Kevin Durant: Low-Cut Shoes Have 'Absolutely Nothing' To Do With Achilles Injuries

A devastating yet familiar injury spoiled Game 7 of the 2025 NBA Finals. Early in the first quarter, Indiana Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton hit the ground with a ruptured right Achilles tendon.

Adding insult to injury, the Oklahoma City Thunder won the championship, and Haliburton will likely miss all of next season. Even worse, he may not ever look the same on the court after suffering the brutal injury.

It was terrible timing for Haliburton and his signature sneaker line. Haliburton debuted his first basketball shoe, the PUMA Hali 1 "Hibiscus," during a clutch Game 1 performance. The unreleased model is scheduled for a Fall 2025 release, but Haliburton won't be on the court to market his debut hoop shoe.

Of course, players can come back from Achilles injuries. Besides Hall of Famer Dominique Wilkins, Houston Rockets forward Kevin Durant might be the best example of an NBA player regaining his form after the injury.

Plus, Durant is an expert on footwear. Durant's signature Nike basketball shoe line has 18 installments, almost all of which feature low-cut silhouettes. The Nike KD line even had two of the ten most-worn sneakers of the 2025 NBA Finals.

Following Haliburton's injury, a growing number of fans recycled the old argument that low-cut shoes are to blame for lower-body injuries.

Even American rapper Cam'ron posted an impassioned plea on Instagram asking for players to stop wearing low-cut and three-quarter-cut shoes on the basketball court.

Durant jumped in the comments and quickly dismissed the theory. "Brother, that has absolutely nothing to do with these injuries," said Durant.

Durant did not provide any argument for why low-cut shoes had nothing to do with injuries. However, it is safe to assume that Nike (and professional sports teams) would not let athletes wear footwear that would endanger their careers. They have cutting-edge performance research laboratories to test shoes before they hit the market.

Durant tore his right Achilles tendon during Game 5 of the 2019 NBA Finals. It was his last game with the Golden State Warriors, and he would miss his entire first season with the Brooklyn Nets to rehabilitate the injury.

To Durant's credit, he was able to come back from the injury and is still going strong at 36 years old. Despite his insistence, the debate over low-cut sneakers will rage on for the foreseeable future.

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