Air Jordan X 10 Performance Analysis and Review

 “The Aj X is my favorite shoe of all time”- said by no one ever

Why in the world would anyone review the X before the XI? Yea yea it isn’t the prettiest shoe but man I don’t care I love playing in them. Since the Orlando X City Pack is coming soon I figured why not write a review on these?Don’t worry I’ll get my Jordan Zion 1 up since the XI is coming out.. again

Pros: traction, cushioning, fit, stability, containment

Cons: protro this shoe JB.Cushioning could be updated and traction could be even better. I’ll even allow you to say new and improved.

Best for: Any

Buying Advice: nobody but collectors and Kemba buy retro X’s. Wait for price drops around $125 or less.

Weight

Twenty four years later and shoes weigh on average 15-16 ounces. Way to go technology advancements !

Traction

These look like they would suck and they do. They suck to the ground which is a good thing.

MJ was pretty good his first three in a row. How many back to back to backs have we seen since MJ? One with Shaq and kd 14 . MJ has done it twice. ..on the same team. Get this LBJ goat talk out of here

Fantastic when clean, needs some wiping on dusty floors. I thought I’d have to wipe 24/7 based on looks but it works fine with just some occasional wiping.

Overall fantastic when clean, needs wiping to keep tackiness.

Cushioning

Air sole unit.

It sounds so old and antiquated but it works just fine. Hell, the Lebron Witness III is using it (why 🤷🏻‍♂️). The cushioning does NOT have the springiness of Boost or Zoom but it works in tandem with the foam to give a nice balanced cushioning set up. It still feels livelier than what you find in the UA HOVR Havoc (please get HOVR right UA), Curry 8/5 (EVA), Harden BE2 (Bounce with no Bounce) and some versions of Charged. Keep in mind my pair is five years old and has taken a beating so fresh foam would feel even better.

I don’t mind this set up at all but man, update the X with Zoom and you have a helluva fun shoe!

FitBack in the day when one size didn’t fit one. I could/can fit 10.5 and 11 but Jordan’s ran/run bigger than today’s shoes so 10.5 works the best for me.

No weird lacing setup or pull tab eject system just a normal straight system. It works great and just keeps everything locked in right out of the box. No movement at all in 10.5 maybe a touch of space with an 11.

Simple is as simple does

Materials

Flystraps before Nike went Flyeverything.

LEATHER!!

It works but it’s a limited natural resource and more expensive than any man made Primeknit flyknit fly leather forged mesh jacquard whatever. Synthetics were introduced mainly for profit margins not performance. Here is that article again in case you missed it:

I love leather but saving resources is fine by me. Just don’t tell me it’s solely about “performance” when it’s boosting profit margins first and foremost.

Support and Stability

Zero issues here. The ankle collar is not overly stiff at so support isn’t huge and movement isn’t restricted.

I do not believe there is a midfoot shank of any kind but the midsole and air sole unit are stiff enough to limit flexibility somewhat.

Although there is no outrigger stability is excellent with a very flat outsole. You can see they are almost as wide as the Curry 3 (it was close by so I grabbed it to compare).

Overall, I had no issues at all with support and stability. Actually I felt very safe playing in these over the past decade and a half.

Containment

An extra rand of leather wrapping around plus a raised midsole. See I wasn’t imagining things. Good to see everyone else add this to their reviews nowadays.

Conclusion

THE FOUR FIVE

Mj is back..except man he was rusty AF. I remember watching his first games back and they were not MJ like at all.

But then he put up fifty five in MSG and then looked a little rusty again after that and 4-5 was no more after about 20 plus games

But then 45-> 23 MJ became MJ again.

I guess a number change has as much to do with hooping ability as shoes 😂

The reason nobody lauds the X like the XI, XII XIII is because it is a bland looking shoe overall and MJ didn’t really do a bunch of MJ things in the X.. but it’s mostly the plain Jane looks of the X. Sex and looks sell people, simple as that.

But even without the sexy shine of patent leather, the unique texture of elephant print, or Ferrari inspiration of the XIV, the X shines by simply working on the court without making a “what are thoooose” type moment or “what tech specs ya got”. Maybe that’s why I like them so much since it matches up with my personality and style. Just like in the SOLEcial media space, Shoetube etc, I don’t need to be seen on court, I don’t need to put up 20/10, I can be happy being Pippen or PJ just doing my job to help my team win. (Don’t get me wrong I can be jordans 2021 at times too when needed).

If you like making winning plays and don’t need the accolades, you’ll love the X. If you want to be seen on the court for your kicks, go buy some orange Pumas or Volt or Cheeah print Kobe’s. In the meantime watch out for the pick I’m about to set.

And appropriately, First Team even versus today’s sneakers.