Matt Varga All-Star Weekend is of course a basketball holiday on the pro side, but also for brands with a foothold in the sport. Long-time ‘heads will know that Nike has sought to make an impression every February in recent memory, but there’s no denying that there’s a different energy for 2025. The “Black Label” collection will introduce a slew of special make-ups for their already established product and some entirely new silhouettes, including the first retail release of the Nike GT Cut 3 Turbo.
On a design language level, streamlined design is clearly in focus, with the sharp ridges in the upper and “crown”-like design of the tongue standing out as visual draws. Given the upgraded subhead that the Zoom GT Cut 3 Turbo carries, an upgrade on the parent model’s tooling should be expected. In the brand’s own word, the Turbo “leverages the most advanced technologies” in its composition. While again none of these details are tied down, note that other top-of-the-line offerings from the Swoosh in the category typically carry a combination of ZoomX and ReactX foam, with carbon fiber propulsion also a possibility for this edition.
As we’ve noted before, the “Greater Than” series has truly been a smash success for Nike’s inline hoops division, with the Cut particularly adopted widely throughout the NBA and regularly proving a best seller for Nike. It’s this popularity that prompted Nike to spin the model out for multiple retoolings; the Cut Cross, Cut Academy and now Cut 3 Turbo, offering the shoe’s well-regarded on-court success through a range of tooling kits and price ranges.
With the echoes of the 2010s elsewhere in the ASW festivities (the KD 18 calling upon “Area 72” and the return of the Galaxy Foams), long-time Nike hoops fans should read this strategy as familiar, recalling when “souped-up” versions of their foremost models would trickle out after a few months on the market. Specifically, recall the Hyperdunk Elite and its like for a similar cadence.
The Nike GT Cut 3 Turbo will see its first retail launch as a part of the wider Nike Black Label collection, but select Swoosh signees in the NBA have already sported their own PE makeups in the lead-up. The Black Label materials have already stamped premiums on other models included, so though $210 is the price tag for this murdered-out edition, expect typical pairs hovering around $190. Catch an in-game shot of the silhouette as worn by Jrue Holiday included below.
