Shaquille O’Neal Game Style Shoes

Authentication Status:  Inconclusive

Condition:  Good.  The shoes do exhibit some court wear but the wear cannot be attributed to Shaquille O’Neal without further documentation.

Modification:  #34 is embroidered on the shoes which would be a PLAYER designator.  Dunk.net launched in February 2000 with the Chromz, Chromz were made available in Black/Purple and White/Black, the latter worn by O’Neal in the 2000 closeout game.  1998 SHAQ ended the relationship with Reebok in 1998, but did do a Reebok value line a year later, then Shaq commissioned Dunk.net and they came onto the scene in 2000.  

Wear:  The shoes show wear but it can not be attributed to Shaquille O’Neal.  The insoles are still intact on the inside of the shoes.

Tags:  There is a single tag on the inside tongue of the left shoe.  Size states 22, however, when measured it is only 18″ in length.  Normally these tags would have denoted “SAMPLE”  or “PROMO” on the tagging.  There is no indication of this on this particular tagging.   The tagging also indicates that the shoes were made in 1999.

Size:  Approximately 18 when measured but the tagging does state “22”.

Photomatch:  These shoes were made in 1999 which would be an accurate time-line.   The photo styles from the 2000 NBA FINALS game are not showing this exact style shoe.  The DUNK.NET shoes Shaq wore had the DUNK logo on the outside of the shoe vs. “34” player identifier.    The shoes could have been a SAMPLE style shoe that was presented to SHAQ.

Provenance: No provenance was offered with the shoes.