High-top sneakers have been out of vogue for quite some time in performance basketball, and Nike hasn’t made a pair for one of its signature athletes since the launch of the LeBron 19 five years ago. Bucking the trend soon, however, will be a new build for Ja Morant’s latest model.
The Nike Ja 4 High “Zombie” has been confirmed for a late-October release with official images to match after word of the sneaker first leaked in September. A bright red shroud with pyramidal protrusions covers the shoe from the midsole up to the ankle with the words “Call Twelve” running along the zipper. Left alone is the shark fin-like midfoot shank with a Swoosh next to it to form an abstract “Ja” spell-out, which now appears with a gunmetal-like finish as one of the few departures from red.
Alongside the high-top, Morant’s annual “Zombie” theme will also come through more overtly on the Ja 4’s regular low-top build. Both, however, will come with the same mask of the player as a zombie and an insole that gives another rendering of the same idea.
Prior to the release of the Kobe Bryant’s Nike Kobe 4 in 2008, conventional wisdom held that high-tops were necessary in basketball in order to adequately support the ankles. Bryant’s line continued to buck the notion through subsequent models, paving the way for low-tops to become the norm as they are today.
Even with his early-career ankle problems, Steph Curry’s Under Armour now-ceased line shifted low in 2018, and LeBron James ended his long devotion to high-tops in 2020 and has stuck with low-tops ever since.
This new wrinkle on Morant’s series could be more successful than it would be on others, as his shoes have continued to be especially popular among the youth through off-court controversies, injuries and a decline in his performance. It does, however, come with a significant price jump from the Ja 4’s usual $130 to $140 price tag, which has certainly been one of its selling points.
The Nike Ja 4 High will release Oct. 31 through the Snkrs app and select third-party retailers. Pricing is set at $180.