NBA Star Tacko Fall Hits the Court with Custom Naruto Sneakers

Having debuted in the late 1990s, Naruto continues to permeate the social consciousness through a [...]

By Evan Valentine

Having debuted in the late 1990s, Naruto continues to permeate the social consciousness through a number of different ways! In the world of professional sports, the popular ninja franchise continues to show up in unexpected places. A German soccer team hyped their upcoming season using some Naruto themed promotional videos while basketball players such as Kevin Porter Jr wore sneakers depicting the murderous brother of Sasuke Uchiha, Itachi. Now, Celtics player Tacko Fall followed suit by showing off his custome sneakers that depict the ninjas of Konoha: Naruto and his deceased mentor Jiraiya!

ESPN shared the images on their Official Twitter Account, with the sports broadcasting channel giving the NBA star major props for his custom Konoha sneakers that show off both the future Seventh Hokage and the mentor that made him into the ninja he would one day become:

Jiraiya has, to this date, still been one of the biggest deaths in the Naruto franchise, proving that no character is safe in a ninja battle. Squaring off against one of his former pupils, the Akatsuki member of Pain, Jiraiya wasn't strong enough to defeat him and suffered a tragic death. Recently, in the anime, we were able to revisit the former mentor to Naruto thanks in part to the time travel arc of Boruto: Naruto Next Generations.

The "Pervy Sage", as Naruto called him, was responsible for teaching the orange clad ninja one of his most powerful and most recognizable attacks with the Rasengan. Though Naruto didn't learn the devastating attack the traditional way, he managed to take a short cut by incorporating his Shadow Clone jutsu technique. On top of Rasengan, he was also taught the Sage Path technique that gave Naruto a decent power up to help in his eventual defeat of the man that killed his master.

What do you think of these custom Naruto sneakers that Tacko Fall showed off on the courts? Feel free to let us know in the comments or hit me up directly on Twitter @EVComedy to talk all things comics, anime, and the Hidden Leaf Village!

Originally created by Masashi Kishimoto for Shueisha's Weekly Shonen Jump in 1999, Naruto follows a young ninja, with a sealed demon within him, that wishes to become the leader of his home village. The series ran for 700 chapters overall, and was adapted into an anime series by Studio Pierrot and Aniplex that ran from 2002 to 2017. The series was popular enough to warrant a sequel, Boruto: Naruto Next Generations which is set several years after the events of the original Naruto story and features the children of many of its key characters such as Naruto and Hinata.

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