When Isaiah Stewart of the Detroit Pistons heard Xero Shoes was making a basketball shoe, he had to know more. Stewart, now in his fifth year in the NBA, already owned 10 pairs of the brand’s minimalist training shoes known for wide toe boxes and zero-drop midsoles. “It got to the point where the training shoes felt so good I was working out in them so much that I wanted to do that on the court,” Stewart tells me. “It was a no-brainer to reach out to them.”
Stewart is now one of a handful of professional basketball players wearing the X1 basketball shoe, a completely fresh take on basketball shoe technology and design, launching to the public March 26.
Xero, known for training, running and lifestyle products in a true minimalist style akin to a barefoot shoe. The wide toe box for foot splay and limited structure allows the foot to naturally strengthen. Xero has been growing in popularity across professional sports as a recovery shoe to help athletes strengthen feet and ankles. Taking that mindset into a performance basketball space wasn’t exactly an intuitive leap.
The low-top version of Xero Shoes' new X1 basketball shoe.Xero Shoes/Capture.Share.Repeat
“This has to be a playable shoe,” John Wadley, Xero vice president of product development, tells me about what he thought when he got the brief to create a shoe for a sport he’s played his entire life. “We are not going to take a Prio or Speed Force and put it on the court and expect it to do well. This does have more structure and more support, but not as much as a typical basketball shoe we think is way overbuilt and stiff. The X1 allows the foot to bend and move naturally. That was a bit tricky dialing in, but we found a really good sweet spot.”
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Wadley says the natural toe splay is a major differentiator, one that often brings consumers to the brand. It allows wearers to be comfortable and create natural balance and stability. Stewart says that the wide toe box is what drew him to Xero originally. When experiencing a toe injury, traditional shoes made him uncomfortable. He heard about Xero, started training in them and loved how he could move freely.
For basketball performance, that sensation is about more than comfort. “Wearing the shoe, I feel very grounded,” says Stewart, a 6-8 power forward. “Obviously it is a barefoot shoe, so when I’m playing, I feel very on balance, I feel a connection to my body. I am able to use my strength in ways I wasn’t able to do in traditional shoes. I always feel I am going to be the more stabilized player. Being low to the ground I feel like I always have the upper hand on my opponents when I have my Xero shoes on because I am not playing on a platform.”
Isaiah Stewart lacing up his X1 shoe from Xero Shoes.Xero Shoes
Stewart’s experience is part of the main performance benefit of the X1, as the zero-drop design keeps the entire foot close to the court. “The heel is essentially sitting on the court instead of this unstable cliff it could fall off of at any moment,” Wadley says. “Getting so close to the court is our primary benefit. That part is going to blow players away, they feel so quick and nimble.”
For a game about sudden changes of direction, Wadley says the X1 brings players close to the ground with the ability to move quickly. “I feel very quick and grounded, powerful and explosive,” Stewart says.
The structure of the X1 is completely different than a traditional shoe, with a unique outsole shape with a flat bottom and a flare for more stability. The upper features a wide toe box but with a triangle-shaped lockdown strap on the inside of the shoe and an inverted V brace on the outside for needed stability that can isolate movement in the forefoot. “Because you have space in the toes but are locked down in the forefoot, it doesn’t feel sloppy and you can pivot and move without excess movement,” Wadley says.
The heel structure comes a bit stiffer than most of Xero’s minimalist shoes. “For a minimalist purist they might look at our X1 shoe and say we overdid it on structure but compared to a traditional basketball shoe it is nowhere near how stiff and rigidly overbuilt it is,” Wadley says, adding the shoe does need sport-specific structure to be functional.
WNBA player Temi Fagbenle in the X1 basketball shoe from Xero Shoes.Xero Shoes
While some Xero shoes have no foam underfoot, the X1 features 5mm of EVA form and 4mm of a special shock attenuation foam. In all, the X1’s 12.5mm stack height to protect against bruising feet is about half the stack height of a traditional basketball shoe. With the minimalist approach, the X1 is about 30% lighter than a traditional basketball shoe.
Stewart says that when he first pulled on a pair of X1s in the locker room he did get a few smirks and laughs. Then teammates saw his play. “The way I am performing has sparked some questions,” he says. “I get asked a lot of questions and even some opponents recognize them as Xero shoes.”
Wadley’s design first appeared in the NBA last year when Justin Holiday wore them in the playoffs in May with the Denver Nuggets (he is now playing professionally in Italy). Temi Fagbenle of the Indiana Fever wore them during the WNBA’s 2024 season—Xero invested in a different last so there is a women’s-specific and men’s-specific version of the X1—and Stewart has them front and center this season. Wadley remembers going to the first NBA game Holiday wore them in, thinking he just hopes they work out and after the game Holiday was gushing over how much he loved the shoe.
“This isn’t just Xero paying NBA guys to sacrifice performance for the sake of a pay day,” Wadley says. “There are guys coming to us because they want to try that shoe because they see the benefit.”
The X1 basketball shoe from Xero Shoes.Xero Shoes/Capture.Share.Repeat
There may be a learning curve for players trying Xero, which is why most athletes first try lifestyle shoes and then move into training as their feet and ankles need to strengthen after years of getting bound up in braces, tape and tight shoe designs. Popular NBA trainers Mike Guevara and Felix Flores both endorse Xero. Wadley says players adapt quickly and by doing some simple foot-strengthening exercises can really work to make their feet “bomb proof.” For some players, such as Stewart, the new approach eliminated the pain that limited him. That’s one reason Stewart believes NBA guys are open to trying new things.
Wadley says he knows traditional basketball players may have doubts, but he believes that strengthening feet and ankles are foundational to both performance and health. “We want to bring that back to basketball,” he says, “change from isolating movement out to strengthening your feet and ankles and trusting those to give you performance.”
“I’ve been wearing Xero Shoes on and off the court,” Fagbenle says. “My feet and ankles feel indestructible.”
The X1 launches in late March in both a mid and a low top (Wadley says the mid is an entry point for those who want to try Xero without going all-in on the low), but there’s already growing interest around the NBA with more requests coming from players to try it out.
For Stewart, his 10 pairs of Xero trainers will soon be surpassed by his X1 collection, one he hopes to continually provide feedback on—both for colorways and fit—as he embraces his newfound foot freedom.