Highlighting key basketball sneakers worn by Bryant during his impressive career.
In honor of the upcoming release of the Kobe 6 Protro sneakers in “White Del Sol,” GOAT takes a look back at the best Kobe footwear of all time. Featuring an expansive range of Nike sneakers created for the Black Mamba, fans of Kobe will remember the feats accomplished during the specific games when each pair was worn. From the Zoom Kobe 1 Protro “81 Points” that celebrates his highest-scoring game against the Toronto Raptors in 2006 to the Kobe 11 Elite Low “FTB” worn in his final NBA game against the Utah Jazz, these pairs capture some of his career’s most iconic moments. From cutting-edge Nike technology to signature details like Huarache inner sleeves, Flyknit uppers and signature metallic Swooshes, this selection of shoes from GOAT is a homage to the legacy of Kobe Bryant, and his influence on and off the court.
Vanessa Bryant, along with the rest of the Black Mamba’s estate have confirmed that the future of Kobe-related products are still up in the air, but if one thing is for certain, it’s the fact that there are still a handful of Nike (NYSE:NKE -0.37%) -made footwear products still left in the chamber. One being the Nike Kobe 5 Protro “Hall of Fame” that’s made in partnership with longtime Swoosh collaborator UNDEFEATED.
Official images of the kicks surfaced all the way back in October 2020, which initially had the sneaker community thinking that a release was going to go down shortly after, but delays likely occurred due to the contract negotiations that were going on at the time between Nike and Vanessa. Regardless, UNDEFEATED has officially confirmed that the kicks are finally getting their moment to drop to the masses. Uppers are mostly covered with championship-inspired gold exteriors and each foot mismatches its Swoosh colors with purple arriving on the right side and pink on the left side. The latter sports a “24 10 8” notation to call out Kobe‘s jersey numbers on the Lakers and Team USA. Additionally, the tongues and heel counters split between Mamba’s signature snake logo and the UNDEFEATED five strike insignia.
These collaborative sneakers are set to release on May 12 via UNDEFEATED which is just ahead of Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame ceremony on May 14 where Bryant will be officially inducted by none other than Michael Jordan.
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After launching exclusively through a raffle this week, sneaker fans will soon have another chance at buying Undefeated’s sold-out Nike Kobe 5 Protro “Hall of Fame” collaboration.
The sportswear giant confirmed that it will launch the Undefeated x Nike Kobe 5 Protro “Hall of Fame” again tomorrow. In the product description on the SNKRS app, the shoe pays homage to the late Kobe Bryant and his illustrious professional basketball career as his name will be enshrined with the game’s all-time greats in Springfield, Mass., when he’s inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame tomorrow.
The look of the shoe wears a predominantly gold color scheme as a nod to the many hardware that Bryant has collected throughout his 20-year basketball career. The style continues with snakeskin-inspired overlay panels as a nod to his famed Black Mamba nickname, while a gradient Swoosh branding on the sides boasts various hues and jersey numbers from Bryant’s time as a member of the Los Angeles Lakers and in the Olympic games. Undefeated’s Five-Strike logo is stamped on both the tongue and heel, while Bryant’s basketball milestones are printed on the footbed.
The Undefeated x Nike Kobe 5 Protro “Hall of Fame” is releasing again tomorrow via SNKRS at 10 a.m. ET for a retail price of $190
he Nike Kobe 6 Protro All-Star is rumored to drop on March 15.
Kobe Bryant was in a league of his own. Beyond being one of the youngest players to enter the NBA and attaining a three-peat alongside four NBA Championship titles throughout his career, Bryant left a lasting impression on his teammates, opponents and fans. With the new Nike Kobe 6 Protro All-Star rumored to drop on March 15, we decided to take a look back at Kobe’s sneaker history and relive the milestone moments that coincided with the drop of some of these collabs.
Reminisce iconic NBA moments: A brief history of the NBA All-Star Weekend in sneakers
The Nike Kobe 6 Protro All-Star is rumored to drop on March 15.
While nothing will ever be as iconic as the Air Jordan sneakers, for the modern era and current generation of NBA players and fans, Kobes have become their version of that. In his heyday and even into his retirement, Kobe Bryant oversaw the development of his signature shoe and helped it become one of the most popular in the world.
His untimely and unfortunate passing, though, changed many things about the market surrounding his sneakers, most notable being the end of the Bryant family’s partnership with Nike to produce the sneaker in the spring of 2021, a split that got messy as well. That marked the end of an era for the two sides, but there is still hope that the partnership could be revived.
In a piece on ESPN this week, Brian Windhorst reported that both the Bryant family and Nike were in discussions in hopes of reuniting and that a deal is still possible.
The end of the partnership meant the end of production of Kobes. The most popular shoe in the league even while it was being produced, the halt has led to a wild increase in demand with no supply, as Larry Nance Jr. noted in Windhorst’s piece. The sneaker secondary market has long been one of the more…treacherous places to traverse and attempt to find shoes. Prices already were sky-high for more common sneakers and ones that were in production.
The circumstances surrounding Kobes, both due to his passing and the stop in production, has thus sky-rocketed the price. While it’s made the shoes remarkably difficult to acquire for NBA players, it’s also made it downright impossible for regular folks to buy the shoes, too.
The potential revival of the partnership between the Bryant family and Nike won’t fix the sneaker secondary market by any means, but it would make the shoes more accessible, which is a win for everybody from NBA players to Joe Schmo. Here’s to hoping Nike makes the right call here and restarts production on this generation’s Jordans.
NBA players continue to hunt down more pairs of the legend’s models.
Reports from a couple of NBA stars indicated that there has been a drought of Kobe Bryant’s signature basketball shoes following the conclusion of a fruitful partnership between the late Los Angeles Lakers star’s estate and Nike (NYSE:NKE -0.37%) . Players are now scouring for additional pairs as the shortage is now on the rise particularly for larger sizes.
According to Washington Wizards point guard Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, the news of the scarcity was something he wouldn’t have expected and indicated that he would stock up on Kobe sneakers right away. Lakers’ power forward Anthony Davis also joins the mix of players who are having a difficult time looking for more pairs designed by the iconic legend. ESPN Brian Windhorst explained that sizes 14 and up would now typically go for about $800 USD even for the less popular editions which aren’t normally worn. ESPN was informed that some have already shelled out more than five figures just to accumulate a decent amount.
“I’m not going into a store and finding a [size] 17 in a Kobe. No way,” said Anthony Davis to ESPN. “I mean, it’s guys’ favorite shoes. … A lot of people are inspired by him, and the shoe feels amazing. All of them feel amazing.”
The affinity for the silhouettes has been quite evident in the past few seasons — particularly in 2019-20 as the Kobe 4 Protro was worn by more than 100 players establishing it as one of Bryant’s statement models. Now, players are rumored to be limiting the usage of their Kobes to prevent quick exhaustion of their stockpiles. In light of the current struggle, Vanessa Bryant looks to trademark “KB24” which might be a possible solution, but sources state that the application did not include a new lineup of shoes and sporting goods.
For more footwear news, a pair of Michael Jordan’s game-worn and signed Air Jordan 13s are hitting Christie’s auction block.
A pair of high-top Nike sneakers from the late NBA star Kobe Bryant, the Los Angeles Lakers shooting guard who died in a helicopter crash in California last year, are among the featured items in auctions of jewelry and other collectibles next week in Geneva.
The blue, white and gold Nike Air Zoom Huarache 2K4 basketball shoes are expected to fetch up to 35,000 Swiss francs (about $38,000) during a November 11 sale at Sotheby’s. Bryant wore the sneakers in a March 17, 2004, victory over the L.A. Clippers, according to the auction house.
But as usual in the Geneva fall auction season, diamonds, emeralds, sapphires, rubies and other prized gems will be the highlights of next week’s sales at Sotheby’s and rival Christie’s.
Also going under the hammer in the lakeside Swiss city is a diamond bracelet that once belonged to France’s Marie Antoinette and a sapphire-and-diamond brooch with matching ear clips that once dangled from a Russian grand duchess.
Christie’s is putting up on Tuesday an eye-popping pair of heavy bracelets from the 18th century that are studded with three rows of small diamonds. The bracelets are billed as one of the last remaining vestiges of Marie Antoinette’s rich jewelry cabinet that are still available for sale.
The auction house said the famed royal and wife of King Louis XVI was known to have carefully wrapped her jewels in cotton herself, hoping to keep them outside revolutionary France — which ultimately took her life via the guillotine. The bracelets, commissioned around 1776, were kept within royal lineage for over 200 years, Christie’s said.
“Despite Marie-Antoinette’s capture in the French Revolution and her unfortunate death in 1793, the bracelets survived and were passed on to her daughter, Madame Royale, and then the Duchess of Parma,” said Max Fawcett, head of Christie’s jewelry department, referring respectively to Marie-Therese of France, the couple’s daughter, and Princess Louise d’Artois, who died in 1864.
“To see them up for auction today is a unique opportunity for collectors around the world to own a piece of French royal history,” Fawcett said.
The pre-sale estimate for the bracelets is up to 4 million Swiss francs ($4.38 million). They each weigh 97 grams (3.42 ounces), and include “old-cut” diamonds as well as silver and gold, Christie’s said.
Among the lots Sotheby’s plans to present on Wednesday is a pair of “perfectly matched” earrings, each set with 25.8-carat diamonds, that is expected to fetch up to 5 million francs ($5.5 million).
It will also showcase a brooch with a 26.8-carat oval sapphire surrounded by diamonds, and matching ear clips that once belonged to Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna and were whisked out of Russia during the country’s 1917 revolution. The trio is expected to garner as much as 480,000 francs ($525,800).
“She was the wife of Grand Duke Vladimir, the son of the tsar, and she was really passionate about jewelry. She had a fantastic collection of jewels,” Olivier Wagner, the head of Sotheby’s Magnificent Jewels sales, said.
The everyday sneakerhead might still regard the classic Air Jordans are the grails of the sneaker collecting culture, but NBA players seem to be stocking up on Nike Kobe‘s to the point that they’re becoming hard to come by in today’s sneaker game.
In a new report by ESPN, the Nike Kobe sneaker line has become so in-demand amongst NBA players these days that they’re having a hard time finding pairs in their sizes. The reasoning behind the scarcity is that Nike’s partnership with Kobe’s estate has come to an end, so production of the sneakers have come to a halt and with though negotiations between the two sides are ongoing there’s not guarantee that they’ll work together again. Because of that, the sneaker line of the NBA legend is a hot commodity and players are getting them anywhere they can find them.
“The lack of Kobes in production has meant that guys in the league are dishing out big money to find pairs in their respective sizes. “I’m not going into a store and finding a [size] 17 in a Kobe. No way,” says Anthony Davis in the ESPN piece, who switched to Kobes when he joined the Los Angeles Lakers in 2019. “I mean, it’s guys’ favorite shoes. A lot of people are inspired by him, and the shoe feels amazing. All of them feel amazing.”
Real talk, many a baller has said that the Kobe sneakers are comfortable and great to play basketball in unlike some popular silhouettes from your favorite GOAT. Just sayin.’
Things have gotten so crazy to find a pair of Kobe’s in big sizes that some players are spending up to $15,000 just to get themselves a pair. They not even Off-White’s, b.
Hopefully Nike and Kobe’s estate can come to some sort of agreement for future releases, but until then don’t expect to see Kobe kicks on the shelves just sitting as players, fans, and resellers will be on the hunt for them something serious.
As of publishing, the shoe has also been removed from Flight Club and GOAT, although it should be noted that the “Mambacita” Kobe 6 was never actually listed as for sale on either marketplace and only appeared on product pages. The sneakers are still currently listed on StockX. See original story below.
After a pair of unreleased Nike Kobe Bryant sneakers with adornments referencing the late NBA legend and his daughter recently leaked, Bryant’s widow Vanessa took to Instagram early this morning to speak out against the shoes.
According to Vanessa, the “Mambacita” Nike Kobe 6 Protro (previously dubbed the “Mamba Forever” online) was not approved for sale—or even production. “I do not know how someone else has their hands on shoes I designed in honor of my daughter, Gigi, and we don’t,” she wrote. Now, we’re learning more about how pairs may have made it into the marketplace.
While early product images are common in the sneaker industry, this is far more complicated than a standard sneaker leak. According to Vanessa, when she chose not to re-sign the deal she also decided not to sell the shoes, which explains her confusion after discovering the images online.
It’s worth noting some of the pairs have found their way to resale marketplaces like GOAT and its partner, Flight Club. As of publishing, there is no indication that either platform has sold or priced the sneakers for sale. Meanwhile, a number of pairs are currently available from StockX, with a most recent sale of $2,146 and current asks ranging from $4,966 to $141,879.
Nike and Footpatrol have not responded to Complex’s requests for comment at this time.
GOAT’s weeklong 2021 Black Friday releases have been going on since last Friday, and before wrapping things up on November 26, the app is set for a big lineup of Thanksgiving day releases tomorrow.
The day’s drops will be highlighted by a chance at Devin Booker’s Nike Zoom Kobe 1 Protro PE for its original retail price of $175. These days, the shoe is tough to track down (Flight Club, the sneaker consignment store owned by GOAT Group, currently has no sizes in stock), but it was originally released in April 2018 exclusively at three House of Hoops locations: Harlem, Hollywood and Highland, and Scottsdale, Arizona. Player exclusives are often not released to the public, but this was one of a handful of Nike Kobes that were offered at select locations.
GOAT’s previous major 2021 Black Friday drops have thus far included the Diamond Supply Co. x Nike Dunk Low “Tiffany,” Dior x Air Jordan 1 Low, Kanye West’s Louis Vuitton Dons and “College Dropout” A Bathing Bapesta Lows, and the Trophy Room x Air Jordan 1 High. Releases will end this Friday, November 26 at 7:15 p.m. ET.
Nike Kobe Reviews 