In His Shoes: Kobe & MJ’s Unique Relationship Through Sneakers

In August of 1991, Gatorade rolled out their transcendent “Be Like Mike” campaign. The sports drink slogan immortalized through song epitomized the dreams of millions of children all around the world: 

Every kid wanted to be the next Michael Jordan.

The 60-second spot was an ode to imagination, appearing on box television sets during commercial breaks and at the movies prior to previews. At the time of launch, being like Mike meant possessing superhuman athleticism, achieving worldwide fandom, making millions off endorsements, and as of that summer, being an NBA Champion. 

While Windy City youth dunked on their doorways and adolescents from Asia to Africa practiced their pull-up, it would be an eighth-grader flown back to Philly taking Gatoradeâ€s joyful jingle as not just an idea but rather a challenge. 

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Sporting a prophetic #24 in his team photo and retaining an Italian accent, a teenage Kobe Bryant proved to be the only kid in the world who wasnâ€t trying to be like Mike.

Kobe was trying to be better than Mike.

Taking every page from the Black Catâ€s blueprint, a young Bryant studied Jordan down to his speech patterns and strut, seemingly setting the bar at seven rings right around the time he was seventeen. A swan story over the course of his four seasons at Lower Merion and a slow start at the Sonny Hill Summer League, Kobeâ€s paint-by-number approach to being like Mike was aggressively amplified by irrational confidence only warranted by a relentless work ethic. 

The Mamba Mentality as we now know it would take Kobe to the top as a player. However, Kobeâ€s combination of charisma, talent, and tenacity was one of a kind if not two as a potential pitchman. While it would take years for scouts, teammates, and coaches to fully capitalize on Kobeâ€s unlimited skillset, his commercial appeal was immediately recognized by the man who made Mike Jordan into Air Jordan.

That man? Sonny Vaccaro. 

A whole decade after convincing execs in Beaverton that all of their marketing money allotted for the 1984 NBA Draft should go to an early entry from North Carolina, Sonny was on his own at adidas after being scorned by Phil Knight, MJ, and the footwear giant known as Nike. It was at his legendary ABCD Basketball Camp that Sonny granted an unknown Italian entry thanks to an ask from his former pro pops. 

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“When I was in high school nobody would take a chance on me to come to an all-American camp,” Kobe later reflected on his early days at Lower Merion. 

Not only would Sonny secure Kobe a spot at the top-ranked ABCD Camp, but heâ€d also become so impressed by the skills of Joe Bryantâ€s son that roughly a year later heâ€d convince adidas to go all-in on the talented teenager audacious enough to enter the draft as a guard.

“The world knew who Michael was when we recruited him,” said Sonny years later when reflecting on his first signature shoe signing. “The world did not know who Kobe was when we worked this deal for adidas. This was a much bigger gamble.”

The gamble was big in 1996 with adidas offering better than $1 million over the first year and over $10 million in total for the kid named Kobe. As Vacarro stated in Roland Lazenbyâ€s incredible Kobe Bryant biography, Showboat, the signing of Kobe to the Three Stripes was the first real battle between adidas and Nike at that time.

“Adidas wanted what Nike had started with Jordan,” Sonny said to Footwear News in 2020. “Kobe was, to me, our Michael Jordan at adidas.”

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While at adidas, Kobe was marketed as the ‘one†before his minutes or output warranted such stature. As a rookie, the lowly Laker reserve starred in commercials, received purple PEs and made more from his shoe deal than established All-Stars. 

Over the course of his first six seasons in the NBA and with adidas, Kobe would ascend and so would the accolades. Soon, both the Michael Jordan comparisons and the Michael Jordan relationship would grow in warranted fashion. 

Crafting a defiant signature series and already owning three championship rings, the kid downing jump shots and Gatorade in Italy was halfway to Mikeâ€s magical number of six before he was old enough to rent a car. While numerous ‘next Jordans†had been crowned over the ‘90s, Kobeâ€s mentality and curiosity made him a worthy heir and fast friend.

“When I first came into the league, Michael was terrifying to everybody,” Kobe told the DC media in 2016. “Everybody was really afraid of the guy. Like really, deathly afraid of him. I never really understood that and I was the one that was willing to challenge and learn from him and wasnâ€t afraid to call him and ask him questions. He was really open and spoke to me a lot and helped me a lot.”

The conversations between Kobe and Mike were caught on camera in early Lakers vs Bulls outings and continued into MJâ€s second retirement. Famously, Phil Jackson invited Jordan out to LA to talk with Kobe in the midst of their three-peat push. The blossoming Bryant immediately challenged Mike to a game of one-on-one, baiting the retired Bull with banter and trash talk most wouldnâ€t dare.

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By the fall of 2001, Michael Jordan would be back in the league as a member of the Washington Wizards. The relationship on and off the court would continue as the two would face off twice a year in regular-season play.

By the following fall in 2002, the conversations between Kobe and Mike continued but the business dynamics were now different. Feeling mismarketed by adidas and likely looking for freedom from the deal done when he was too young to solely sign it, Bryant broke his contract with The Three Stripes. Leaving behind millions and memories, Kobe chose to test the market for the entire 2002-03 season by wearing a wide range of brands bidding for real estate on his famous feet.

A sudden shock, the move excited sneaker fans and brands alike. Conversely, it couldâ€ve frightened Laker loyalists in fear that heâ€d display the same level of brazenness with his looming NBA free agency.

Over the course of Kobeâ€s footwear free agency, a broken contract with adidas and unprecedented exit allowed the unsigned shooting guard to break out any suitor sponsor on the court. However, Kobe could not sign with a sponsor for a full year nor could he wear the same brand for three or more straight games. Expectedly, every brand readied both their PEs and their pitch.

From AND1 to Reebok, shoemakers of all sorts took their shot at Kobe by sending him boxes of sneakers set to his team tones and sized just for him. Suddenly, signature models made for Allen Iverson were now appearing on Phillyâ€s forsaken son in purple and gold. Just the same, iconic Air Force 1s and classic Converse worn by Magic revived Showtime vibes.

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Every brand put their best foot forward, but for fans and for Kobe himself the most memorable recruiting offers came from Jordan Brand. Throughout the season, Bryant broke out box-fresh retros before they hit retail and even un-DSâ€d “Concord” Air Jordan 11s that had been sold out for years. 

The biggest perks proved PEs of Mikeâ€s most famous models. In an effort to lure the Laker legend, Jordan Brand sent Kobe exclusive colorways of the Air Jordan 3, Air Jordan 7, and Air Jordan 8 to wear on the court. Samples suggest Air Jordan 9 PEs ended up on Kobeâ€s doorstep even if they never left the locker room.

Playing in MJâ€s shoes, Kobe was phenomenal. From highlight dunks of Yao Ming in his AJ3 PE to going head-to-head with his mentor in Air Jordan 7s and 8s made only for the Mamba, Bryant balled out in his heroâ€s sneakers. 

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Over the course of a cumulative 94 games – including the playoffs and excluding exhibitions – Kobe played in Air Jordans of the GR and PE variety a whopping 65 times. In those games, he averaged an unreal 31 points per outing. 

Almost infamous, the most memorable moments for Kobe in Air Jordans would occur when he matched up with Mike in his shoes. Years later, weâ€d discover that the first outing between free agent Kobe in 2002-03 would set the stage for a famous finale right before Mikeâ€s retirement.

“In Washington, Jordan gets that win,” Gilbert Arenas recalled in 2019 regarding the first 2003 matchup. “Jordan hits (Bryant) on the butt and says, ‘You can put the shoes on, but you ainâ€t never gon†fill ‘em. Youâ€re never gonna fill ‘em, youâ€re never gonna fill these shoes.†Thatâ€s basically what he was telling Kobe. So they say Kobe didnâ€t talk to the team for two weeks. Like, he just went silent, but he was on one million.”

Days in silence turned to weeks. When the Lakers finally hosted MJ and the Wizards for Michaelâ€s final game in Staples, the quiet storm that was Kobe erupted for 42 points in the first half. When it was all said and done, the Lakers landed the win with 55 points coming from the man who baited to believe heâ€d never fill Mikeâ€s shoes. 

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Doing so in a PE pair of Air Jordan 8s, Bryant and MJ were hugging, smiling, and laughing by the end of it. Weeks later, Kobe would rely on those same shoes for much of that springâ€s playoff run. 

Despite taking place in the spring of 2003 when there was no Twitter, no Instagram, and almost no sneaker blogs, the moment meant something to fans both then and now.

“If I could have any Kobe Bryant PE of the Air Jordan, Iâ€d say I want his Jordan 8 model,” admits Joe Habersham of the SoleSavy Community. “The colors looked amazing and this was a shoe he wore when Michael returned to Los Angeles with the Wizards for the last time. In an epic fashion, Kobe dropped 55 in Jordans while serving as a tribute to MJ.”

The game and the gear stuck out to Jordan Brand, too. Years later when it finally came time for Kobeâ€s retirement tour, Jordan Brand selected that Air Jordan 8 PE as one-half of their specialty seeded Kobe Pack as a tribute to his time playing in MJâ€s shoes.

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After an exhilarating sneaker free agency that lasted the span of the 2002-03 NBA Season, it was time for Kobe Bryant to make a move and get the bag.

In the summer of 2003, Kobe signed with Nike for $40 Million over the course of four years. This payday proved big for Bryant and even more so a major steal from the competition for the Swoosh. Though big bucks for Bryant, the amount may have seemed like somewhat of a silver medal as the Swoosh inked high school phenom, LeBron James, only one month prior to a record $90 Million/seven-year deal. 

Despite any optics, Kobe was juiced.

“It was like when Harry Potter landed in Hogwarts — he was home,” Kobe joked to Nick DePaula years ago about first signing with the Swoosh. “Iâ€m always around a bunch of people who are just as competitive as I am or just as passionate about the sport as I am.”

Though the move was memorable, it wasnâ€t without controversy. Sonny Vacarro, the man that brought MJ to Nike and Kobe to adidas, believed that Nike always had a hand in Kobeâ€s exit from adidas dating back before Bryantâ€s contract with The Three Stripes was officially broken. 

“I think Nike was a willing co-conspirator,” Vacarro was quoted in Showboat regarding Bryantâ€s adidas exit. “I think the deal was done before he went, personally. It was too calculated. Nike ended up paying it in some way, shape, or form. It wasnâ€t Kobe doing it. I mean, we know that.”

If that is the case, was Kobeâ€s famous footwear free agency run more for fun than for feel? 

Did Jordan Brand ever have a chance in the long game that was the Kobe sweepstakes or were PE pairs part friendship and free advertising? 

Furthermore, would the back and forth banter of being able to ‘wear but never fill these shoes†keep Kobe at his most competitive from signing under the man that was both his mentor and the bar?

We will likely never know. 

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That same summer that Kobe came under contract with Nike, Jordan Brand did not sit out when it came to spending.

Breaking the bank, Jordan Brand gave Syracuse standout Carmelo Anthony a whopping $40 Million/six-year deal. Over the course of Jordan Brandâ€s then six years of existence, the Carmelo signing was larger and louder than anything before. 

Historically, being on Jordan Brand was related to personal relationships with Mike more than mega-star status. Hypothetically, Kobe had both. However, Melo may have made more sense at that moment in time.

In the summer of 2003, Kobe had three rings, the respect of MJ, and a major market in LA. However, his reputation was somewhat smeared due to the Shaq fallout and his Colorado sexual assault case. Carmelo on the other side had a clean slate, youthful look, and undefined upside on the court. 

Over the course of the next decade and a half, the Kobe to Nike signing proved beautiful for both parties. After a somewhat slow start, Kobe redefined performance basketball by teaming up with designer Eric Avar to create coveted signature sneakers defiantly cut below the ankle. Soon, Kobeâ€s brand was synonymous with performance and innovation, speaking to a new generation and having a successful run at retail from the Nike Zoom Kobe IV to his final playing pair, the Nike Kobe 11. 

Color stories and animal prints would derive from Kobeâ€s own legacy, not Mikeâ€s, painting pairs with purple and gold glory ties to futbol franchises and snakeskin patterns pulling from Mamba Mentality.

When it came time for Kobeâ€s curtain call, the boy who wanted to be better than Mike — not just like him — would not have a Gatorade cooler poured on his head after an epic 60-point sendoff. 

More than a pitchman, the evolved entrepreneur draped a branded Body Armor towel over his head, signifying that his mind was on the money even as Act II had just begun. Not just an endorser but also an owner, it was reported that Kobeâ€s early investment in Body Armor – $6 Million that worked out then to be 10% of the brand – reached an estimated $200 Million. 

The storybook sendoff in April 2016 couldnâ€t have been written better by Hollywoodâ€s elite, business analysts, or basketball daydreamers.

Five years later, much has changed.

Kobe Bryant has passed, leaving the world and fans still looking for solace and answers. Oddly enough, Kobe Bryant is once again a sneaker free agent.

Unlike the summer of 2003, budgets or rivalries are not an issue for Jordan Brand, an absolute dynasty that earns over $3 billion annually. As Michael Jordan inducts Kobe Bryant posthumously into the Hall of Fame in 2021, MJâ€s Jordan Brand enterprise is loaded with young talents like Luka Doncic, Zion Williamson, Jayson Tatum, Satou Sabally, Kia Nurse, and Gio Alun. 

Almost two decades since Mikeâ€s namesake line laced a free agent Kobe with PEs, Jordan Brand is fully invested in the next generation of basketball. 

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Even in Jordanâ€s retirement and Kobeâ€s passing, the man everyone wanted to be like and the boy who actually believed he could be better are forever linked. While fans mourn the loss of Kobe every time they touch a court and celebrate the legacy of MJ every Saturday morning, a select few will always remember the time they were one on foot.

“Kobe put his all into the game like Jordan did,” remembers Terrence Erkerd of the SoleSavy Community. “He even put his all into his shoe designs. If it wasn’t court ready, it wasn’t Mamba ready.”

In 1991, everyone dreamed of being like Mike.

For a moment in time, Kobe Bryant was the only person who actually was.