10 Most Expensive Basketballs

Bought this for my 16 year old son who plays indoor and outdoor basketball. He specifically wanted this ball for indoor use and said it works great. He did have to add a little air to it when it arrived as he said it was a little flat. And he had to add more air to it maybe 2 weeks later. I asked him if there was something wrong with the ball (I know nothing about basketball but that just seemed like it was losing air too fast IMO) but he said the ball is used a lot so it’s not uncommon to have to add air often. I’ll take his word for it I guess. He said it’s perfect for indoors, he can grip it well and it does whatever it’s supposed to do. Previously, I had bought him a Spalding indoor/outdoor ball but he said that one was better for outdoor use after using it for awhile which is why he made me buy him another ball for indoor only. He seems to think basketballs are super cheap I guess but that’s a whole other story. The reason he specifically wanted this ball was because when he was at the gym, some stranger that they were playing with had this ball and he liked how he could handle it better than the Spalding.

I recently bought a Wilson Evolution (not online, but from a sporting goods store). When I get home, I realized that the air valve was notably raised from the ball surface and that it was separated all around from the material of the basketball itself, all of which seemed to be an obvious defect. I ended up reading a bunch of reviews online (mostly on Amazon) about the ball, and saw that many people complained of poor quality control, with issues like raised air valves, seams being sloppily glued together, and the synthetic leather surface peeling off. I also saw that people mentioned that the ball has a three letter code at the bottom of all the writing around the air valve, starting with either X or N, and that the N balls tend to be better finished. My ball had a code starting with X. I ended up going back to the store I bought it from and exchanged the ball. Interestingly, the store had a bunch Evolutions, and they were in three totally different kinds of boxes. I looked at least 6 different balls — all the balls with the code starting with X had problems — either the air valve was sloppily inserted, seams had glue or extra material showing where they met, or the synthetic leather surface wasn’t glued down properly where it met some seams and you could see some of the white raw material from the underside that shouldn’t be visible. There were two balls with the N code and both of them seemed pretty much perfect (the only issue with them is that where the writing is around the air valve, the surface of the ball is a bit indented/depressed, probably because of the printing mechanism they use — it’s a bit annoying, but I don’t think it’s a defect, and it will probably even out as I use the ball more. Plus, I’d rather have that than any of the problems I saw with the X balls). I’m guessing that Wilson must be using different factories and that’s what the X and N codes mean — seems like the X factory has terrible quality control (I don’t think the problem is fake balls as some people have suggested, since all the balls I looked at were in store, and many still had problems). My new N ball is great so far, so if at all possible, I’d say make sure you get a ball with an N code . The only difference is the outermost layer thus this affects the dribbling critically . ALSO , the models of the balls sold on Wilson Sporting Goods Official site is :-
Original color : WTB05_00R
Navy : WTB05_95ID02
Optic Yellow : WTB05_95ID03
Royal : WTB05_95ID04
Green : WTB05_95ID01
Scarlet : WTB05_95ID05
Laser Engraved : WTB05_00V
Important Note : there is no perfect Wilson Evolution even people buying it from the Wilson site complain about color fading and valve popping out even if you look carefully and zoom in the pictures provided on Wilson’s website for the ball ( i mean marketing pictures you will notice that the black line are sticked to the ball using glue and that there are other glued parts

in a nutshell there is no great ball at this price range if you want something optimistic pay an extra 10 $ to buy the NCAA Official ball or at least try to order the Evo from the wilson website

This ball has traditionally been an excellent one. I’ve owned and played with several in the past. It is a ball that has a soft feel, which produces a good grip. It is the correct size and weight (believe it or not, not all basketballs are made to proper specifications). Recently, however, the balls have been manufactured differently, requiring full inflation for them to bounce much. That means the soft feel of the ball is compromised, which is a big disappointment to me. The one I bought from Amazon had to be returned because it did not bounce over my knees even when fully inflated. I replaced it with the same brand at a local sporting goods store, but I had to try out a few there to get one that bounced properly. Why there is so much inconsistency in the manufacturing is beyond me. My basketball group has four of these balls, and they are all a little different in weight and bounce. But the choices are few. This is the best ball that Wilson makes; cheaper ones are garbage. Spalding’s high end balls used to be good, then became too light and too small for about 10 years. The most recent ball I’ve tried from that company was much better.