Vanessa Bryant did not renew Kobe’s Nike contract...Kobe & Nike are done for now at least

Thavoiceofthevoiceless

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That’s easy. Someone from the factory stole some pairs and clout chasing idiots paid a lot of money to be the first ones to post on IG then they gonna resell it to you Vanessa for 7x times the price.



welcome to the “sneaker culture”

That happens with every sneaker release now, so this situation isn’t new or surprising. Unfortunately, it’s going to happen with every release going forward and there’s nothing that can be done about it.
 

Woodrow

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It seems like Vanessa is still very hurt and defensive when it comes to Kobe and her daughter but she’s going to have to let go eventually. I hope she’s able to find another husband and happiness one day.

do you honestly think the opinion you're sharing is needed/necessary/relevant? no disrespect intended.

she will get over it when she's ready to. in the meantime she has the right to grieve, and to defend her husband's and her daughter's legacy in whatever manner she sees fit. because they were her husband, and her daughter. not yours, or mine, or anyone else's. you stating that she's going to have to let go eventually is obvious and unneeded.

no shyt she'll have to let go eventually. but that's her call.

in the meantime, if she wants to put nike and their manufacturing partners on front street for playing games with kobe's legacy, that's her right too.
 
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Thavoiceofthevoiceless

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His legacy is set in stone. Ain’t shyt Nike or anyone else can do to change that

I don’t even blame Nike for balking at a lifetime contract as Kobe’s weren’t selling like that prior to his death if we’re being honest. If they weren’t the Protos, then they were outlet specials or sold on discount shoe websites.

That’s not being mean or disrespectful, it’s just keeping it 100. I wonder how much of the hype was actually because people wanted to wear the sneakers or just because they could make money off of them. I say the latter because his sneakers were available for people to buy at any time prior, yet people didn’t care to for whatever reason.
 

CarltonJunior

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I don’t even blame Nike for balking at a lifetime contract as Kobe’s weren’t selling like that prior to his death if we’re being honest. If they weren’t the Protos, then they were outlet specials or sold on discount shoe websites.

That’s not being mean or disrespectful, it’s just keeping it 100. I wonder how much of the hype was actually because people wanted to wear the sneakers or just because they could make money off of them. I say the latter because his sneakers were available for people to buy at any time prior, yet people didn’t care to for whatever reason.

What?

They stopped making mainline Kobes after he retired, that's why they stopped selling out, but the mainline Kobes that they made when he was playing always sold in large quantities. I don't think you really know what you're talking about.

None of Nike's signature athletes are selling out, the last great year for Nike sigs was probably 2017 and they still weren't selling out. Kyrie has probably the best signature shoe line since Jordan and he still doesn't sell out. LeBron's shoe line has actually performed poorer than Kobe's for years.

Kobe didn't get a lifetime deal because of his age, he had no leverage. If he started with Nike instead of Adidas maybe he would have had a chance.
 

Thavoiceofthevoiceless

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What?

They stopped making mainline Kobes after he retired, that's why they stopped selling out, but the mainline Kobes that they made when he was playing always sold in large quantities. I don't think you really know what you're talking about.

None of Nike's signature athletes are selling out, the last great year for Nike sigs was probably 2017 and they still weren't selling out. Kyrie has probably the best signature shoe line since Jordan and he still doesn't sell out. LeBron's shoe line has actually performed poorer than Kobe's for years.

Kobe didn't get a lifetime deal because of his age, he had no leverage. If he started with Nike instead of Adidas maybe he would have had a chance.

They weren’t selling out when he was alive though. That’s the thing. The majority of Kobe’s were bargain bin sneakers. Ask any sneakerhead on here and they’ll tell you the same thing.

Unfortunately, his death increase the hype for his sneakers and that’s why they are selling out now. She wanted a lifetime deal from Nike and other changes and they said no and it was obvious to why didn’t. Hype is the only reason that people want his sneakers right now as you can flip them for a profit. That wasn’t happening when he was alive and everyone knows that.
 

CarltonJunior

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They weren’t selling out when he was alive though. That’s the thing. The majority of Kobe’s were bargain bin sneakers. Ask any sneakerhead on here and they’ll tell you the same thing. Unfortunately, his death increase the hype for his sneakers and that’s why they are selling out now.

I'm a sneakerhead and I'm telling you that's false. The Kobe 7s and up were performing as well as any mainline shoe, especially the 11 which the shoe he retired in. That shoe had multiple colorways that sold out in a day.

LeBron hasn't had a shoe that had as much hype as Kobe's when he was playing since probably the LeBron X back when he was in Miami. The LeBron 15 did well with the LeBron Watch shoes, but they still were not as popular as Kobes.

Even in team colorways Kobe was dominating the market, you'd never see youth teams wearing team LeBrons or KDs, they were wearing Kobes.
 

Thavoiceofthevoiceless

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I'm a sneakerhead and I'm telling you that's false. The Kobe 7s and up were performing as well as any mainline shoe, especially the 11 which the shoe he retired in. That shoe had multiple colorways that sold out in a day.

LeBron hasn't had a shoe that had as much hype as Kobe's when he was playing since probably the LeBron X back when he was in Miami. The LeBron 15 did well with the LeBron Watch shoes, but they still were not as popular as Kobes.

Even in team colorways Kobe was dominating the market, you'd never see youth teams wearing team LeBrons or KDs, they were wearing Kobes.

Those team colorway Kobe's that you're were referring were legit sitting in all sizes on Final Score (now defunct) until Kobe's death where people were legit buying them to flip for a profit. I know that as I flipped through the website for years until they canned it a few months ago. Catch it on the right day and you literally could have bought them for an extra 50% off listed price.

Lebron's sneakers aren't hyped or moving the needle these days, yet Nike signed him to a lifetime deal back in 2015. If Kobe's sneakers were in fact selling more than Lebrons, don't you think that Nike would have given him the same type of deal or close to it even after his death?
 

Optimus Prime

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I'm a sneakerhead and I'm telling you that's false. The Kobe 7s and up were performing as well as any mainline shoe, especially the 11 which the shoe he retired in. That shoe had multiple colorways that sold out in a day.

LeBron hasn't had a shoe that had as much hype as Kobe's when he was playing since probably the LeBron X back when he was in Miami. The LeBron 15 did well with the LeBron Watch shoes, but they still were not as popular as Kobes.

Even in team colorways Kobe was dominating the market, you'd never see youth teams wearing team LeBrons or KDs, they were wearing Kobes.
Almost every Kobe shoe outside of low quantity special shoes went to the outlets. I think i posted pics a few pages back. Protos, Carpe Diems, ADs, all went to the outlets
 

Thavoiceofthevoiceless

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Almost every Kobe shoe outside of low quantity special shoes went to the outlets. I think i posted pics a few pages back. Protos, Carpe Diems, ADs, all went to the outlets

Final Score (Footlocker's former bargain bin website) had all of the Kobe's at discount prices until people bought them all after his death. You could legit buy a pair of Kobe's for $40-$50 prior to his death if you knew were to look.

Lebron's aren't even selling like that and he's still playing, but Kobe's were doing even worse.
 

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Here's my post from a few months ago. I remember seeing all these in my local outlets (3 by me) and of course they were gone quickly after his death
Yeah they were at every outlet in my region, these picks are from the Niketalk outlet threads
Plenty of people over there claimed they got them for as much as 50% off
img_20191011_210809-jpg.2436044

31d0abde-4406-4c4e-9e94-dede64e7e3c4-jpeg.2417521

85056e11-c385-4740-8736-2174a1655583-jpeg.2355237
 

CarltonJunior

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Those team colorway Kobe's that you're were referring were legit sitting in all sizes on Final Score (now defunct) until Kobe's death where people were legit buying them to flip for a profit. I know that as I flipped through the website for years until they canned it a few months ago. Catch it on the right day and you literally could have bought them for an extra 50% off listed price.

Lebron's sneakers aren't hyped or moving the needle these days, yet Nike signed him to a lifetime deal back in 2015. If Kobe's sneakers were in fact selling more than Lebrons, don't you think that Nike would have given him the same type of deal or close to it even after his death?

They were still doing better than team LeBrons and KDs. It's just a fact. Right now Kyrie is dominating the sneaker market and you can find team Kyries all in discount stores, mostly because the demand was so high.

LeBron had more leverage to do that deal, again because of his age, timing (NBA athletes are more profitable now than they were 10-15 years ago) and also his business acumen. By the time Kobe signed his deal with Nike he was in the middle of his career because he was with Adidas and obviously his deal didn't expire until after he retired, if his deal was up in, say, 2009, he would have had leverage to potentially get that kind of deal.
 

CarltonJunior

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Here's my post from a few months ago. I remember seeing all these in my local outlets (3 by me) and of course they were gone quickly after his death

Of course, but those are after retirement retros. Kobe's shoes were performing as well or better than everyone's outside of Kyrie when he was playing.
 
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