Among the many difficult questions raised by Kobe Bryant’s death in early 2020 was a seemingly prosaic one: What would happen to his shoes? Bryant had long been among Nike’s most
successful endorsers, with a signature sneaker line popular not just with fans but his peers in the NBA. His passing seemed to throw all that into flux—and the series of events that followed, including the end of a contract and public acrimony between Nike and Bryant’s family, suggested that Kobe fans wouldn’t find an easy resolution. Last week, though, brought news that Bryant’s estate and Nike would be repartnering to continue production of his signature sneaker line. Effective immediately, Bryant’s sneakers will go back into production.
How did we get here? The friction between the two camps seems to have started well before Bryant’s passing. Allegedly, Bryant had long felt that Nike sidelined his shoes after his retirement, with new installments of the Kobe A.D. line coming and going with little internal fanfare. In December 2020, the entrepreneur Shervin Pishevar claimed that, prior to his death, Bryant had planned on splitting with Nike when his contract ran out.
Upon his death, Nike suspended all sales of Kobe sneakers until the following August, at which point several new Kobe kicks launched alongside a weeklong celebration of his legacy. A slew of hot retros dropped in the following months, including the iconic Kobe 6 “Grinch.’” The whole thing had a strange feel to it, though. For fans, rumored low production numbers led to instant SNKRS sellouts and astronomical resale prices. Kobe’s shoes were in higher demand than ever, but the market seemed ill-equipped to accommodate fans looking to pick up a pair of their hero’s sneakers.
Less than a year later, the Bryant estate opted not to renew Bryant’s signature athlete contract with Nike. In an ESPN story, sources claimed that low production numbers, a lack of availability in youth sizing, and Nike declining to offer the Bryant estate a lifetime contract similar to those given to Michael Jordan and LeBron James fueled the split. For those reasons, the Kobe 6 Protro “Del Sol,” released in June of 2021, would be the last Kobe sneaker Nike made. Later that year, photos of an unreleased and seemingly real Kobe—which Vanessa Bryant herself had helped design, as tribute to her late daughter Gigi—were leaked online. In response, she issued a statement claiming she had not approved the shoe for production, and expressed dismay that they’d made their way toward unknown parties.
With Kobes ranking among the most popular shoes in the league, NBA players who wear them on-court soon found themselves in an arms race to load up.