-
Nick DePaulaESPN
With Kobe Bryant’s five-year post-retirement contract extension with Nike expiring this month, Vanessa Bryant and the Kobe Bryant estate have chosen not to renew the partnership, she confirmed in a statement to ESPN Monday evening.
“Kobe’s Nike contract expired on 4/13/21,” Vanessa Bryant told ESPN. “Kobe and Nike have created, worn and adored some of the most beautiful basketball shoes of all time by fans and athletes in all sports around the world. It seems fitting that more NBA players are wearing my husband’s product than any other signature shoe. also.”
Bryant and the estate had become frustrated with Nike limiting the availability of Kobe products during his retirement and after his death in January 2020 in a helicopter crash. There was also frustration with the lack of availability of Kobe shoes in children’s sizes, according to sources, presumably to be worn by both young boys and girls getting their start in the sport.
Nike, sources said, had presented an extension offer inconsistent with expectations or an ongoing “lifetime” structure such as the Nike Inc. contracts from both Michael Jordan and LeBron James.
“I always hope Kobe’s fans can buy and wear his products,” said Vanessa Bryant. “I’ll keep fighting for that. Kobe products sell out in seconds. That says it all.
“I was hoping to enter into a lifelong partnership with Nike that reflects my husband’s legacy. We will always do everything we can to honor the legacies of Kobe and Gigi. That will never change.”
It is believed that all future releases of Kobe Bryant branded footwear and apparel manufactured by Nike will be discontinued. The Kobe Bryant estate could enter into negotiations with outside brands to form a new partnership.
Vanessa Bryant also confirmed to ESPN that the Kobe Bryant estate owns the rights to both the “Mamba” logo and his signature. The “Sheath” logo that often appears on the tongue of Nike’s Kobe sneakers is mutually owned by both parties, according to one source.
“Kobe Bryant was an important part of Nike’s deep connection with consumers,” Nike told ESPN in a statement. “He pushed us and made everyone around him better. Although our contractual relationship has ended, he remains a much-loved member of the Nike family.”
After scoring 60 points in his last NBA game on April 13, 2016 – dubbed ‘Mamba Day’ by Nike in an extravagant farewell campaign – Bryant was contracted for a five-year extension that would continue the partnership until his retirement.
Before he died, Bryant had explored the idea of creating his own Mamba brand after the existing Nike deal expired, and even met in December 2019 with a creative agency that could potentially help design and develop run a future product series.
After signing with Nike in 2003, Bryant created an impressive partnership with the brand that spanned the remainder of his Hall of Fame career. He headlined sneakers like the Zoom Huarache 2K4 and 2K5, the industry-changing Hyperdunk at the 2008 Olympics, and 11 signature models under the Nike Kobe series.
With the launch of the Kobe 4, during Bryant’s revived 2008-09 championship season with the Los Angeles Lakers, the sneaker’s design ushered in a new era of low tops in the competition. Once worn by only a handful of point guards in all 30 teams, short tops were spotted on all players in all positions, in each team, shortly after. Almost half of the competition now wears low sneakers in games.
Once he retired from the NBA, a line of retro and newly made sneakers were released over the past five years. Bryant coined the term ‘Protro’ based on the insight that he wanted to upgrade his shoes from the past with modern constructions and technologies – a Pro-level, updated Retro edition of his earlier sneakers.
Several of Nike’s best non-signature athletes have made a routine of playing in Kobe sneakers, both for a love of the performance characteristics and as an ongoing tribute. In recent seasons, Devin Booker, PJ Tucker, DeMar DeRozan, Buddy Hield, Isaiah Thomas and several others have created their own player-exclusive colorways of Kobe Protro models to continue his sneaker legacy.
The Kobe 1, 4, 5 and 6 have all been re-released in recent years through that Protro lens. During the bubble reboot of the 2019-2020 season by the NBA, 102 players wore a Kobe branded sneaker, the most of any player’s sneaker line in the league.