Westbrook, Harden, D-Wade and more pay tribute to Nipsey Hussle through sneakers

A week has passed since Ermias Asghedom — aka the Grammy-nominated rapper Nipsey Hussle — was shot and killed in the parking lot outside of his clothing store in Los Angeles. He was 33. The painful loss of Hussle, whose legacy transcends music, has resonated with many, and that’s because he was also an entrepreneur, a community leader, a loving partner, a father and much more. Notably, condolences have come from the NBA community, which had embraced Hussle as an avid fan and courtside stalwart.

“So so SAD man!! DAMN man this hurt,” tweeted LeBron James, minutes after Hussle’s death was reported on March 31. Days later, the King pulled up to Staples Center (where a memorial service will be held for Hussle on Thursday) repping Nip before the Lakers faced the Golden State Warriors in their first home game following the tragedy. James wore a T-shirt featuring the cover illustration from Nipsey’s 2013 compilation albums, Nip Hussle the Great Vols. 1 & 2.

LeBron came to Staples Center wearing a Nipsey shirt 🙏 pic.twitter.com/NzR3lHuNKv

— NBA on ESPN (@ESPNNBA) April 5, 2019

James was far from the first in the NBA to pay his respects. Across the league, a collection of players, and even a coach turned to their sneakers and other team paraphernalia to honor Hussle with handwritten messages, lyrics from his songs and custom art. Whether created with a Sharpie, or paint, shoes became the go-to form of expressing sympathy. Here are 16 NBA sneaker tributes spotted last week.

Montrezl Harrell & Lou WIlliams

Rest in peace, Nipsey Hussle. pic.twitter.com/SgxhQ16Zi9

— x – LA Clippers (@LAClippers) April 1, 2019

Hours after Hussle was killed, the Los Angeles Clippers had a game at Staples Center against the Memphis Grizzlies. Fourth-year Clippers big man Montrezl Harrell wanted to ensure that the organization — one of two NBA franchises, along with the Lakers, that play in Nip’s hometown of L.A. — acknowledged him in the arena on the night his life ended. He reached out to team officials and requested a video tribute that played at both the start and end of the evening. Harrell also asked for a custom jersey to be made with “HUSSLE” printed on the back overtop of his No. 5. During the game, Harrell wore a pair of Reebok Questions on which he wrote, “R.I.P. Nipsey — 8/15/85-3/31/19.” Clippers sixth man Lou Williams also penned “Money Making NIP” on his pair of Peak Streetball Masters. “For [Hussle’s] life to be taken, basically where he was born and raised, it’s tough,” Harrell told reporters after the game. “It’s a sad day, man.”

Kawhi Leonard

In December 2017, about a month before he became a brand ambassador for Puma, Hussle appeared in a Foot Locker x Jordan Brand commercial alongside 2014 NBA champion and Finals MVP Kawhi Leonard. The day after Nip’s death, Leonard honored his fellow L.A. native on a pair of his New Balance OMN1s by adding “IP” after the brand’s block “N” logo to spell Nip. On the midsole of his left shoe, the Toronto Raptors All-Star forward also included “All Money In” — the name of Hussle’s record label, and the shortened version of his mantra, “All Money In, No Money Out.”

Dwyane Wade

On his final night playing the Celtics at Boston’s TD Garden, the soon-to-be-retired Miami Heat legend Dwyane Wade wrote “Nipsey Hussle — Rest in Heaven” with a Sharpie on the left shoe of a pair of his Li-Ning Way of Wade 7s. Wade intentionally wore blue and yellow sneakers to represent the colors of Crenshaw High School, located in the neighborhood where Hussle grew up and endlessly repped in through his music and clothing line.

Russell Westbrook

Russ repping for Nipsey. 🙏@okcthunder | #ThunderUp pic.twitter.com/4tk1bzgqto

— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) April 3, 2019

Before every game no matter what, Russell Westbrook writes the initials of his childhood friend and high school teammate Khelcey Barrs III, who died during a pickup game in 2004 at the age of 16. Westbrook recently lost another friend in Hussle, who helped the star Oklahoma City point guard and his Why Not? Foundation give back to the community in their hometown of Los Angeles on Thanksgiving in 2016. (There’s also a photo of Westbrook and Hussle embracing on the court at Staples Center during 2018 NBA All-Star Weekend in L.A.) Ahead of a game against the Lakers on April 2 — Westbrook’s first time playing since Hussle was killed — he neatly jotted “NH Nip” next to “KB3” on his pair of Pokemon-inspired player exclusive (PE) Why Not Zer0.2s. Westbrook rapped the words from Hussle’s 2018 track “Grinding All My Life” on the bench before taking the court and having himself a historic night with 20 points, 21 assists and 20 rebounds. He became only the second player in NBA history, and first since Wilt Chamberlain in 1968, to put up a 20-20-20 stat line. And of course, Westbrook dedicated the performance to one person. “That wasn’t for me,” he said after the game. “That was for Nipsey, man.”

Kentavious Caldwell-Pope

Westbrook wasn’t the only player to commemorate Hussle on a pair of shoes at Oklahoma City’s Chesapeake Energy Arena two days after his death. Los Angeles Lakers guard Kentavious Caldwell-Pope also wrote “Rest Easy Nipsey” on his Nike KD 11s.

Danny Green

Both Nip and Toronto Raptors guard Danny Green were ambassadors for the German sportswear brand Puma. So it was only right that Green used a black pair of Puma Clyde Courts as a canvas to pay tribute to “Ermias Asghedom,” which he wrote under “R.I.P” on the outside of his left shoe for a game against the Brooklyn Nets. Green also penned Hussle’s full name on the other shoe in Tigrinya — the official language of Eritrea — as a nod to the late rapper’s African roots.

DeMar DeRozan

Back-to-back games for the San Antonio Spurs allowed four-time All-Star DeMar DeRozan, a native of Los Angeles, to honor Nip twice. And he did so fittingly with editions of Lakers legend Kobe Bryant’s signature Nikes. For a game against the Atlanta Hawks on April 2, DeRozan wrote “Crenshaw” on a pair of Kobe 11s before taking the court the next night vs. the Nuggets with “RIP NIP VICTORY LAP” scribed on a pair of Kobe 4 Protros. DeRozan showed the utmost respect to his fallen L.A. brother, who often expressed how much he loved the NBA star’s game.

Isaiah Thomas

Endless love for Nipsey.
📸: @IsaiahDowning pic.twitter.com/8JlXd1UiQg

— Complex Sneakers (@ComplexSneakers) April 4, 2019

In April 2017, while playing for the Boston Celtics, Isaiah Thomas wrote messages on a pair of Nike Kobe A.Ds to grieve the horrific loss of his sister Chyna, who was killed in a one-car accident at the age of 22. “When I got the news yesterday before the game it reminded me when I got the news about my sister,” Thomas wrote in an Instagram post after Hussle was killed. Now a member of the Denver Nuggets, Thomas was a huge fan of the West Coast rapper, who shared a mutual admiration for the 5-foot-9-inch point guard. Just last year, Bleacher Report detailed how the careers of both Thomas and Hussle took off around the same time. Similar to how he remembered his sister on the court two years ago, Thomas paid tribute to Nip on his Nike Kobe 4 Protros during Denver’s April 2 game against the Spurs (the same night DeRozan inked up the same shoes). It’s also worth noting that Thomas’ last five Instagram posts have all been dedicated to Hussle.

Irv Roland

Rockets assistant coach Irv Roland pays tribute to Nipsey Hussle at their game in LA. (via @HoustonRockets) pic.twitter.com/WdbyriYeb9

— NBA on ESPN (@ESPNNBA) April 4, 2019

Irv Roland, a player development coach for the Houston Rockets, and the personal trainer of reigning NBA MVP James Harden, commissioned sneaker artist Cory Bailey, aka Sierato, to craft a custom pair of Nipsey Hussle-themed Adidas Harden Vol. 3s. Roland wore them when the Rockets played the Clippers in L.A. on April 3. Here’s a dope video in which Sierato shows his process of painting the shoe that feature two hand-drawn portraits of Nip:

D.J. Wilson

Heroes get remembered, but like second-year Milwaukee Bucks forward D.J. Wilson wrote on the side of his Nike Kobe A.Ds before an April 4 game against the Philadelphia 76ers — “Legends neva Die!!!” He also added “Long Live Nip” and “TMC,” which stands “The Marathon Continues,” Hussle’s oft-used motto and the name of a mixtape he dropped in 2011.

Sterling Brown

View this post on Instagram

“Rest up, Nip.” 🏁

A post shared by SLAM x KICKS (@slamkicks) on Apr 4, 2019 at 6:54pm PDT

Another Nipsey Hussle tribute by another Puma athlete. This time it came on the brand’s latest basketball sneaker — named the Uproar Spectra — which Milwaukee Bucks guard Sterling Brown helped debut on NBA hardwood in the lead-up to the April 12 release. “Rest up Nip,” Sterling Brown wrote on one shoe. “Salute.”

Jordan Bell

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@nipseyhussle tribute @ygtrece for my guy @jbell 🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽

A post shared by Cory Bailey ·👟🎨 (@sierato) on Apr 4, 2019 at 3:35pm PDT

Sierato followed up the pair he did for Roland with a custom job on some Nike PG 2.5s for Golden State Warriors forward Jordan Bell. Nip would’ve loved that blue.

Spencer Dinwiddie

Spencer Dinwiddie collaborated with Troy Cole, an artist known in the sneaker world as Kickasso, for a custom pair of the Brooklyn Nets sixth man’s own brand of K8IROS shoes, which were painted beautifully with illustrations of Hussle. Dinwiddie is a part of the long list of NBA players who hail from Los Angeles. So when he shared photos of the shoes on social media, he made his connection to both the city and Nip known. “Fun fact,” Dinwiddie wrote in an Instagram post. “We went to the same grade school 🙏🏾.”

James Harden

No NBA player shared a bond with Hussle quite like Houston Rockets star James Harden. Back in October 2016, when he returned to his hometown for a matchup with the Lakers at Staples, Hussle came through to support, wearing a pair of Harden’s first signature sneakers to the game. Less than two years later, on the night Harden was named the 2018 NBA MVP, Hussle joined him to celebrate, taking Instagram videos with the man of the hour and his new trophy. They both deemed each other L.A. legends, so when the news of Nip’s death reached Harden, he was devastated. “It doesn’t seem real,” said Harden after the Rockets played the Clippers in L.A. on April 3. That night, he wore a gold pair of his Harden Vol. 3s, on which he wrote a few Nip-inspired messages, including the word “Prolific,” a reference to opening of the 2018 track “Victory Lap” — I’m prolific, so gifted / I’m the type that’s gon’ go get it. Harden rapped the line in the tunnel of the arena before taking the floor and dropping a game-high 31 points. During a postgame interview, one reporter asked Harden about his Instagram post from the previous day that featured a photo of him and Hussle with the caption, “BRO!!!! Where did you go?? We had some s— we was working on!!!! Please don’t leave. ON GOD imma make sure I finish what we started.” What did Harden mean? What exactly were they working on together? “You’ll see,” he responded.