Russ Bengtson is the former editor-in-chief of SLAM magazine and longtime sneaker editor at Complex. He was a monthly columnist at Mass Appeal, and conducted one-on-one interviews with most of the NBA superstars of the 1990s and 2000s, including Michael Jordan, Allen Iverson, Kevin Garnett, Tracy McGrady, Kobe Bryant, Charles Barkley, and Shaquille O Neal. He was also a contributor for the books Agents of Change: The Story of DC Shoes and Its Athletes (HarperCollins, 2003) and SLAM KICKS: Basketball Sneakers that Changed the Game (Universe, 2013), and edited Nike SB: The Dunk Book (Rizzoli, 2018).