NBA bans APL shoes for ‘undue competitive advantage’

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A company founded by former USC basketball players Adam and Ryan Goldston has created a basketball shoe that is supposed to help the person wearing it jump higher.

Apparently the Athletic Propulsion Labs’ Concept 1 shoe works ... a little too well, at least as far as the NBA is concerned.

The league announced Tuesday it is banning the spring-based shoe because “under league rules, players may not wear any shoe during a game that creates an undue competitive advantage.”

The NBA ban could end up being a blessing in disguise for the Los Angeles company. Earlier on Tuesday the APL website was running the message, ‘Because of the NBA ban announcement, we are experiencing an enormous ammount of traffic,’ next to a picture of the shoe stamped with the words ‘Banned by the NBA.’

Currently the same stamped picture appears with a new message: ‘Warning: The products that appear on this website are intended to enhance athletic performance and the NBA has banned APL shoes for the 2010-2011 season.’ There is also an offer for ‘free shipping on all NBA-banned Concept 1 orders.’

The Goldston twins were listed as walk-on freshmen in 2006 on the Trojans’ website, but they did not letter for the USC basketball team. Also according to the team’s website, they played high school basketball at Montclair Prep and were both business majors at USC.

-- Chuck Schilken

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Image from www.athleticpropulsionlabs.com