QuickTake:

LeBron James can call himself a Buckeye. But Oregon, it seems, is often on his mind.

We are not sneakerheads here at Lookout Eugene-Springfield.

Well, maybe I shouldn’t speak for everyone — we do have some young’uns on staff who may, indeed, be hip with it.

But I don’t get complimented for my Air Jordans by Ducks quarterback Dante Moore like some reporters do. I don’t know my way around Nike’s SNKRS app, nor could I identify Kevin Durant, Kobe Bryant or Sabrina Ionescu’s shoes out of a lineup.

However, I do know this: LeBron James still has a fascination with the Oregon Ducks.

The Los Angeles Lakers star forward wore new UO-branded Nikes during Thursday’s loss to the Los Angeles Clippers — a black and gray, carbon fiber-looking pair sporting Oregon’s yellow “O” on the back and “Ducks” down the sides.

The experts tell me the model is the LeBron 23 PE — which stands for “player exclusive.” Apparently, PEs go for a pretty penny on eBay.

Oregon guard Takai Simpkins recently showed off his Oregon-colored LeBron 23 PEs on Instagram.

But back to the King.

This isn’t the first time LeBron has repped the Ducks. He’s worn Oregon-themed LeBrons — do you think he says he wears LeBrons, or something like, “Yeah, I’m wearing me today?” — several times over the course of his NBA career. There was also that time he joined NBA stars Chris Paul, Carmelo Anthony and Dwyane Wade on the sideline at Autzen Stadium during a 2011 Oregon-USC game.

“That was the NBA lockout season, so they weren’t playing basketball,” Oregon equipment director Kenny Farr once told me. “I think they were up at Nike for a basketball meeting, and the way I understood it, Mr. Knight was like, ‘Hey, come and watch this game.’ It was just really crazy to see. You’ve got these guys walking down the tunnel and playing catch on the field. That was pretty cool.”

Funny enough, the Akron, Ohio, native is a pretty outspoken Ohio State fan. But in this era of increasingly blurred lines between college and professional sports, it might be worth it for UO mens basketball coach Dana Altman to at least kick the tires on a scholarship offer.

In the 2026 NCAA, the 41-year-old might still have four years of eligibility remaining.

Tyson Alger covered the Ducks for The Oregonian and The Athletic before branching out on his own to create and run The I-5 Corridor. He brings more than a decade of experience on the University of Oregon sports beat. He has covered everything from Marcus Mariota’s Heisman Trophy-winning season to the Ducks’ first year in the Big 10.