The BK Black colorway of the Kyrie 7 (above) releases November 23. Its four launch colorways (below) release November 11. Kyrie Irving’s signature line is based on the idea that a shoe for a creative, quick-cutting player needs to focus on specific details. In designing the Kyrie 7, the creative process matches Irving’s spontaneity. Together, the athlete and the shoe highlight an important intersection: when improvisation meets mastery. “For us, being creative means tapping into other disciplines at Nike. Our solutions as designers need to move toward technical advantages,” says Nike Senior Footwear Designer Ben Nethongkome, who designs Irving’s shoes. “Those advantages are what make this shoe better than the last.” On the basketball court, Irving’s creative expertise as a ball handler helps bend the status quo, requiring new tools to bring more beneficial features to his shoe. In the Kyrie 7, computational design processes turn real-time game data into a 360-degree traction patte...