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Nick DePaulaESPN
To celebrate Kobe Bryant’s Hall of Fame basketball career, along with her successful long partnership and influence on the athletic industry, Nike will launch “Mamba Week” on Sunday, August 23, which would have been the 42nd anniversary of the Los Angeles Lakers icon .
The next day, 8/24, will feature both of the jersey numbers worn during Bryant’s 20-year playing career. The concept “Mamba Week” follows the naming of Nike’s celebration of Bryant’s final NBA game, the April 13, 2016, performance at Staples Center called “Mamba Day” which saw him leave the sport with a 60-point effort.
The week-long programming and product launches will mark the first time Nike has released Bryant’s coveted signature sneakers or jerseys since his death in January, when Bryant, his daughter Gianna and seven others were killed in a helicopter crash en route to the Mamba Sports Academy for a basketball tournament. Nike worked in tandem with Kobe’s wife, Vanessa Bryant, to finalize the “Mamba Week” strategy, according to sources.
Initially, there was internal uncertainty in the aftermath of Bryant’s death about the company’s plans for its Kobe sneaker series, which included 11 signature models during his playing career and six additional signature models. t were released after his retirement, along with several lower-priced team shoes.
After a series of months-long planning meetings, Nike has confirmed an ongoing commitment to celebrate Bryant through product releases that will ultimately benefit from funding for youth sports initiatives.
“Nike will continue to release Kobe Protro shoes, enabling the millions of fans it has inspired around the world to continue Bryant’s legacy,” the company said. “Nike will also continue to work with the NBA to release limited quantities of Bryant’s iconic Los Angeles Lakers jersey.”
The “Protro” concept itself was initially a term that Bryant coined during a series of brainstorming meetings with Nike designers to discuss where his line went after he retired. While Michael Jordan’s former sneakers have created a thriving retro sneaker company that still generates about $ 3 billion annually, Bryant wanted to take a different approach than just releasing every shoe as is, mixing performance and retro into one strategy.
“We are always looking to build on things we have done in the past and try to improve them. Protro is about evolution and improvement on things that were,” Bryant said in 2018, just before the launch of the Kobe 1 Protro. “I wanted to build a business that was not just based on things I’ve done in the past. It’s important that the market stands for performance and that everything we do is innovative. Even if we release shoes from the past, must still be built on performance. “
Designers were instructed to upgrade the shoe from under the hood, using modern construction technologies, shaving weight and upgrading as much as possible. When the Kobe launched 4 Protro last year to celebrate its 10th anniversary, the model once again took over the NBA hardwood, and was worn by more than 104 players in the fall of 2019.
In “Mamba Week,” Nike is expected to release several colorways of the Kobe 5 Protro, the sneaker worn by Bryant throughout the 2009-10 NBA season, when he won his fifth championship. One gold-accented version will feature graphics of the pair he wore during the 2010 Finals, and a trio of collaborations with LA-based boutique Undefeated will feature his upcoming Hall of Fame induction.
The brand will also release Lakers jerseys with both its no. 8 as no. 24, with the front of the jersey celebrating the first decade of his career and his second number on the back.
“As part of Kobe’s legacy championship, the Nike Foundation will make a $ 1 million donation to the Mamba & Mambacita Sports Foundation in memory of Kobe and Gianna,” the company said in a statement. “The foundation, whose mission is to make a positive impact through sports, will use these funds to increase Kobe’s goal of keeping children active and putting them on a path to success in life.”
A major theme of the week will be centered on celebrating Bryant’s “Mamba Mentality” and the concept of having a relentless work ethic that fans from all backgrounds and regions can relate to and strive to incorporate into their lives .
In 2018, Bryant published a book under a similar title, “The Mamba Mentality: How I Play,” which revealed the inspirations that drove his work ethic throughout his entire NBA career. Since Bryant’s death, players around the league have continued to wear his sneakers and will often refer to “Mamba Mentality” as a driving force of inspiration and connecting point to Bryant’s legacy.
I asked him [how he defines Mamba Mentality] ‘in the simplest terms’ … he said to me,’ Curiosity, ” said Eric Avar, Bryant’s longtime Nike designer. ‘He said,‘ The basis for Mamba Mentality, for me, is about curiosity. You must be curious. You need to investigate. You have to learn every aspect. ‘”
In many ways, Bryant applies that approach to both his career and his ambitions after playing. Whether he’s coaching his daughter’s youth basketball team, investing in a variety of tech and consumer goods companies, working to build a children’s book franchise, or developing an animated nickname “Dear Basketball,” which earned him an Oscar would earn, he set equal air goals after his retirement that were matched with the dedication he applied to his NBA career.
In addition to the $ 1 million donation to the Mamba & Mambacita Sports Foundation, Nike will also help track the funding and operation of the Mamba League, a grassroots youth league launched in 2017 by Bryant in tandem with The Boys & Girls Clubs of Los Angeles.
Initially started as a basketball division with 40 teams competing for eight spring weeks between the traditional school team and summer AAU basketball windows, the Mamba League also pushed for an even number of participating boys and girls, while also seeking female coaches with a opportunity to become more involved.
“The Mamba League is a fun competition for kids to learn the game and have fun,” Bryant said at the time. “But also to understand the connection the game has with life in general, and to turn that into a better son, a better daughter and a better student.”
Although Bryant’s birthday typically falls during the quietest point of the NBA offseason, the ongoing start and opening round of the NBA Playoffs League will coincidentally fall during the upcoming “Mamba Week” celebration, with several players at all 16 playoff teams expected Kobe signature sneakers to participate in the brand’s tribute.
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