5. Matthew Dellavedova – Delly 1s
When Matthew Dellavedova signed on for a signature shoe deal with PEAK, a nation roared with excitement (maybe an exaggeration). Dellavedova signed on during his NBA Finals run in 2016 and followed it up with the full release next season, after he had moved to Milwaukee. The shoe was initially designed to be an Australian exclusive, but was later changed to be distributed globally. In Delly’s own words:
"“PEAK Australia approached me nearly two years ago with the idea of introducing a basketball shoe into the Australian market. From there, talks became more serious in the past year, and PEAK worked hard on developing a shoe that offers the type of reliability and performance that drives me every day.”"
PEAK dropped 6 versions of the Delly 1s, including the Hustle, Down Under, Team White, College, Team Green and Defender. The Hustle (all black) and Down Under (green and gold) were huge hits in Australia with many sites selling out on opening day. The low cut shoes were marketed with a shock absorbing insole and excellent wear resistant outsole. They certainly stood the test of time, as this author can attest.
PEAK have since dropped the Delly 2s after Dellavedova was traded to Cleveland last season. He was never the best player in the NBA, but the enormous popularity of “Delly” down under proved too great an allure for PEAK Sports to stay away.