The adidas Pro Model 2G means two different things depending on when you grew up. To one generation it is an early-2000s team basketball shoe; to another it is a 2019 revival that put a classic shell toe back on the court. Both trace to the same place. For the full company story, see our history of adidas.
The shell-toe lineage
adidas entered basketball in 1965 with two shoes, the low-cut Supergrip and its high-top companion, the Pro Model. The Pro Model is credited as the first serious leather basketball shoe, a real leap past the canvas Chuck Taylor that had ruled the court for decades. Around 1969 adidas added the ribbed rubber shell toe that gave the silhouette its nickname, and in 1970 the low-cut Superstar arrived as its sibling. By 1973, an estimated three-quarters of NBA players were in adidas. The Pro Model is the high-top side of that shell-toe family.
The Pro Model 2G
The 2G name first appeared in 2003, when adidas updated the Pro Model into a modern team hoops shoe for the Tracy McGrady, Kevin Garnett, and Tim Duncan era. That original retailed around seventy five dollars. In late 2019 adidas revived it, keeping the shell toe, the mid-top cut, and the Three Stripes while swapping the old cushioning for responsive Bounce foam underfoot. It launched at one hundred dollars.
Its moment
The revival’s most visible run came in the 2020 NBA bubble, where Jamal Murray of the Denver Nuggets wore a series of Pro Model 2G colorways, including pairs honoring George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, through a standout playoff performance. It was a fitting stage for a shoe whose whole appeal is heritage carried forward, a sixty-year-old basketball idea still at home on an NBA floor.
