Los Angeles Lakers legend Kobe Bryant had been a member of the Nike family since 2003 when his original contract with Adidas ended after seven years in the NBA. After his tragic death in 2020, Vanessa Bryant took over his negotiations with Nike, and the two sides failed to renew his deal after it expired earlier this month.
Vanessa has since released a statement that this is not the end for her husband’s legendary sneakers and that she would find a way to continue to give fans the opportunity to own a pair. She then revealed even more information about how those will be attained.
Bryant took to Instagram on Friday to announce that she and Nike will team up a final time to release two more pairs of Kobes, with the dates not yet available.
From Vanessa Bryant: 2 more Kobe releases with Nike will still happen. pic.twitter.com/YgEgoOy3q6
— Matthew Moreno (@MMoreno1015) April 24, 2021
While there are no details yet, this is an exciting announcement for those who are anxious to purchase a pair of Kobes. The last time there was a limited release of his shoes via the SNKRS app, fans were wildly disappointed when they sold out within seconds of going on sale due to bots removing all of the inventory.
Hopefully this time there will be protections in place to ensure that fans have a real shot to get the shoes they want without having to pay absurd prices on the secondary market. It can be presumed the two releases will be limited in nature due to the lead time required to manufacture a model.
Nike likely had already planned on the two releases prior to negotiations with the Kobe Bryant Estate failing to produce a new agreement.
Jeanie Buss working on 9-part Lakers docuseries
There is no telling the story of Bryant without the Lakers, and vice versa. Recently, Lakers governor Jeanie Buss announced plans to premiere a nine-part docuseries about the team’s history.
The series will cover everything that happened from when Jerry Buss purchased the team back in 1979, to 2020’s grueling championship run that involved a pandemic, a massive China incident and the death of a legend.
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