Kawhi Leonard's Jolly Rancher x New Balance Collection

“Uh, I’m a fun guy…”

NBA star and Los Angeles Clippers forward Kawhi Leonard may have introduced himself to the press as a “fun guy,” but he wore a soulless expression and spoke with a mumbling monotone that, to most people, would not exactly impart “fun guy” energy. After realizing the awkwardness of the exchange, Leonard let out a “laugh” — a grating, idiosyncratic guffaw that sounded more like a robot attempting to imitate how humans laugh. And so millions of memes were borne of the stoic Leonard, who has always been perceived as an odd character in the NBA, even before all the jokes about his laugh.

Leonard, who has two NBA Championships and Finals MVPs as well as multiple All-Star and All-NBA accolades to his name, has become particularly hailed for his effortlessly effective play. No matter the situation, Leonard makes plays as if he is just going through routine motions. He seems to mindlessly stick his hand out and somehow end up stealing the ball; he hits tough fadeaway jumpers and 3-pointers in a mechanical fashion; while most players emphatically celebrate after dunking, Leonard just turns around and expressionlessly runs to the other end of the floor as if he made a simple layup. There is no exertion, emotion, or extravagance with Leonard’s game — he is a machine both on and off the court.

And yet, Leonard has recently collaborated with New Balance on a new sneaker collection, expanding on their past work with him on his signature shoe, and the results are anything but simple and boring. Leonard and New Balance teamed up with the Jolly Rancher candy brand — surprisingly, the colorful candies are apparently Leonard’s favorite — to concoct a flashy line of shoes that make us all reconsider Leonard’s apathetic façade. The collection primarily consists of two new colorways of the KAWHI, Leonard’s signature shoe, as well as new colorways of the New Balance 327 and BB480. A pair of sandals and a few t-shirts round out the ensemble, but the main focus has always been on the sneakers, partly because of the dissonance between the collection’s Jolly Rancher-inspired vibrance and the ostensibly deadpan Leonard.

Leonard debuted the new “Original Flavors” colorway of the KAWHI on the court in Game 6 of the Western Conference Semifinals against the Denver Nuggets, and its bright design popped from the get-go. Its polychromatic look draws from the Jolly Rancher candies’ colors — the toe is adorned in bright blues and purples; the outsole flashes with lime green notes; the heel panel is plated in brilliant red. The tongue’s orange-yellow shade serves as a relatively subdued backdrop for an amusing graphic: a modified Jolly Rancher logo that replaces the brand’s name with Leonard’s and the usual smiles of the fruit cartoons with Leonard-like deadpan expressions. Leonard finds other subtle ways to impart his unique touch on the shoe as well — his trademark cornrows inspired the shoe’s stitching patterns, the eyelets are based on his car’s tail lights, and his jersey number is positioned right ahead of the lacing. Even the shoe’s functionality shows traces of Leonard’s game: the nitrogen-infused FuelCell midsole and the Torsion Bar outsole provide additional compression, stability, and bounce, which are all essential for Leonard’s trademark pull-up jumper.

The KAWHI’s “Blue Raspberry” colorway, which dropped at a later date and with more exclusive availability, is similarly eclectic but a touch more subdued in its aesthetic. The various shades of electric blue lend a cohesive and comfortable element to the shoe, which also sports a golden upper and tongue. The side stitching patterns blend more effortlessly into the shoe’s palette — as opposed to the red, purple, and blue layers of the stitching in the “Original Flavors” colorway, the layered shades of blue accentuate the stitching pattern just subtly enough without being a little too ostentatious. As a cutesy touch, the shoe features a blue raspberry cartoon character on the upper on its right side; the anthropomorphic fruit mirrors Leonard’s deadpan expression and famously awkward laugh. In a way, this shoe and its inclusion of this little cartoon almost humanizes Leonard in a way — he is just as aware as all of us that his personality and laugh are peculiar, and he pokes fun at himself alongside us and capitalizes on the opportunity to solidify his brand.

The Jolly Rancher x New Balance collection’s sneaker set is rounded out with some 327s and 480 Lows. New Balance 327s are, in general, more retro-styled, paying homage to the lifestyle sneakers of the 70s. Their color palettes are often more subdued, and even when they possess more zesty color schemes, they still maintain a look that one could wear to a casual office gathering or a country club (such as with Casablanca’s 327s, which were dubbed by many to be the “shoe of the summer”). Leonard, however, chose to take the humble 327 aesthetic and turn it on its head, splashing the shoe with electric blue and green. In spite of — or, perhaps, because of — this clash, the shoe still manages to look sleek and appealing. The gradation of the blue from dark to light, starting from the “N” of the New Balance logo, tempers the shoe’s flashy presentation, and the green bottoms offer a complementary splash of color on the studded tread.

As for the BB480s, which are inspired by classic basketball shoes in their design, the colorway tries to strike a conservative balance between subtle and showy, but it does not exactly find its identity. While the blue raspberry-inspired lining around the logo achieves an aesthetic harmony, the cartoon characters on the white tongue neither stick out or blend in enough to justify their presence on the shoe’s design. The tread displays a gradation of layered colors to symbolize the assorted candy flavors of Jolly Ranchers, but the rest of the simple and predominantly white shoe lags behind in terms of ornateness. And while any kind of “drip” is tolerated on the court, 480 Lows, despite being inspired by basketball shoes, are lifestyle shoes. These shoes teeter on the cusp of versatility in everyday fashion, but they might prove to be a little too loud — or not loud enough — in some situations. However, evaluated in a pure vacuum, the shoe is certainly aesthetically pleasing — it may just be lacking in utility as a fashion piece.

One of the most major revelations about this collection, however, is not just that Jolly Rancher-inspired color schemes work surprisingly well on basketball shoes — it is that Leonard is much more complex than he lets on. He may seem like a soulless robot and laugh like an alien learning to walk among humans, but he has a genuine, if not flamboyant, sense of humor and style. Moreover, in an age in which sneaker designers try to one-up each other by producing trendy piece after trendy piece; in an age in which most basketball shoe titans of the NBA — LeBron James, Kyrie Irving, and the like — possess grand and brazen personalities, Leonard’s authenticity is refreshing. He is content to be himself and return to his humble roots of eating his favorite candy as a child, and the Jolly Rancher x New Balance collection shines with nostalgia and excitement because of his individuality. It may still be difficult to believe, but, as he once told us, perhaps Kawhi Leonard is a “fun guy” after all.