Kobe Bryant Has Posthumously Left Nike Confirms Wife Vanessa Bryant
Nike has released more than a dozen signature shoes after signing a deal with Kobe Bryant
Kobe Bryant had signed a five-year endorsement deal with Nike after his retirement. The deal expired earlier this month, and it will not be renewed. His wife, Vanessa Bryant, has confirmed that the star has posthumously left Nike.
Vanessa Bryant said, “Kobe’s Nike contract expired on 4/13/21. Kobe and Nike have made some of the most beautiful basketball shoes of all time, worn and adored by fans and athletes in all sports across the globe. It seems fitting that more NBA players wear my husband’s product than any other signature shoe.”
Nike and Kobe Bryant
Nike has released more than a dozen signature shoes after signing a deal with Kobe Bryant. One of those was launched about seven months after the death of the NBA champ in a helicopter crash that occurred in Jan 2020.
In a statement regarding this development, Nike said, “Kobe Bryant was an important part of Nike’s deep connection to consumers. He pushed us and made everyone around him better. Though our contractual relationship has ended, he remains a deeply loved member of the Nike family.”
As Kobe Bryant is now a free agent, his estate and Vanessa can talk to other sneaker and apparel companies. Or they might want a new contract with Nike only. Before associating with Nike, Kobe Bryant had signed his first shoe deal in 1996 with Adidas when he was just 17 years old. His first signature shoe, the Zoom Kobe 1 were released in 2005. Even during the 2003 Colorado sexual assault case, the brand stuck with the sports star, and even after his retirement, it launched the Kobe AD line.
The partnership with Kobe Bryant has proven to be profitable for Nike as millions of Kobe shoes have been sold till now, and many NBA players still give them a preference. Nike is planning to release Bryant sneakers in 2021 also, and they will likely be hot sellers as they might be the last of their kind. Talking about sports stars and big brands, LeBron James was recently spotted wearing the Audemars Piguet’s “Black Panther” Flying Tourbillon.
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