Anta Sports today sent us an announcement that they have released custom special-edition KT5 colorways, Klay Thompson’s signature shoe, as a message to “Stay Strong” in the wake of the spreading of the coronavirus, which has its origins in the province of Wuhan, China.
The threat of a coronavirus pandemic recently prompted San Francisco mayor London Breed to declare a state of emergency. The Tokyo 2020 Olympics, in which Stephen Curry, Draymond Green and Thompson have already been named to the list of 44 finalists for Team USA, might even be cancelled without any reasonable for hope for a postponement or move to another city such as London, if the coronavirus is not contained by the month of May.
Kevon Looney, who along with Jacob Evans recently became Anta endorsers thanks to being Golden State Warriors teammates with Klay, will wear the special KT5 colorway tonight against the Los Angeles Lakers. So will LA’s backup point guard Rajon Rondo, who sports the Anta RR6. The only other endorser of Anta in the NBA is the Boston Celtics’ Gordon Hayward, who launched the GH1 this season.
What do you think of these colorways (I’ll offer my opinion: 🔥), as well as the threat of a coronavirus pandemic? Seems like aside from the stock market continuing to plummet, there could be many other daily life-affecting consequences such as school closures and cancellation of NBA games and other sporting events. A quick glance at today’s SF Chronicle front page shows that, with SFO as a hub for international travel, a Facebook developers conference has already been nixed. Governor Gavin Newsom is reporting that there aren’t enough coronavirus test kits to go around in California.
Here’s the full explanation of the special colorways for the KT5, RR6, and GH1 from our friends at Anta:
”The epidemic of the coronavirus is sweeping over China. To inspire and courage people who suffer pain in this breakout and convey the hope, Anta specially designed three unique shoes. Those prototypes come from GH1, RR6, KT5 which belong to ANTA’s three spokesmen Klay Thompson, Rajon Rondo, Gordon Hayward…we call them the ‘Stay Strong’ package.
Each shoe has different words that express different wishes, but they all follow the same patterns: ‘God of Thunder’ and ‘God of Fire’.
The blue one, Thunder God, is a deity in Chinese folk religion to punish crime and evil. The red one, Fire God, is known as a legendary ancient Chinese ruler.
Their names are chosen for the emergency hospital in Wuhan because it is believed they can defeat the coronavirus and convey hope. Fire and thunder are the elements of the Chinese philosophy of Wuxing, which covers the five types of energies and also symbolize the five major organs of body.
According to traditional Chinese theory, Lung belongs to metal, a type of five energies, however fire and thunder can suppress metal. The people in China believe that they will get through this with the power of thunder and fire.
The Chinese characters on GH1 mean: ‘The God of Thunder defeats demons, the God of Fire kills viruses.’
The Chinese characters on KT5 mean: ‘China, stay strong.’
The Chinese characters on RR6 mean: ‘Wuhan, stay strong.’
The three particular shoes are not for sale, however, Anta will let their three NBA spokesmen get exposure on court to show their support and love from the other side of world.”
The shoes are pretty hot, and people definitely could use some hope and positive thoughts to stay strong in the face of the covid-19 epidemic. Wuhan in particular has been suffering the fallout of this disease for months now so they could really appreciate something to be excited for.
Dubs fans could also stand to have more to be excited for. I look forward to see Kevon (and maybe Klay on the bench?) rocking these hot shoes. Hoping that Rondo (who'll likely get plenty of minutes with Lebron out) won't show him up with the similar look.
I guess regardless of which team comes out ahead, Anta wins.
Terrible situation; SARS doesn't seem like it was that long ago, either. Nice gesture by Anta.
whoa those kicks are fire!
The shoes are pretty hot, and people definitely could use some hope and positive thoughts to stay strong in the face of the covid-19 epidemic. Wuhan in particular has been suffering the fallout of this disease for months now so they could really appreciate something to be excited for.
Dubs fans could also stand to have more to be excited for. I look forward to see Kevon (and maybe Klay on the bench?) rocking these hot shoes. Hoping that Rondo (who'll likely get plenty of minutes with Lebron out) won't show him up with the similar look.
I guess regardless of which team comes out ahead, Anta wins.