'Shock the Game' With This Blacktop Battle Ready Basketball Shoe From Anta

Alex Caruso is, hands down, one of the NBA’s most exciting players. After thrilling the fans of Los Angeles the past four years, the Carushow is moving to the Windy City this season after the Chicago Bulls signed the 27-year-old guard to a four-year deal reportedly worth $37 million.

After going undrafted in 2016, Caruso kept an underdog mentality while grinding it out and paying his dues in the developmental league with the South Bay Lakers until he finally got his call up to ball with the big boys. Season after season, his work ethic and ability to play intense on both ends of the floor endeared him to Laker Nation. His steady rise to stardom caught the attention of Chinese sportswear giant Anta, which signed Caruso to a multi-year contract in early March. He has emerged as one of the more beloved Lakers on the roster in recent years and, although the former Texas A&M Aggie’s stint in Tinseltown is over, a new and exciting one awaits The Bald Eagle in Chicago.

Photo by Mikko Abello.

There has been no shortage of styles and colorways in Caruso’s footlocker since he joined Anta. He debuted with the brand in the KT Light 4 from Klay Thompson “signature” series and has been seen rocking other offerings from the eponymous line of Anta’s resident Splash Brother throughout the season. In the playoffs however, Caruso opted to go with Anta’s Shock the Game collection instead. 

Shock the Game was conceived back in 2017 when Thompson visited China after winning his second championship with the Golden State Warriors. Anta held street ball tournaments in different cities around China, looking for local undiscovered basketball talent, and promoting their new line of basketball shoes built for the outdoor game. What also propelled the collection’s popularity was the newly minted champ Thompson wearing them himself during the China trip.

Photo by Mikko Abello.

This year marks the collection’s fifth release. Shock the Game continues to celebrate the youth and their passion for the game of basketball. The collection is an update on Anta’s basketball line specifically made for streetball. Tough enough to take on the asphalt and with just the right amount of flash to turn heads. With a supporting cast of apparel and accessories, Anta will be releasing two footwear styles from the collection in the Philippines with 10 colorways in total but what we really want to talk about is the sneaker Caruso’s been wearing a lot even in the off-season.

The Anta Show3 from the Shock the Game 5 collection has made quite a number of appearances on Caruso’s social media in the Cyan-Pink-Green colorway, as seen here: 

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A post shared by Alex Caruso (@acfresh21)

It was most recently caught on his feet in an all-white version during a personal training session after the Lakers’ early exit this past season. It’s a mid-top shoe with some very interesting design details to go with the technology Anta poured into its blueprint.

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A post shared by Alex Caruso (@acfresh21)

The Show3’s upper is made up of a mix of breathable mesh, synthetics and TPU. The A-Flashedge midsole, a combination of natural latex and automotive TPE compounds, is specially developed for basketball. It memorizes characteristics of force exertion during exercise, provides self-adaption to impact, increases the contact area between the foot and the sole, and distributes the pressure more evenly. A-Flashedge has also shown enhanced forefoot energy feedback of up to 78.9% and heel rebounding performance of up to 65 percent.

Photo by Mikko Abello.

The midsole is embedded with a German-made anti-rollover carbon plate that enhances stability during explosive on-court movements. Carbon fiber provides the needed toughness to prevent too much bending and twisting so your feet stay protected. The outsole delivers aggressive traction for all those blacktop battles you’ll be putting them through. Streamlined TPU stripes with A-Shock fiber and an upturned toe cap also help with keeping your foot stable. Alti-Flash insoles have highly elastic materials and can resist deformation and fatigue so that you conserve energy when you run or jump. The symbol on the shoe’s lateral upper and toe box is “Crazy” in Chinese.

Overall, the Anta Show3 is an absolutely good-looking sneaker built to be beaten up. It’s pretty much the Tyler Durden of basketball shoes.

Photo by Mikko Abello.

The Anta Show3 is available in five other color options and retails for P4,995. It’s now available along with the rest of the Shock the Game 5 collection at all Anta stores.