2026 is here. We try to look back at 2025 and celebrate all the good things that happened in the past 365 days. And for me, 2025 gave us a hopeful Phoenix Suns roster and some great kicks! Sneakerheads had a huge 2025. The Jordan 5 Metallic Reimagined had my chest feeling a certain type of way. The Jordan 4 Undefeated gave me a sneaker moment that I won’t soon forget. And we saw the Galaxy Foam return and the Nigel Brick by Brick is a piece of art that you can wear on your feet. But for me, 2025 was the year we said goodbye to the Book 1, and we welcomed the Book 2. Let’s get into it.
Devin Booker is the anchor of the Phoenix Suns organization. Walk into PHX Arena for any home game and the crowd will be happy to let you know that he is our guy. Most of the jerseys you will see fans wearing will have number 1 on the front and the back. He was drafted by the Suns on June 25th 2015 with the 13th overall pick. He has been loyal to the Valley his entire career. And the Valley is loyal to him.
Last year Nike gave Devin Booker a signature shoe, The Book 1. It’s a great shoe. It’s extremely comfortable and if you’re a hooper, it can perform for you on the court. What separates the Book 1 from other court shoes like the Tatum or Adidas AE1 (and now the AE2) is that you can wear it to the mall to buy your daughter her HOCO dress or to Costco to grab a pack of Martinelli’s for New Years Eve. It has a minimalistic design that made it a shoe that fits for every occasion. This was part of the strategy when they released the Book 1 and it worked for me. It might not have worked for everyone. But it did for me. During the life of the Book 1, Nike blessed us with an incredible array of colorways. And some of the PE colorways were absolutely unforgettable, like the snakeskin covered fragment design x Nike Book 1. And the Kobe 4 PE inspired “Be Legendary” which could be the top colorway for the Book 1 that we have seen.
But all good things come to an end. Nike did two amazing things to conclude the first chapter for the Book 1. They offered two pairs as a “sendoff” to the inaugural silhouette. Nike gave us the Book 1 “What the Book” and the “Torched”. Now, my mom reads these articles, so let me take a second to explain the “what the” concept for those that may not know. In 2007, Nike wanted to celebrate the “golden era” of the Nike SB dunk low. As a culmination of the era, Nike combined elements of 31 different iconic Dunk SB lows to create the “What the Dunk”. Since then, the “what the” treatment has become an instantly recognizable colorway because the right shoe doesn’t match the left thanks to the mismatched, multi color designs. Nike mixes elements from previous colorways just like the Dunk SB. We saw official images of the What the Book 1 and it absolutely did not disappoint. Then we found out that the edition size of the What the Book would be limited to 1996 pairs to recognize the year he was born.
Like anything else, low edition size will always build hype and drive-up secondary prices in the sneaker world. I didn’t want to leave my luck to chance on the SNKRS app, so when I heard the news that Manor had to offer, I was more than excited. Manor is a sneaker shop in Phoenix with an awesome staff and fantastic merch. They announced an instore raffle for a chance to purchase a pair of the What the Book on December 14th. They are located on Central and Camelback and the bright orange store front is hard to miss. As soon as you walk in, you are met with branding that includes a pair of sneaks hanging over the arm of a saguaro cactus. And Manor’s “cherry on top” is the black and white life size image of Jordan and Barkley that serves as a welcomed reminder of late 90’s Phoenix Suns hype. I didn’t know the amount of local demand there would be for this shoe. Most Books can be found at Foot Looker and DSG for way below retail. The line for a raffle ticket was long, but manageable. So, I collected my raffle ticket with some optimism, but the boys over at Manor didn’t pull my ticket, or my wife’s ticket, or my daughters ticket… and now the only way to get a size 11 is a $350 price tag that these shoes are getting at secondary.
The last offering of the Book 1 is the Torched colorway. The story telling is pretty great. This SE was released on December 30th. However, Devin Booker debuted this shoe on November 18th, the same night he (officially) unveiled the Book 2 to the world. His Instagram had the torched colorway actually burning. Phoenix is Booker’s home. We drafted him. He’s a super max contract player and Suns fans hope he retires here and they can hang #1 from the rafters. The mythical Phoenix is a bird that rises from the ashes and symbolizes new beginnings. I’m here for the double meaning of the city of Phoenix and the new beginning of the Book 2. It’s a nice way to put the first chapter of the Book 1 to rest.
Some sneaker releases pull out all the stops. Some are much more subtle. The Book 2 absolutely showed up out of nowhere. Booker unveiled the first two colorways of the new shoe at the Phillip H Knight campus in Beaverton, Oregon. Prior to the announcement, Instagram had a few images of Booker at pre-game shoot around with blurred boxes over his shoes right around the time that most of us were planning our Thanksgiving meals. The internet started giving us some leaked images that were all a little blurry. And on November 18th. Devin’s Instagram had him holding the first two colorways for the upcoming Book 2. In his right hand he has a triple orange pair that reminds me of the first pair of the Book 1 that were released during All Star Weekend over a year ago. In his left, he has a predominantly black pair with a few orange hits on the swoosh and midsole. They both look great. But the orange pair is the pair that I hope gets the general release.
The Book 2 looks incredible. It was designed by Ben Nethongkome with the goal of “trimming the fat”. Booker wanted to be closer to the court. This was accomplished with a lower profile that streamlines the shoe. The Book 1 was inspired by Devin bookers love for restomod cars. Suped up engines in classic interior. And Nike accomplished it. For the Book 2, it leans into the direction of a performance basketball shoe aesthetic. The outsole comes from and Air Force 1 but the circles were replaced by cactus spikes. The stars were replaced by asterisk that were drawn by Booker himself. The lace system was inspired by a Zoom Spiridon running shoe. And the zoom cushion moved from the heel to the forefoot.
The Book 1 was as a shoe that could be worn on or off the court. The Book 2 looks like a performance basketball shoe. Booker has already worn a few different colorways on court including a purple and white Spiridon inspired color and a “black tie” Spiridon colorway with a heavy black upper and outsole. I hope the Book 2 gets just as many releases as the Book 1. And with a price point of $145, I happy to get a break from Nike’s new passion for shoes over the $200 price point.
Was the Book 1 the best inaugural silhouette for a Nike signature athlete? Is the Book 2 the follow up he deserves. What colorways will the Book 2 get? I hope you grab a pair, make sure you wear em!