The Nike Ja 3 has officially put Ja Morant’s signature shoe line on the map

This summer, Ja Morant’s latest shoe took him to the edge of the world and back, sending his signature line off the runway.

Three weeks. Two continents. Four countries. From the U.S. to Asia, all to push the launch of the Nike Ja 3 on the Memphis Grizzlies star’s first international promo run as a signature headliner. Nike taglined it the “Make Them Watch” tour, which is an incredibly fitting name for the promo run of a silhouette that makes it hard not to stop and stare.

After an initial late-July release, the Ja 3 drops this week in the “Price of Admission” colorway Morant debuted on court in April, unveiling the new model’s marquee design element: a vertical Swoosh, strategically placed on the lateral sides of the upper pattern, so each shoe reads, “JA.”

“I told the Nike design team I needed something that talks before I even lace it up,” Morant said. “I wanted my third signature shoe to feel like my game and my personality. I told them, ‘Don’t be scared. Push it. Make it rugged, make it different.’ And they ran with it.”

So, what is different about the Ja 3? Nike actually includes this prompt in the FAQ section of the shoe’s release info page. Answer: “It’s the first Ja shoe built from scratch.”

The 26-year-old All-Star point guard’s third signature model feels like a definitive statement, so let’s make some here:

Again, all of this isn’t to say the Nike Ja 1 and 2 aren’t solid sneakers. Consumers have, in fact, come out of pocket to co-sign Morant’s first two models. On StockX, the Ja 1 has sold nearly 80,000 pairs, representing a whopping $10 million in GMV (gross merchandise value), according to data provided by the sneaker reselling marketplace.

Per the sneaker tracking platform, KixStats.com: The Ja 1 finished the 2023-24 NBA campaign — the shoe’s first full season on court — ranked No. 10 on the list of the most-worn basketball shoes in the league, laced up by 46 different players. Meanwhile, during the ongoing 2025 WNBA season, the Ja 2 has emerged as the league’s fifth most popular shoe, worn by 24 women’s basketball players, according to KixStats.

Yet, early returns show that the Nike Ja 3 is in store for an even bigger impact. According to StockX, the new shoe is outpacing both of its predecessors. As of Aug. 8 — less than three weeks after its debut release — the Ja 3 had sold 10% more pairs than the Ja 2 did in its first complete month, and a staggering 421% more than the Ja 1. After hitting retail for $125, the Ja 3 is also commanding a stronger resale premium in its debut month, averaging $170 a pair compared to $121 for the Ja 2, which retailed for $120.

The reality is that it’s taken Morant a little time to fully find his footing as a signature headliner since he unveiled his debut shoe, the Nike Ja 1, on Christmas Day in 2022. 

Following a limited Ja 1 release surrounding 2023 NBA All-Star Weekend, Nike pushed back the shoe’s initially slated April 1 global release when Morant received an eight-game suspension due to conduct detrimental to the league. The delay made news in The Wall Street Journal under the headline, “Nike Sticks With Ja Morant’s Latest Sneaker Despite Rocky Rollout.”

Morant missed all but nine games of the 2023-24 NBA season because of another suspension and season-ending shoulder injury. According to Kixstats, he has only laced up the Nike Ja 1 in 51 games over three seasons. Last September, Nike surprised its star headliner with his Ja 2 model during his Hall of Fame induction ceremony at his alma mater, Murray State University. Yet, Morant endured another injury-shortened 2024-25 season. He wore the Ja 2 in all 50 games he played.

Perhaps the craziest stat is, in his six NBA seasons, Morant has played more total games — 110 — in models from the late Kobe Bryant’s signature Nike Kobe line than the 101 total games he’s played in his Nike Ja shoes.

Morant actually has his Nike signature logo tattooed on his back, above a Swoosh. Further down, he has Bryant’s sheath Nike signature logo. The same triangle “JA” signature logo is prominently featured throughout the design of the Nike Ja 3, which Morant wore during a surprise debut of the new shoe on April 20, during the first round of the NBA playoffs.

On the Ja 3’s release info page, Nike details a design session for the shoe, held at the brand’s global headquarters in Beaverton, Ore., during which senior footwear designer Ben Nethongkome and his team creatively tasked Morant to draw a Swoosh logo using spray paint.

“We wanted him to feel like an artist, not just an athlete,” Nethongkome said.

The way Morant drew the Nike check to mimic the letter “J” in that meeting transformed into the Ja 3’s standout vertical Swoosh-forming “JA” on the lateral sides of each shoe.

“Even the typeface we used was Ja,” recalled Nethongkome, who also shared a behind-the-scenes post detailing the design process on his personal Instagram page.

“First time debuting a finished sample of the JA3 to Ja irl [in real life],” Nethongkome wrote. “That moment felt like time stopped for a sec. Preciate you Twelve.”

As different as the Ja 3 materialized, steered by Morant’s original challenge to his design team, the shoe also feels paradoxically nostalgic. The “JA” detail is eerily reminiscent of the “AIR” lettering on the lateral sides of the 1996 Nike Air More Uptempo shoe.

The “Price of Admission” colorway, in particular, looks like the Power Rangers villain Ivan Oooze beamed his way to Isla Nublar and cooked up a shoe at Jurassic Park. (Funny enough, a @NiceKicks Instagram post announcing that the Ja 3 will soon be available for customization on Nike By You includes a mockup inspired by the Jeep from the OG Jurassic Park movie.)

One last notable detail featured on the Ja 3 is a quote from Morant etched into the outsole: “A happy Ja is a scary Ja.” According to Nike, Morant also proclaimed during the design process that 2025 would be his “takeoff” year.

Fresh off a world tour with the Nike Ja 3, Morant’s signature line has finally arrived.