UNDEFEATED Confirms Release Date for Its Nike Kobe 5 Protro “Hall of Fame” Collaboration

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.

NBA Players Are Having A Hard Time Finding Nike Kobe Bryant Sneakers

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.