Inside the Inspiration: P.J. Tucker x ‘Sky Blue’ Nike Air Flight ’89

P.J. Tucker is somewhere high above the clouds, 35,000 feet up. He’s been flying nonstop for decades now, hopping all across the globe to follow wherever the ball takes him. The game has given him passage from Raleigh, NC to the rest of the planet. History became his in Israel. Explorations of Italy and Greece informed his list of favorite foods. He gained fame in Ukraine for his shopping exploits. He’d hop from the court to the beach in Puerto Rico. They know his name throughout the continent of North America. Raptors fans love him. Suns fans revere him. Bucks fans adore him. He’s been on the move for a long, long time. 

Our minds change when we travel. Being given time and space to think while up in the air allows ideas to form. The shifting time zones and landscapes brings wondrous feelings of inspiration. In these busy, busy days, we sit in our seats, look out or look up, and our minds wander. We’re blessed to have physical transportation further our emotional transformations. Journeys to different places make us into different people. Creativity flows and new art emerges. 

With all these years of adventuring, P.J. discovered a way to communicate his long-winding story. 

The “Sky Blue” Nike Air Flight ’89 is inspired by the countless flights that he’s taken. “Flight PJ17” is on the heel because this specific colorway takes its cue from the Boeing 777-300er that flies through the heavenly blue sky where metamorphosis occurs on the daily. P.J. took it even further by only making 472 pairs of these, a direct callback to the exact number of seats on a 777-300er. 

P.J. knows all about the sky, just like he knows all about sneakers. Picking the Air Flight ’89 for this colorway illustrates just how much he cares about staying true to his passion of rocking kicks that he personally loves. With a massive supply of more popular silhouettes at his disposal, he went with a deep cut—straight from the feet of Scottie Pippen. 

Originally known as the Nike Air Flight Low, this silhouette dropped back in 1989. Some will say it’s related to the Air Jordan IV because of its nearly-identical outsole and lace-locking system. Also, Tinker Hatfield (no stranger to long flights either) designed this pair, as he did the AJIV. But whether or not it’s actually related to the IV, it goes down as a important piece of Nike Basketball lore. Full-grain leather sits on the upper, while an encapsulated forefoot Air unit and a visible heel Air unit cushioned Pip’s landings from those acrobatic forays to the skies of the Chicago Stadium. 

Back in August, we released P.J.’s KICKS 26 cover story. It’s an appropriate time to bring back this quote from him: “Sneakers help me emotionally through everything. Just the love for shoes keeps my mind off of a lot of bullshit that I could be thinking about and dealing with. The love and the job, especially now just because we got so much going on within sneakers, culture, fashion and everything. It’s something that gives my mind a break off of everything else that’s going on around me. And I think different people have different things in their lives that, over years, they kind of figure [themselves] out, you know, things that make you happy. You know, you build a garden in your backyard, whatever it is. Wednesday night bowling with your boys. Everybody has something, and sneakers [have] always been my kind of release of everything where it’s just natural and I just love it.”

The post Inside the Inspiration: P.J. Tucker x ‘Sky Blue’ Nike Air Flight ’89 appeared first on SLAM.