Nike Air Zoom Flight The Glove SL 'White Poison Green'
Colorway: White/Black-Poison Green · Style code: 616773-100 · Price: $350 · Availability: Available now
More colorways: Nike Air Zoom Flight The Glove (IV6206-010) · Nike Air Zoom Flight 96 (317980-011) · Nike Air Zoom Flight 95 (430040-112) · Nike Air Zoom Flight Premium (317810-141) · Nike Air Zoom Flight 96 (317980-101)
Gary Payton earned the nickname this shoe takes from defence: it was popularised during the 1993 Western Conference Finals against Phoenix, and by 1996 he had become the first point guard named Defensive Player of the Year. He made nine consecutive All-Defensive First Teams between 1994 and 2002, almost all of it in Seattle, where he played from 1990 to 2003.
Eric Avar's design answers the nickname literally. Rather than a conventional upper, the Air Zoom Flight The Glove uses an external sheath that wraps over the midfoot and across the lacing, pulling the shoe onto the foot the way a glove closes over a hand. Underneath sits Zoom Air, the thin, responsive cushioning Nike built for guards who wanted court feel rather than height.
The SL designation marks the retro construction rather than the original build. Poison Green appears under the sheath as an accent rather than a panel colour, a nod to the palette Payton wore when the shoe first appeared. It is a design that has aged unusually well, largely because nothing else on a basketball court was shaped like it.