Adidas launches first 3D-printed basketball shoe, the BB.01

Adidas launched the BB.01, its first performance basketball shoe with a 3D-printed lattice midsole and upper, as a $250 release through the adidas CONFIRMED app. The run was tiny by sneaker standards, with only 169 pairs going worldwide, including 50 pairs sold first at the adidas Las Vegas flagship store and another 89 reserved for the app drop.

The BB.01 is the first shoe from adidas Basketball’s Project: R.A.P., the platform the company has tied to this next step in hoops footwear. Adidas first revealed the shoe during March Madness, then used the launch to push a more experimental look at performance basketball, one built around printed structure rather than the usual foam-and-mesh playbook.

For anyone who has spent time printing TPU, dialing lattice infill, or experimenting with custom insoles, the BB.01 sounds familiar in the best way. The promise is not magic so much as controlled flex, lighter weight, and a more exact wrap around the foot. That is the part hobbyists already understand: printed geometry can change how a shoe feels, not just how it looks. What adidas is doing differently is scale and integration. The BB.01 folds that lattice language into a retail basketball shoe with a full midsole and upper, something home machines can prototype but not yet deliver with this kind of finish, fit consistency, or sneaker-grade packaging.

The shoe also got a live test in game action. Mikel Brown Jr. debuted the BB.01 during NBA Summer League and scored 20 points while praising its sock-like comfort and grip. That kind of on-court use matters more than a glossy render, because performance footwear lives or dies on whether the printed structure survives real lateral cuts, hard landings, and the repeated stress of a guard’s first step.

Bjørn Gulden has already pointed to 3D-printed footwear as a growth opportunity for adidas, and the BB.01 fits that strategy neatly. It is part product, part signal: a reminder that the real consumer value in 3D printing is showing up when manufacturers can turn lattice work into something repeatable, wearable, and fast enough to sell as a limited run.