Key Points
- Nike Kobe 4 Protro 'Draft Day' Lakers releases June 26 for $190.
- University Gold upper with Fierce Purple Swoosh and branding.
- The lone gold pair in a 13-shoe "Draft Day" pack.
- The pack references the teams that passed on Kobe in the 1996 draft.
Nike is turning Kobe Bryant's draft-night snub into a sneaker pack. The Kobe 4 Protro "Draft Day" Lakers releases June 26 for $190, the gold-based hero of a 13-shoe collection built around the teams that passed on Bryant in the 1996 NBA Draft.
The concept
The "Draft Day" pack frames the 1996 draft as the slight that fueled a career. Thirteen teams picked before the Charlotte Hornets took Bryant 13th and flipped him to the Lakers, and the pack renders those passes as white-based pairs — with the Lakers shoe, the team that actually landed him, standing apart in University Gold with Fierce Purple on the Swoosh, branding and outsole. Heel hits of his No. 8 and No. 24 and "1996 Draft" tongue detailing round out the story.
Why the 4
The Kobe 4 remains the most beloved shoe in the line — the low-top that argued basketball sneakers could be cut below the ankle — and Protro reissues of it move regardless of colorway. Routing the marquee gold pair of a concept pack through the 4 is a safe bet, and the Lakers makeup is the one most buyers in the pack actually want. It joins a busy stretch of Kobe Protro retros, including Jalen Brunson's Kobe 6 "Statue of Liberty" PE headed to retail.
Source: Sneaker Bar Detroit, Sneaker News
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