Q&A with New Balance GM on new Kawhi Leonard shoe drop

Tomer Azarly is in his seventh season as the LA Clippers beat writer for ClutchPoints. From the Lob City era to the Kawhi Leonard-Paul George era, he brings you everything you need to know about the Clippers. In his off time, Tomer likes to play basketball, video games, and draw. You can follow his Twitter for all Clippers content below:

LOS ANGELES – Earlier this month, Kawhi Leonard and New Balance unveiled the new KAWHI III’s in a game against the Milwaukee Bucks. The Los Angeles Clippers star has been wearing his third signature sneaker with New Balance, and after trying them out, it’s arguably the best signature sneaker of Kawhi Leonard’s to date.

Since their debut on February 2nd, Kawhi Leonard has worn the Kawhi III’s every game and has averaged an absurd 27.5 points, 6.3 rebounds, 4.0 assists, 1.6 steals, and 1.0 block per game on 50.6 percent shooting from the field and 53.7 percent from three.

With the release of the KAWHI III’s and some new colorways on the horizon, ClutchPoints sat down with Trent Casper, GM of New Balance Basketball and Lifestyle Concepts, for an exclusive 1-on-1 interview on the release of Kawhi Leonard’s new shoes, what it’s like to work with Kawhi, and so much more.

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Tomer Azarly: I think Kawhi Leonard is a very polarizing athlete. There’s not a lot known about him. What’s it been like working with him the last few years?

Trent Casper: Yeah, I started about two years ago with New Balance and when I met Kawhi for the first time, I kind of had the same thoughts, outside looking in. But Kawhi has been really really great to work with. Very locked in when it comes to product, has a point of view when it comes to product, is really good if he has things he wants to improve in his game, he lets us know what he wants to improve and we try to solve that through his footwear so for me, Kawhi has been just a great partner to work with and a great partner to take New Balance basketball brand into the future.

TA: How do you make a shoe for an NBA star of the caliber of Kawhi Leonard?

TC: For someone like me, like I said, starting a few years ago, I think coming in and getting to know the athlete and building that relationship is key, kind of out of the gates in building that trust. And then just kind of just talking to the athlete, what they look for in their shoes, is it lightweight, does it need propulsion. Just kinda talking to them and understanding what theyre looking for and then kind of looking at our kit of parts and technologies that we have at New Balance and how that would kind of benefit his game and Make him a better player on the court, so it’s just kind of getting to know the athlete, what they want in their shoes, and what they wanna strive to be better in.

TA: With some athletes, there a perception that athletes do their thing and shoe brands do their thing. So I’m wondering how involved was and is Kawhi Leonard in the creation of these shoes?

TC: Yeah, I mean he’s really really really involved so he texts me all the time ideas that he has around stories, around colors, and he’s really involved. We probably — it takes somewhere like 18 months to two years to make a shoe as you probably already know. Throughout that process, we’ll probably be either in front of Kawhi or on a call with Kawhi anywhere from 8-12 times within that 18 month window so he’ really involved in the process. We go down to LA, we bring samples with us at an early, early stage, and he’s able to read through those samples and just kind of see where we’re going. And he gives his feedback on the aesthetic of the shoe, he tries it on, the fit/feel of the shoe, and then gives his input as to what he thinks should change and how we can make it better. And we take that and bring it back and kind of evolve the shoe until we get to that final point where we’re all on the same page.

TA: When you go about making a shoe, is there any one thing in particular that you guys look for when starting the creation of a shoe?

TC: Yeah, so for us, i would be, ‘How is the shoe from the previous year and was there anything that you would do to improve upon that shoe. Do you wanna make it lighter, do you wanna use mesh, do you wanna go to a low-top, there’s things that we’ll take from that previous year and he always has input on that previous shoe. Then, as he continues to get older in the game, his needs will change, so making sure that his needs are still the same and having that conversation with him around what’s expecting in his footwear every time we kick off a shoe, it is key but I think it all starts with, ‘hey, how was the Kawhi II and what would you do to improve upon it?’

TA: What would you say is the biggest differences in the OMNI’s, TWO WAYS, and KAWHI III?

TC: This one, I would say, the biggest difference is the carbon fiber energy arc. So what that does is that’s a full length, fuel cell midsole, right? Which is really, really responsive. Combined with a carbon fiber plate that kinda gives you that bounce in the forefoot so that carbon fiber energy arc which is also found in our running shoes, in our Coco tennis shoes as well, it’s the first time we’ve used it in basketball and I think the underfoot bounce that that provides and the responsiveness really takes this shoe to the next level in comparison to the OMNI Kawhi 1 and TWO-WXY Kawhi

TA: So when you say using them like this for the first time, do you know it’ll feel good for him right away?

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TC: Yeah, so what we do is that our innovation team works to when you had that technology in running, that’s done in linear movements in running. What our innovation team does is they take that and they apply it to the basketball movements and build it for a basketball player. Then we get those work test shoes on Kawhi early in the process to kinda get a feel for what he likes and hat he doesn’t like and we kinda build the shoe from there to the finished product to make sure he, again, he’s a part of the process along the way until that finished product so he’s almost like our wear test guy as we kinda figure out how the shoe works. We also work test with our schools in Boston College and then our wear test team has a whole stable of folks that will test these products for us.

TA: What are some of the inspirations behind the never before seen color ways for the KAWHI III?

TC: That’s kinda like I mentioned earlier. Kawhi is always texting and coming up with ideas and stories around shoes so for us, on the product side of things, you mentioned it earlier, people don’t know a ton about Kawhi. He’s pretty private, but we wanted to give the consumer a sneak peek into the mind of Kawhi and what makes him tick, so as we started to have that conversation with Kawhi and gave him that insight, he started sending over things around sacred geometry, around chakras, around all the things that he’s into so we kinda really got into that and kinda took those insights and created colors and stories around the insight directly from the athlete.

TA: I believe Kawhi Leonard was your first major athlete if I’m not mistaken. What’s New Balance’s growth looked like since Kawhi joined?

TC: He was the first. Obviously New Balance has been in basketball for a long time, you can go all the way back to James Worthy as the face of it years ago, but as we got into it, three, four, five years ago, Kawhi was the face that we signed and he hit ‘The Shot’ obviously, which was great for New Balance and great for New Balance Basketball. He’s the face of our brand and he’s our main athlete. We drive innovation through the lens of Kawhi, but over the last few years, you’ve seen it, we’ve signed some really really good athletes in Jamal Murray, Dejounte Murray, Zach LaVine, Tyrese Maxey, so we really broadened our stable of athletes to speak to different types of consumers and just like we tell stories through the lens of Kawhi, we’ll continue to tell stories through the lens of those athletes through different models within the line.

TA: You mentioned ‘The Shot,’ referencing his series-winning shot against the Sixers in 2019 en route to the NBA Championship. What did that specific moment and moments like that do for New Balance?

TC: Yeah, it’s really incredible what it does for our brand. Number one, all eyes are on Kawhi at that moment so in this same breath, so all eyes are on the New Balance shoes that he’s wearing, so for an athlete to hit a shot like that in that moment, it really was the perfect timing for us to kinda be a springboard for the New Balance basketball brand and really kinda set us in the right direction and we’ve been kinda building from that moment on. We’ve had a few hiccups here and there with some injuries, but Kawhi’s back playing like his old self. I watched the game the other night, and he’s really back to his old self and it’s great to see him back on the court.

TA: Coming back home has meant a great deal to Kawhi. How has his return to Southern California kind of shaped some of the shoe inspirations, whether they be design or colorways?

TC: He’s definitely always talking about how we give back to the community and tell stories through the lens of kinda where he’s been and where he is now. I think in Moreno Valley, we’ve told some stories through the lens of color on some previous Kawhi’s there. We did a court dedication in Moreno Valley as well with Kawhi and as we continue to move into the future, we’ll continue to look for opportunities like that to give back to his community and give back to his home. He grew up a skateboarder, believe it or not, which is one of the insights we pulled out of our meetings, which I was shocked by it as well. Possible storytelling for the future around that as well, so just sitting down and getting to know the athlete and building that trust and having those conversations really gives us some really fun angles to tell stories through the lens of product and through the lens of the community.

TA: I’ve covered Kawhi Leonard for four seasons and never knew he was a skater. Very interesting.

TC: Yeah, when he brought it up, he said me and my homeboys would skate all around. He wasn’t like a skater like in the Tony hawk sense, but they would skate around. I was like really and he was like yup. Which I thought was a really cool insight.

TA: The KAWHI III’s kind of fall between that mid-to-high top kind of shoe. I don’t recall New Balance releasing low top basketball shoes, so how’d you guys decide on that for the shoe?

TC: I think in the market right now, it’s kinda that 3/4 cut that you see that the consumer kind gravitates towards. With the Kobe’s becoming more and more popular, the low-top silhouette has also really kinda gained some momentum on the court. For us though, we like to kinda keep it in that 3/4 zone and I think Kawhi has kinda working through possibly going to a low in the future. I think as you see with the Kawhi III, it’s kind of 3/4 cut, so he’s gonna see how these kinda feel. The wear test so far has been phenomenal and then maybe in the future, depending upon what he wants to do, maybe that’ll evolve into something different, but for fun, we kinda stay in that 3/4 zone and then we offer some lows as well. He had a low on the two way v I and then we’ll look to bring a new low to the market in the future.

TA: Sometimes you see basketball shoes and maybe they’re too clunky. Other times, you feel too much whether it’s cutting, jumping, landing. How do you balance getting good range between a good shoe that’s not too clunky, while keeping it lightweight and yet not *too* lightweight?

TC: When we start this process, we have a brief that kind of starts the process that kinda starts the process of creating a shoe. And I’m a firm believer in that brief of setting a weight target at the very beginning and the weight target is predicated on the athlete, what we’re trying to get out of the shoe, and that feedback from the athlete, so setting that weight target from the bey beginning and kinda driving towards that weight target always sets us up for success. Cuz in some cases, you might wanna throw a TPU clip on the heel, but that’s gonna add some weight to it, so we don’t wanna do that, but is there a different way to solve for that heel lockdown. And just having those conversations throughout the product creation process so we land within that range of that weight target is the best way to do it.

The KAWHI III Alpha Predator will be available at New Balance’s website with the suggested retail price of $160. Additional colorways will be launching throughout the season that tap into the mind of Kawhi such as Recharged Chakra, Lunar New Year, Sacred Geometry and even some that pull from New Balance’s partners and iconic colors.