These Six College Basketball Programs Will Rep the Nike Kobe Brand
With Nike recently relaunching its Kobe Bryant line, six NCAA basketball programs have been selected to represent the late basketball great by wearing his products on the court. As announced by Vanessa Bryant, Kobe’s widow, on Instagram, the programs will be the University of Connecticut, University of Southern California, University of Kentucky, University of Oregon, Duke University, and Louisiana State University.
Players for both the men’s and women’s teams will wear Kobe sneakers in colorways tailored specifically — and in all likelihood, exclusively — to their respective program. As of now, there’s no indication that the teams will immediately wear the Kobe logo on their uniforms similar to Jordan Brand schools or Florida A&M University and LeBron James, although that could change in future seasons.
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Vanessa reportedly hand-picked the programs to “further the legacies” of Kobe and their daughter Gigi. Given Kobe’s propensity for winning, UConn, Kentucky and Duke are particularly well-suited with their men’s and women’s teams accounting for a total of 29 National Championships.
For now, it’s not yet clear which Kobe models will be given to the college teams. The Kobe 8 Protro “Halo” was the first release following Nike‘s relaunch of the line in August, and additional colorways for the model, as well as the Kobe 4 and Kobe 6, are expected later this year. There’s also a history of some of these programs getting player-exclusives, including Kobe 4s for USC and Duke and Kobe 11s for Kentucky and Duke.
Footwear News has reached out to Nike for comment and will update if a response is given.
About the Author:
Ian Servantes is a Senior Trending News Editor for Footwear News specializing in sneaker coverage. He’s previously reported on streetwear and sneakers at Input and Highsnobiety after beginning his career on the pop culture beat. He subscribes to the idea that “ball is life” and doesn’t fuss over his kicks getting dirty.
