It controlled 58% of the U.S. basketball shoe market in 2012, according to research firm SportsOneSource.

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Until now, this marketing strategy has been exploited more often by basketball shoe makers and record labels.

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Nike, including its Jordan Brand subsidiary, is the dominant basketball shoe company in the States with a 92% market share, according to SportsOneScan, which tracks sports shoe and apparel sales.

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At 8 inches tall, the all-black exterior of the shoe is the highest cut of any basketball shoe on the market and is designed to resemble the silhouette of a military combat boot.

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Nike controls a staggering 95% of the basketball shoe market already (a function of Michael Jordan much more than James or Kobe Bryant), but it has a new competitor in Under Armour which launched its first basketball shoe this month.

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In other words, spend a ton of money to even the playing field, no pun intended, between black kids and their richer, whiter counterparts (or hope that, like in basketball, shoe companies and individually motivated donors do it for them).

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He was also the first basketball player to have a shoe endorsement: for Puma.

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Behind the scenes, Hatfield altered a shoe from the basketball division.

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The twins, who are former college football and basketball players and now run a shoe company together, say they bought identical apartments because they wanted to achieve similar goals.

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