kevin durant

Remember the last time I was allured by pink kicks? I eventually resisted, but the temptation returned when I saw these KD7 shoes on discount at Sports Authority. Technically, the colorway is not pink, rather hyper punch, but hey, if you had to describe these shoes, I think you’d say they’re grey and pink.

Doing a little bit of research, I learned these are the “Calm Before the Storm” launched in August 2014 for $150. Unlike my first pink temptation, these are for men (with a strong sense of confidence). Unfortunately, these didn’t work out for me. It’s not the confidence part, it’s my flat feet. Or maybe, it’s really Kevin Durant’s arched “skinny” feet. Since these are his signature shoes, they’re molded for his foot anatomy.

While the shoes look big and spacious, they are fairly narrow. The width of the toebox was okay but the my flat feet were squished in the mid region. And the tops of my feet were feeling some pressure. Loosening the strap helped a tiny bit but not enough. So even though, the Calm Before the Storm was in pristine (and discounted) condition, I didn’t want to get shoes that would hurt wearing them.

Pink kicks foiled again.

The hit-or-miss treasure trove that is Ross Dress for Less produced another gem last week. Saw Kevin Durant signature sneaks shining brightly in the shelves of otherwise routine kicks. The KD7 “On the Road” launched in October of 2014, and a year later, it’s made its way to Ross.

Sadly, there are two problems with these kicks. They’re half a size smaller than what I wear now. Years back, I was a Nike 9.5 but been wearing size 10 for the past decade. And although greatly discounted, these shoes were mistakenly marked and priced as Kobe 9 Elites. Even though there’s KD’s huge initials emblazoned on the tongue, someone thought these were Kobe’s $200+ kicks. So the Ross discounted price came out to $80 which is on the high side for Ross. But even at $80, that’s nearly 50% off of the original cost.

See more shots of the KD7.