I have owned every pair of Kobe there has been for the past 14 years. Exclusively my hooping shoes.
There was never going to be a better shoe than the kobe 8, but the durability was absolute trash.
Well...
The PG1 is the best shoe I've ever hooped in.
Period.
I am only saying this because I would like it if someone reassured me, but I had the same issue, the cushion breaks in after 3-4 sessions, and they now feel pretty great aside from my right shoe seemingly losing it's lockdown.
So I ID'd a pair of all whites, and I just recently grabbed the fundamentals.
The whites are night and day.
My ID's are tinted yellow all over the mesh upper and especially on the tongue, yet the GR has cocaine white just pure as powdered sugar.
Infuriating.
After some time to reflect, and about 10 sessions later, I can thankfully say that these are decent on the court. At first, I was very worried, zero response, zero feel, bad lacing. But as they've worn in, they're the closest I've come to the "no-shoe" feel of the Kobe 8s.
For those wearing...
All of the ridiculously custom options for KD, Bron, and even Kyrie, and then for a new set of options for the kobes they roll out dumb as heII tiger stripes.
That is unbelievable.