The NBA 2k25 Cover Quietly Resurrected an OG Basketball Sneaker
The time has finally come to discover the sneaker moment hidden in the NBA 2k25 cover. The Hall of Fame Edition cover of the best basketball video game in the market pays tribute to the legends who have indelibly shaped the NBA. This year the tribute goes to the legendary Vince Carter, and the cover image chosen is the one immortalizing him during the legendary 2000 Slam Dunk Contest.
Besides celebrating Carter though, the NBA 2k25 cover lowkey resurrected another legendary basketball gem of the early 2000s - the iconic Tai Chi basketball shoe by the street basketball brand AND1.
The NBA 2k25 cover image highlights Vince Carter’s legendary between-the-legs dunk that officially introduced him as one of the NBA's most electrifying talents of the league at the time. The dunk also brought a sudden burst of attention to the mysterious mid-tops he was wearing.
To fully grasp the significance of this sneaker moment, we need to rewind to the late summer of '93 when AND1 was born out of a grad school project by Jay Coen Gilbert, Seth Berger, and Tom Austin who first started selling t-shirts straight from their car trunks. In '96 they gave some footwear sample sketches to Foot Locker, and before long, they had their first basketball shoe. However, with Nike, Jordan Brand, adidas, and FILA dominating the basketball court, things would always be an uphill battle.
In the late '90s, Vince Carter began a storied sneaker “free agency” period, donning different basketball brands from game to game. The up-and-coming but still niche basketball sneaker brand AND1 shot its shot, sending him some custom size 16.5 Tai Chis.
As fate would have it, in a huge win for AND1, the Tai Chi found a spot in Carter's rotation alongside Nike and adidas performance models leading up to All-Star Weekend.
Fast forward to the 2000 All-Star Game and that iconic dunk and Vince’s basketball shoes in clear display catapulted the little-known AND1 Tai Chi into the basketball footwear spotlight.
In the dunk contest, now forever etched in the NBA 2k25 Hall of Fame cover, he singlehandedly changed how the market looked at AND1 sneakers. In the months following, images of Carter’s gravity-defying feats were printed in countless newspapers and magazines globally, with those familiar half-and-half red/white Tai Chis front and center.
It was rampant marketing and, best of all for AND1, it didn't cost the company a dime.
The Tai Chi remains one of the only AND1 silhouettes, alongside the Too Chillin, to sell over a million units. However, as the market shifted towards tech-packed performance basketball shoes from giants like Nike and Reebok, the Tai Chi's simpler design couldn't compete.
Yet, for a brief, unforgettable period from the late '90s to the early 2000s, AND1 was the brand that truly represented playground and hip-hop basketball culture to the world.
Thanks to the NBA 2k25 cover honoring Vince Carter's legendary 2000 All-Star Game dunk, we are reminded of the glory days of the AND1 Tai Chi. Once the crown jewel of street basketball, its cultural impact earn it not just a place in the basketball archives, but a rightful spot in the basketball sneaker Hall of Fame.
