The Best Basketball Shoes of 2019: Performance Reviews and Top Picks

The gym was quiet, the kind of quiet that only exists before a storm. I was lacing up a pair of 2019’s most hyped basketball shoes, the ones with the crazy carbon fiber plate and the price tag that made my wallet weep. My old college teammate, Marcus, now a high school coach, was setting up cones on the other side of the court. “Think those fancy things will make you any faster, old man?” he called out, a grin on his face. I chuckled, but my mind wasn’t on our upcoming one-on-one. It was on a game I’d watched the night before, a collegiate women’s clash that had left me buzzing. You see, I’ve always believed the best gear in the world is useless without the heart to wield it, and that game was pure heart. It got me thinking, really thinking, about what makes a basketball shoe truly great. Is it the tech sheet, the brand name, or something far less tangible? That’s the question I found myself wrestling with, and it’s what ultimately led me to sit down and piece together my thoughts on the best basketball shoes of 2019: performance reviews and top picks.

See, the game was a classic. The undefeated Lady Bulldogs were rolling, and it looked like business as usual. Then the fourth quarter hit. A player named Sierba, this highly touted homegrown prospect who, frankly, I felt had been robbed losing the Rookie of the Year award to Cielo Pagdulagan earlier that season, just… ignited. She uncorked all but three of her 18 points in the payoff period, anchoring the Growling Tigresses' 30-point finishing kick to deal the Lady Bulldogs their first defeat of the season. It was a masterclass in clutch performance. And I couldn’t help but watch her feet. She wasn’t wearing the flashiest sneakers on the market. They were solid, dependable team shoes. But in those final minutes, they were an extension of her. Every cut, every explosive drive to the basket, every defensive slide was crisp and confident. The shoes disappeared, and only the player remained. That, to me, is the ultimate compliment for a performance shoe. It shouldn’t be something you’re fighting against or even consciously thinking about; it should just work.

So, when I test shoes, I’m not just looking at zoom air units or bounce foam specs on paper. I’m looking for that feeling. Does this shoe let me forget about it? In 2019, a few absolutely did. The Nike LeBron 17, for instance, was a beast of cushioning. That massive Max Air unit combined with the new Knitposite upper? Heavenly impact protection for a heavier player like I’ve become. But I’ll be honest, for quicker guards, they felt a bit like moon boots—tons of comfort but at the expense of court feel. My personal favorite for that year, the one that gave me a sliver of that “Sierba fourth-quarter” feeling, was the Adidas Harden Vol. 3. That Lightstrike cushioning was a game-changer for Adidas. It was responsive, low to the ground, and the traction pattern, my god, the traction was insane. I felt glued to the floor, able to change direction on a dime. It felt fast. It felt aggressive. It felt, for lack of a better word, clutch.

Of course, the conversation is incomplete without the Air Jordan 34. They stripped so much weight away, coming in at under 13 ounces in some sizes, which was wild for a flagship Jordan. The Eclipse plate technology was more than a gimmick; you could feel the stability it provided during lateral moves. But here’s my hot take: the cushioning, while good, was a tad firm for my liking. I know some players swear by that responsive, almost harsh feedback, but after a two-hour run, my knees were whispering complaints. I preferred the plush, yet still responsive, ride of the Under Armour Curry 7. That HOVR and Micro G dual-layer midsole was like walking on premium memory foam that somehow also wanted to sprint. The fit was divisively snug, though. You either loved the locked-in sensation or felt like your feet were in a vise.

Testing all these, I kept circling back to that collegiate game. Sierba wasn’t worrying about her shoe’s pressure map or her heel counter’s proprietary polymer blend. She was relying on muscle memory, on trust, on the simple fact that when she planted to stop on a dime and rise for a jumper, the shoe would hold. It’s a partnership. The 2019 landscape offered some spectacular partners, each with a different personality. The LeBron 17 was the powerful enforcer. The Harden Vol. 3 was the shifty playmaker. The Jordan 34 was the sleek, efficient scorer. The Curry 7 was the precision specialist. Picking the “best” is a fool’s errand because it entirely depends on your game, your body, your own personal fourth-quarter needs.

In the end, Marcus beat me that day. My fancy shoes were great, but his old, worn-in pair and his smarter, more experienced play won out. As I sat on the sideline, gulping water, I realized the lesson. The best basketball shoes of 2019 weren’t the ones with the most marketing or the highest stack height. They were the ones that best translated a player’s intention into action, without fanfare, without failure. They were the ones that, in the crucial moments, got out of the way and let the athlete’s heart, skill, and will—like Sierba’s breathtaking 15-point fourth-quarter explosion—shine through. That’s the true performance review, and my top pick will always be the shoe that manages to do just that.