The Aluga 3 of Jordan brand, Luka Doncic's Third Signature Shoes

Whazzup whazzup people? Another great shoes is what we will talk about today ;-) Let’s see what’s good, or bad, in Luka Doncic’s latest kicks.

Luka Doncic, or “Luka Magic”, is a Slovenian professional basketball player for the Dallas Mavericks of the NBA. He is endorsing the Jordan brand of athletic shoes.

As of this writing, Luka is on his third signature shoes, the Aluga 3.

Blurred Vision Luka 3

Now, let’s start this review with the shoe’s traction. The Aluqa 3 features like this radial hearing bone traction pattern, if you look in the forefoot, it does have like a radial pattern to it, but also it does have like these hearing bone treads, so that's why I said it's like a radial hearing bone, and yeah, I mean, if you look at this shoe, this particular colorway, it has a part translucent and part solid rubber outsole, and honestly, traction is really good. If you are playing on clean courts, you're going to have absolutely no issues. You're going to stop on a dime, it has a very, very hard bite. You could do those Luca movements, you know, plant that foot, step back, and then you're good to go. Yeah, the traction on clean courts is very, very good.

Speedway Luka 3

On dustier courts, I would say the traction is still pretty good. I never had any issues of sliding out or anything like that while using this shoes. If you do let the dust accumulate though, you might slide to a stop here and there. It's not going to be a big slide or anything. I never like slid completely to a stop. It was just like a minor slide to a stop, and that's with letting the dust accumulate on the bottom of the shoe. The thing is, these shoes are a freaking dust magnet, so you will have to wipe it every so often, and let me tell you, if you do let the dust accumulate, you're going to have to wipe pretty damn hard to get that dust off, because I don't know if it's just the tackiness of this rubber, but it just attracts dust and it just stays there, unless you like really just like put your hands into it and rub that dust off. There was definitely one day where I didn't really wipe, and after I was done with my session, you know, I was wiping all the dust off, and you could just see like all those like black things on the ground from where the dust was rubbing off the bottom of the shoe. So yeah, these shoes are a dust magnet. However, like I said, overall, traction performance was still pretty damn good.

Now, let’s talk about the cushion, I believe it features a full length Cushlon 3.0 midsole. For those who don’t know, Cushlon is the generic foam compound that Nike uses on many of its models across all sports. It offers a good amount of cushion and support and sometimes it can be downright comfortable. I'm not sure if it's a dual density setup or not, but what I can tell you, it is very comfortable and also responsive.

Photo Finish Luka 3

In the heel, you definitely have a little bit more impact protection than in the forefoot. So if you do land on your heel a lot, you should be covered. I would say that the impact protection is adequate. As you move towards the forefoot, it does thin out a little bit, but it's still very, very comfortable. You also have great core feel and responsiveness. I personally felt very quick in the shoe, which is awesome. This is more of a guard-focused cushion setup in my opinion. It still feels very comfortable, but you also have a lot of core feeling and responsiveness, which is the great part about this cushion setup. So me, I really did enjoy this cushion setup, and if you like, you know, being quick on your feet, you'd probably like it too.

Materials? The Luca 3 features primarily a full textile upper. You do have like this synthetic leather in the back half of the shoe, but in the midfoot and the forefoot of the shoe, you do have like this textile upper. I'm really not sure what it is specifically, but it gets the job done very, very well. I might say it gets a little toasty in here. So if you do have feet that tend to overheat, it might get a little bit toasty, but me personally, I didn't really have any issues.

Hypebeast Luka 3

In terms of the quality of the materials, I wouldn't say it's bad, especially for the price point. Could have been better, obviously. But I think for the price point is totally okay. Then in terms of the performance, it gets the job done very, very well. Moving to the tongue, you do have like a textile tongue. This material is actually the same material that's featured on this little panel on the medial side of the shoe. I would say the tongue is also adequately padded. So if you do like to crank down your laces, you're not going to feel the laces digging into your foot. Also one thing about the tongue is at the top portion, you do have like this synthetic piece of leather, just for an added like premium touch. So yeah, overall, I would say that the material usage on the Luca 3 is actually very good.

What about the fitting? I am slightly wide footer and I went through the size in the Luca 3 and I personally felt pretty good. I would say I've had barely any pressure up in the forefoot area. I think lengthwise is perfectly fine as well. So yeah, my recommendation is that it is great for both normal footers and narrow footers. I think true to size is the best bet. Slightly wide footers, I think you could also go true to size. Wide footers, you might want to go up a half size just in case you do feel any pressure or you could maybe go true to size as well and hope that the materials break in. But I think for wide footers, I think going up a half size is probably the best bet. Outside of that, I thought the overall fit of the shoe is good. I didn't have any dead space in the toe box area. This is actually another shoe that's not using a half-booty upper. This tongue is only connected at the very bottom and uses this lace loop on the tongue to kind of hold the tongue in place. I was actually pleasantly surprised that I had no issues with the tongue sliding around, which is awesome. So yeah, I mean overall, you know, I felt very snug in the shoe and it wasn't like overly snug. I didn't feel like my foot was being like suffocated or anything like that. Yeah, I mean, the overall fit in the Luca 3 was very, very good.

Let’s talk about support. I personally had zero issues with the support in the Luca 3. You do have an internal heel counter with some slight heel sculpting. I didn't have any heel submission in the shoe. As far as side to side movement on the footbed goes, I had zero issues there as well. You do have this ISO plate, which is basically like this lateral container, which also comes in and acts as the shank in the shoe. So yeah, I mean, this acts as a side wall. So you want rolling over on those hard lateral movements, and also, very wide base. You're not going to be rolling over in the shoe. Another thing, this foam actually wraps up onto the upper of the shoe on the medial side as well, which also kind of acts like a pseudo cage for the medial side of your foot. Then like I already mentioned, you do have this ISO plate, which also comes into the midfoot shank of the shoe. So you're going to be covered there as well. Overall, the support in the Luca 3 is very good. I don't think it has anything too special, maybe besides like this ISO plate. But yeah, I mean, support in the shoe was fantastic. I had absolutely zero problems.

As of this writing, the Luka 3 retails for 130 bucks, and for 130, I will say that this is a pretty solid performance hoop shoe.

Purchased yourself a pair? Let’s hear it in the comments ;-)

Cheerio!