Adidas Debuts Fully 3D-Printed Basketball Shoe With Project R.A.P. Reveal

Adidas unveiled a fully 3D-printed basketball shoe through its Project R.A.P. platform, with Kansas Jayhawks guard Darryn Peterson, the 19-year-old projected as the top pick in the upcoming NBA Draft, wearing the still-unnamed silhouette publicly — during warm-ups for the second round of the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament.

The formal announcement came during a special Pro Day event hosted at the newly renovated Innovation Lab at adidas' North America headquarters in Portland, where the company unveiled Project R.A.P. (Radical Athlete Perception), a platform that utilizes advanced additive manufacturing to completely redefine how athletes experience movement, support, and on-court performance. The brand describes it as a platform "for creating next-generation sports products through additive manufacturing," with the design promising a bespoke fit that traditional manufacturing can't easily deliver, with cushioning and support tuned to individual athlete specifications.

Built entirely around athlete movement and perception, the shoe's internal structure can be perfectly tuned to provide highly specific, tailored levels of support, cushioning, and stiffness that traditional sneaker manufacturing methods simply cannot achieve. From a construction standpoint, the internal lattice structures of the shoe can be configured to deliver specific levels of support, cushioning, and stiffness in targeted areas. The upper itself reflects that engineering logic: adidas hasn't officially named the silhouette yet, though "4D" nomenclature is possible given the 3D-printed construction mirrors that of past running models.

Mere weeks after officially dropping its 3D-printed CLIMACOOL LACED sneaker for the consumer market, adidas has now pushed that additive technology into performance footwear. The CLIMACOOL and CLIMACOOL LACED are manufactured using digital light synthesis (DLS) and integrate a unique texture that enables 360° airflow, though no specific manufacturing process has been confirmed for the Project R.A.P. basketball shoe itself. What the brand has made clear is the intent: the shoe is part of Project R.A.P. (Radical Athlete Perception), described as "a new platform for making sports products" through the use of 3D printing, aimed at leveraging that technology to make custom products for athletes.

Adidas simultaneously announced the shoe and platform alongside its class of football players entering the 2026 NFL Draft, including projected number-one pick Fernando Mendoza. They visited adidas' Portland headquarters to see the newly renovated Innovation Lab and test out new product, including a 3D-printed football cleat yet to be shown to the public and slated for release later in the year. In addition to Mendoza, the adidas 2026 NFL rookie class features Arvell Reese, Carnell Tate, Caleb Downs, Rueben Bain Jr., Jordyn Tyson, Makai Lemon, Kenyon Sadiq, Jacob Rodriguez, Denzel Boston, KC Concepcion, D'Angelo Ponds, Jonah Coleman, and Elijah Sarratt.

Basketball will not be the only sport targeted through Project R.A.P. Adidas has confirmed there is also an American Football cleat in development, which is expected to become available to athletes later this year. The basketball shoe, meanwhile, carries no official name and no confirmed retail price. No firm release details have been given for the unnamed adidas basketball sneaker, but the brand says it will launch in the coming months.

Darryn Peterson's headlines this week have been split: the Kansas Jayhawks suffered a tough loss to St. John's in their March Madness game, but the 19-year-old guard, projected to go first in the upcoming NBA Draft, also drew attention thanks to the new adidas Basketball shoe he helped unveil. For the 3D printing community, a fully printed performance basketball shoe surviving the intensity of NCAA Tournament play is a proof-of-concept that no lab test can fully replicate.