Nike Book 2 “Tigers” Puts Detroit’s D on a Grand Rapids Native

Nike‘s Book 2 Tigers is a Midnight Navy makeup of Devin Booker’s second signature shoe, and it carries the Detroit Tigers’ Old English D on the heel. Nike’s own copy says Booker reps The Mitten and that the shoe pays homage to his home state. A lot of the coverage around it, including the earlier version of this post, turned that into Detroit roots. Booker was born in Grand Rapids and raised in Grandville, a suburb of it, roughly the width of the state away from Detroit.

The Book line is young and Nike has been unusually open about how it was built. The Book 1 arrived first as an Unknwn exclusive through a SNKRS Pass in December 2023 before a spring 2024 launch, and Nike named no individual designer for it. For the Book 2, which landed in January 2026, Nike credits Ben Nethongkome as lead designer for Booker’s footwear, and the brief is specific. Nike’s own description lists a forefoot Air Zoom unit, a Cushlon 3.0 midsole, a plush foam sock liner and a modernized, molded upper. Nethongkome’s explanation of the change is worth quoting rather than paraphrasing: the team lowered the profile of the shoe for enhanced court feel and moved the Air Zoom unit from the heel to the forefoot. Booker’s version is shorter. He wanted to feel the court and sit lower to the ground. The traction is a modernized herringbone that Nike traces to Booker’s fondness for the Air Force 1.

Nike’s product name for this pair is Book 2 Tigers, not Detroit Tigers, and the style code is IM4667-400. The Colour Shown string reads Midnight Navy/White/Midnight Navy, which is a Nike colour name rather than a Tigers one. MLB’s own material calls the club’s shade simply navy blue, so any copy presenting Midnight Navy as the team’s official colour is borrowing Nike’s vocabulary for Detroit’s. Nike’s full line on the shoe names both the state and the city: it pays homage to his home state by sporting the iconic old English D that is recognizable to any baseball fan, symbolizing the strength and toughness that embodies the 313. That is a statewide claim wearing a Detroit area code, and Booker’s Michigan is 616. A Detroit Lions Book 2 followed on September 4 under IM4667-401, one digit off this one, which says Nike planned the two as a pair rather than as one-offs.

Booker’s colorway program is the most biographical in Nike Basketball right now, which is why the Tigers entry stands out for being the least personal one in it. The Book 1 Moss Point, IH0889-001, named the Mississippi town he moved to before his sophomore year of high school to live with his father Melvin. Blue Blood and Must Be The Denim both point at Kentucky. Flagstaff and the McDonald’s Sedona point at Arizona. Those are places Booker chose or was formed by. Detroit is a logo, and a borrowed one. The Old English D reads as Michigan shorthand to everyone outside Michigan, and Nike’s copy quietly acknowledges the stretch by naming the state first and the city second. There is some timing behind it too. The Tigers unveiled new orange and navy alternates for the 2026 season, so a navy Tigers shoe in the middle of 2026 is not arriving cold. Note also that a separate Tiger Camo Book 2 exists, and whether it references the ball club at all is unconfirmed.

Retail is $155. The standard Book 2 is $145, so this is Nike’s usual ten dollar special-edition premium, the same number it charged for the McDonald’s and Chevy makeups. Set against the rest of Nike’s 2026 signature board, that puts Booker at the top of the mainstream band and nowhere near the flagships: the Ja 4 sits at $130, the Sabrina 4 at $135, the KD19 level at $155, and then a gap up to the GT Cut 4 at $200 and the LeBron XXIII at $210. For a second signature shoe from a guard who is not the face of the brand, $155 is a confident number.

The release date is genuinely unsettled. Sneaker Bar Detroit published on June 30, 2026 reporting the shoe as available that day, while StockX, Hibbett and several other outlets give July 8. Nike publishes no launch date at all, and the SNKRS page no longer resolves, so early July is as precise as the record allows. The Nike Book 2 Tigers, IM4667-400, in Midnight Navy/White/Midnight Navy, is $155 and still listed at Nike.com. The earlier version of this post said no price or style code had been confirmed, which was wrong.

Source: Sneaker Bar Detroit

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The Sneakers Team

The Sneakers Team is the editorial desk behind becausesneakers, founded and edited by Nick Engvall. Nick has spent more than two decades in the sneaker industry. He built the original Eastbay Blog, led the first dedicated sneaker team at Complex, ran the first UGC and seeding programs at Finish Line, was employee number nine at StockX, and served as Senior Director at Stadium Goods. He hosts the Sneaker History podcast, and his first book, Small Luxuries: Sneakers, arrives in October 2026 from Motorbooks. Release details on this site are checked against the brand's own product information before publication, and anything we cannot confirm is labelled rather than stated.

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