Who Is the New Sneaker King of the NBA?

Joe La Puma traces the NBA's sneaker throne from the Mike Bibby era, through P.J. Tucker's reign, to rookie Yaxel Lendeborg.

November 5, 2026

A few weeks into the NBA season, and we're clocking what everyone's wearing. That's nothing new. Celebrity Sneaker Stalker? That’s a column that I created.

Let's take it back. Mike Bibby era. Derek Anderson era. 8s, 9s, 17 lows. They were mixing and matching whatever colors they wanted. This was pre-blog era. No IG either. You used to have to squint on your Zenith to see what they were wearing, and then you would check NikeTalk hours later to see if there was a thread about it. Good old days. Darius Miles and Quentin Richardson? Come on, the GOATs of this. I was in my dorm room spray painting the “Olive” Air Jordan 9s all black. Some of these nerds were studying for their economics exams and snitched me out to the TA. They were getting lightheaded from the fumes. My bad.

Fast forward, Gilbert Arenas era. He was rocking Dolce & Gabbana's on court. What a fun time. But more recently, until retirement, P.J. Tucker was the undisputed sneaker king. It's well-documented.

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But this season, there's a new young king in town. Pay attention. 6'9” forward from Michigan, Yaxel Lendeborg. I tried to fight it at first. He beat Dan Hurley and my boys at UConn in the chip last season. He wore the custom 11s. It's all good. Storrs is still the basketball capital of the world. We all know that.

But Yaxel this season, he's playing the hits. Mowalola 14s, one of the collabs of the year. CDG 11s, he wore the white ones. Free the Youth 16s. Come on, what is he going to wear next? It's must-see. And the best part, he has the game to back it up. He stood toe-to-toe with Luka. He's a rookie of the year frontrunner. What did Deion say? Look good, play good.

It's going to be a long season. He's just getting started. The new sneaker king of the NBA? We'll see.