Anthony Edwards is the kind of NBA star who can send a basketball-crazy country like the Philippines into a frenzy.
Seeing an NBA player is already a big deal, but a superstar of Edwards' caliber takes the excitement to another level.
The Minnesota Timberwolves sensation had barely arrived in the Philippines before the country was already buzzing about his two-day visit.
There were the usual sights that come with an NBA personality travelling to a place where basketball is practically a way of life: Crowds gathering, cameras following him everywhere, and fans eager to get as close as they could to one of the game's brightest young stars.
But Edwards' Philippine visit had another connection to the country, one that he could quite literally wear.
The newest edition of the Anthony Edwards 2 -- the Magpakitang Gilas -- was created exclusively for the Philippine market, while its companion, the Believe That. 1 Tibay Ng Lahi, completes a two-shoe pack that was designed around Filipino basketball and culture.
For Melvin Rodas, the Filipino designer behind both shoes, the goal was never to create two separate Philippine colorways.
He wanted the shoes to feel like they belonged together, each carrying a different piece of the same story.
"I wanted it to be as a pack," Rodas told ESPN.
The Anthony Edwards 2 Magpakitang Gilas (left) and Believe That. 1 Tibay Ng Lahi are Philippines-exclusive basketball shoes designed to honor Filipino basketball culture and the national team. adidas "Given the chance to design two shoes, I said I wanted to maximize the opportunity and make sure they weren't just another Filipino colorway, where you put all the colors of the Philippine flag or something like that. I wanted to build a story that would be cohesive across both shoes."
That meant Rodas had to look beyond the obvious. The shoes needed something deeper -- something that could explain why a basketball shoe designed for an American NBA star could still feel unmistakably Filipino.
And he found the answer in the game itself.
Where basketball meets bayanihan
For all the superstar culture surrounding the NBA, basketball in the Philippines has always been something more communal: It is played in barangay courts, watched in homes and discussed everywhere from school hallways to office break rooms.
For Filipinos living abroad, the game can even become a way of recreating a little piece of home.