- This is the first pair of sneakers....
- The '95s?
- ... my mother got me in '95 for Christmas.
- First pair of kicks....
- I had to almost cry to get those.
- ...that your momma got you.
Hey, you gotta do what you gotta do.
Academy award goes to....
"Momma, please! Momma!"
- You finally made it, baby!
- I feel like if you could drop in
from the pyramid
that's an accomplishment.
- If I don't get this
I'm spending the night. Forever.
- It's my favorite room in the house.
- Come here.
I'm a little nervous!
I don't want to break him!
- "Houseguest."
We out here.
- What's up, y'all?
Today, I get to visit
a very special young lady.
A baller.
But on top of that,
she has some of
the coldest kicks in the game.
And me, I'm a sneakerhead,
so you gotta come correct.
- I think I'mma have to go with
these bad boys right here.
We'll see how she likes them.
- Yeah, yeah.
- Yo, what up, Nate?
- What's up, Ty? What's up, baby?
- How you doing?
- Good. Welcome to the A!
- You know, I could be in a A and not....
You know what I'm saying?
- Yeah? Exactly. You gotta come through.
- I gotta see this sneaker
closet you're talking about.
- Yeah, it's a little somethin'-somethin'.
- That's what's up.
- You'll see.
That's my college jersey.
- Any significance to the 11?
- Teresa Weatherspoon was number 11,
she was one of my favorite players.
My aunt was a New York Liberty
season-ticket holder since I was little,
so that's why I used to go to the Liberty games
and watch Tea Spoon.
- And what's this right here?
- This was from ... I just got this last year
in November, from the athletic hall of fame
from my college.
- Oh nice. Congratulations on that!
- Thank you, I appreciate it.
- I know why you're here.
You want to see the kicks.
Let's go upstairs.
- See, that's why I had to bring these babies.
- You brought the heat!
- You feel me?
Wait, hold on. This is Michael Jordan's
high school right here.
- Yeah, that's my high school jersey.
We went to the same high school.
- You went to the same
high school as Michael Jordan?
- Yep, and both of our jerseys are retired.
- What's that like?
To be a GOAT with the GOAT?
- It's crazy. Like who would think that
their jersey would be retired with MJ's?
You know what I'm saying? So I went back home
for the hall of fame, and I saw my jersey up,
hanging.
MJ jersey.
I'm like, "This is crazy.
How many people would probably believe this?"
You know?
Heading to the sneaker room.
- Hey, hey, hey.
- It's my favorite room in the house.
- I don't even know why I'm so excited
to be in here, like ... you know?
See other people's kicks.
- 'Cause you're a sneakerhead, you know.
- What are these right here, sneaky?
- Oh, those the L.A. Dunks.
- What?
I've never seen these. These are nice.
- De La Souls, the De La Souls, yep.
- Oh, these are fire.
Yeah, you've got kicks I've never seen,
I can give you that.
- From one sneakerhead to another,
I mean, we all love gifts.
- Mm-hmm.
- Is there any gifts or shoes that your friends
or family or, you know, other NBA, WNBA players
shipped you, or gifted you?
- Well in this aisle, we got some autographed
kicks from D-Wade.
- Whoo!
- He's one of my friends.
This is his actual game shoe.
- O.K.
- And he gave me other shoes.
- Dwyane has big ol' feet.
Damn, these D-Wade's?
- Yeah, these D-Wade's.
- Damn, D-Wade!
These are fire.
- So he gave me other ones, you know,
for my size.
Chris Paul, one of my friends.
I got a lot of shoes from Chris.
He sent me my game shoes for the summer, and
family and friends pairs, as well.
These is ... what? Only 54 made?
Eleven of 54.
- I like these.
- Family and friends.
- I like this. What is this?
- It's suede.
- Suede. Yeah.
See I'm a big fan of suede kicks.
- And red is like
one of my favorite colors
for sneakers.
- I got WNBA kicks....
- See these.
- ... from my WNBA friends.
Swin Cash, Catch, Diana,
Cappie, Ticha Penicheiro
- Oh, I love Cappie, too
- Syl, Seimone.
- She's dope.
- Maya.
- Maya is fire.
- Piph, Elena, Sloot, Skyler.
What you see?
Yeah, those the Teyana Taylors.
She actually signed those to me.
- Ooh, you might have to really show
your feet heat.
- Coming to the game, what is your
whole method and thought process
behind what shoes are you wearing for that day?
- You look good, you feel good,
you play good.
- Like Deion Sanders.
- So, if it's a TV game....
- You going behind....
- ... you know you gotta bring the heat.
You know what I'm saying?
- Word, word.
- Exactly.
- So if we're playing tonight,
you going up against Candace Parker.
What you bringing out when you in L.A.?
- Well aside from playing in my CP3s,
you know my guy,
the retro 10s is probably one of my favorites
so I gotta bring....
How many people got the linen 10s?
- Not too many.
I got 'em, for sure, but these is fire.
- So I gotta hoop in the linen 10s.
- Yeah, these, O.K.
- You know what I'm saying?
Bring back the....
Those haven't even been re-retroed
since the time they came out.
- This is the first pair of sneakers....
- The '95s?
- ... my mother got me in '95 for Christmas.
- First pair of kicks
that your momma got you.
- I had to almost cry to get those.
- Hey, you gotta do what you gotta do.
Academy Award goes to....
"Momma, please! Momma!"
- Hey, I got a story for these cool grays, though.
- Tell me.
- I faked sick in high school.
- Just to go get 'em?
- Just to go get 'em.
They had like a rerelease or something,
like noon on like a Wednesday.
- Right.
- "Daddy, I'm sick.
Can you come pick me up from school?
Oh, by the way, can we go by the mall real quick?
I gotta get these J's."
It worked.
- It worked every time, huh?
- I made some PGs that I'mma bring out this summer.
- Ooh, let me see.
Mmm!
- Blocking.
- How'd you get this idea?
- So my dad, he passed
from pancreatic cancer, which is the purple ribbon,
at the age of 59.
So that's where I got that from.
His favorite team was the Lakers,
with the purple and gold.
My favorite sneaker color is red,
and then I just thought the royal blue
would go well with it.
Inside, it says R.I.P. DADDY.
- So talk to me,
how you created that sneaker room upstairs?
- O.K., first I started with just
sneaker boxes. But then,
after playing in so many different cities,
going overseas,
the boxes is too much for travel.
And I saw other guys that had like sneaker rooms
with the wooden shelves.
- That's what I had.
- And I'm like, "It's dope," you know.
You can see your shoes out, and
it just looks way better than the
clear containers and all of that.
I changed it so many times with like
the number from Jordans to like the Colorways.
It's like every so often I go in there
and I'm like making changes to it
'cause it's like my favorite thing to do.
I think high school is when I became
like a real sneakerhead.
And my friends used to have all the Jordans,
all the new Air Force 1s, and I was still rocking
sandals and dress shoes from Payless.
- Some guys like, you know, Rip Hamilton,
Mike Bibby, when I was in the league,
Quentin Richardson - they had the Nike,
the Jordan, deals already.
You know, I had like a Nike deal,
but it wasn't like, you know, theirs....
They was getting shipments of J's every week.
And they was coming to the locker rooms,
and I'm like, "Bro, what are these?"
They was getting shoes I've never seen.
I'm like, "Bro, that's crazy."
- That's why I'm so heavy into my collection,
'cause I'm like ... I've never had a deal from nobody,
Nike, Adidas, nothing.
So all my shoes I've paid for, or had friends
that will look out for me.
- Is there any goals that you're setting
for yourself for this upcoming season?
- I want to be a WNBA All-Star.
A couple of times in my career I was close
and got shortchanged like at the last minute.
And definitely a championship -
2014 we made it to the finals.
We lost to Phoenix, and that was the
closest I've got.
Definitely looking forward to making
the playoffs this year.
- I just want to thank you for having me.
I appreciate, you know, the hospitality.
- Sure.
- I got to see some dope kicks, you know,
learn some good history.
- Definitely. I thank you for coming through.
Good talk, always
- Now we know where's she gonna put
those shoes that she's gonna take off her feet?
- See, look, they leave the evidence.
You gotta put 'em back right here,
it's where they go.
- Put 'em back where they come from.
- I told my son, that's my rule.
"You come and take my shoes, you gotta
put 'em back where you got 'em."
It's like going to the library.
You gotta return your books to the library.
You know what I'm saying?
- Return your sneakers back.
- Return your sneakers back
to the sneaker rack.
- To the sneaker rack.
- Yes, put it back on the rack.