Source: Nike Basketball / NIke
The everyday sneakerhead might still regard the classic Air Jordans are the grails of the sneaker collecting culture, but NBA players seem to be stocking up on Nike Kobe‘s to the point that they’re becoming hard to come by in today’s sneaker game.
In a new report by ESPN, the Nike Kobe sneaker line has become so in-demand amongst NBA players these days that they’re having a hard time finding pairs in their sizes. The reasoning behind the scarcity is that Nike’s partnership with Kobe’s estate has come to an end, so production of the sneakers have come to a halt and with though negotiations between the two sides are ongoing there’s not guarantee that they’ll work together again. Because of that, the sneaker line of the NBA legend is a hot commodity and players are getting them anywhere they can find them.
“The lack of Kobes in production has meant that guys in the league are dishing out big money to find pairs in their respective sizes. “I’m not going into a store and finding a [size] 17 in a Kobe. No way,” says Anthony Davis in the ESPN piece, who switched to Kobes when he joined the Los Angeles Lakers in 2019. “I mean, it’s guys’ favorite shoes. A lot of people are inspired by him, and the shoe feels amazing. All of them feel amazing.”
Real talk, many a baller has said that the Kobe sneakers are comfortable and great to play basketball in unlike some popular silhouettes from your favorite GOAT. Just sayin.’
Things have gotten so crazy to find a pair of Kobe’s in big sizes that some players are spending up to $15,000 just to get themselves a pair. They not even Off-White’s, b.
Hopefully Nike and Kobe’s estate can come to some sort of agreement for future releases, but until then don’t expect to see Kobe kicks on the shelves just sitting as players, fans, and resellers will be on the hunt for them something serious.
