Adidas Debuts 3D Printed Basketball Shoe, Worn by Top NBA Draft Prospect

Project R.A.P. Hits the Court

Adidas has introduced a 3D-printed basketball shoe, debuted by Kansas Jayhawks guard Darryn Peterson -- a 19-year-old projected as a top NBA Draft pick -- at the brand first ever Pro Day event in Portland, Oregon. The shoe, still unnamed, marks the first public showing of Adidas Basketball Project R.A.P. (Radical Athlete Perception), a platform the brand describes as for creating next-generation sports products through additive manufacturing.

Peterson public debut of the silhouette drew immediate attention across the basketball world. The design promises a bespoke fit that traditional manufacturing cannot easily deliver, with cushioning and support tuned to individual athlete specifications -- the core promise of 3D printed footwear.

What Project R.A.P. Means for Performance Footwear

Adidas has been iterating on 3D printed midsoles for years, starting with the Futurecraft 4D running platform and evolving through the AlphaEdge and 4D Run models. Project R.A.P. extends that thinking into basketball -- a sport that demands different performance characteristics from running: more lateral force, harder heel strikes, and the need for responsive cushioning under a wider range of movements.

For basketball, being able to tune midsole geometry and lattice structures to an individual player weight, court position, and movement patterns is a significant step. Traditional EVA foam midsoles are uniform by necessity. 3D printing allows lattice structures with varying density and geometry across a single midsole -- something Adidas is clearly exploring with the basketball shoe.

The 3D printed basketball shoe extends an existing Adidas pipeline that includes the ClimaCool Laced lifestyle shoe, on-court models like the Harden Vol. 10 and Anthony Edwards 2, and the broader 4D family of running products. The 4D naming convention seems likely to carry over to basketball given the manufacturing approach.

Pro Day and the Roster

The shoe debut came during Adidas Pro Day -- the brand first campus invitation event, hosted at its North America Innovation Lab headquarters in Portland. Fourteen top NFL prospects attended, including Fernando Mendoza, Arvell Reese, and Kenyon Sadiq, touring the facility to see the brand advances in additive technology for both on-court and on-field performance.

This signals the broader ambition: Project R.A.P. is not just a basketball story. It is a platform for developing additive-manufactured products across multiple sports, with the technology capable of supporting custom geometries for football players, baseball athletes, and beyond.

Availability

Adidas has confirmed a public release on adidas.com before the end of 2026. No price or exact release date has been announced. Given the manufacturing complexity involved, pricing will be a key question when more details emerge -- the 4D running shoes have ranged from premium to extremely expensive depending on the model.

For now, the Peterson debut is as much about building hype as proof of concept. The 3D printed basketball shoe is a statement of intent from Adidas: additive manufacturing is moving from lifestyle and running into the most demanding performance category in footwear.