlete that I\u2019m not allowed to make cleats,\u201d Durant wrote.<\/p>\n That post moved the discussion beyond a request for a new product. Durant publicly described Nike refusing permission, invoking his lifetime status as part of the criticism.<\/p>\n The distinction matters to his complaint: football players already wear adaptations of his basketball designs, while Durant wants Nike to produce versions specifically intended for football. His posts praised the custom work and challenged the company over that separate request.<\/p>\n Durant\u2019s lifetime Nike deal adds context to his criticism<\/p>\n Durant\u2019s relationship with Nike stretches back to his NBA<\/a> arrival. The company introduced his signature collection during his second season, and the two sides formalized a lifetime agreement in April 2023.<\/p>\n At the time, Durant described<\/a> a partnership that reached beyond footwear, SI reports.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I first signed with Nike, I couldn\u2019t have dreamed of how far we\u2019d go in this partnership,\u201d Durant said. \u201cWe\u2019ve done amazing work creatively and philanthropically.\u201d<\/p>\n He also emphasized the agreement\u2019s long-term significance.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve traveled the world together and built a business that will now last forever. I\u2019m excited for the future and honored to be in rare company with this deal.\u201d<\/p>\n Nike has already produced football cleats tied to Michael Jordan, LeBron James<\/a>, and Kobe Bryant. That history provides context for Durant\u2019s request to extend his own designs into the sport.<\/p>\n His latest posts offer a considerably different tone from the celebration surrounding his lifetime agreement. Durant welcomed Irving\u2019s custom KDs, then used that moment to make his dissatisfaction with Nike explicit.<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tBurtland Dixon<\/a> Burtland Dixon is a sports journalist covering the NBA and athlete culture for Heavy.com. A former Division II athlete turned journalist, he offers a unique blend of locker room perspective and storytelling expertise. He has more than eight years of experience in digital media and previously served as an Associate Editor at ClutchPoints, with additional bylines at Idolator, Trend Chaser, and Buzznet. Burtland is based between California and New York. Instagram: @showmi_more More about Burtland Dixon<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty Houston Rockets forward Kevin Durant liked what he saw when Bucky Irving took the field in custom…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":851662,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3794],"tags":[7,292,194,4066,6,211],"class_list":["post-851661","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-houston-rockets","tag-basketball","tag-houston","tag-houston-rockets","tag-houstonrockets","tag-nba","tag-rockets"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/117390225529384308","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/851661","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=851661"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/851661\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/851662"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=851661"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=851661"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=851661"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}