Picture the sneakers Kobe Bryant wore on the court. You’re seeing low-tops, right? That was the single greatest innovation of the Black Mamba’s Nike signature line. After decades of high-top silhouettes ruling the basketball shoe market, 2009’s Nike Kobe 4 ditched the conventional ankle support in favor of a sleek, low-cut silhouette. Bryant, the story goes, had observed to his design team that soccer players move across the pitch with just as much hard cutting, stopping and starting, and changing direction as hoopers, and they’d played in low-top cleats since the dawn of the sport. It was a revelation both in terms of design and performance. Bryant stuck with low-top silhouettes for the rest of his career (save for the post-Achilles injury Kobe 9). The sneaker world followed, with modern performance basketball kicks largely skewing slimmer thanks to a generation of current NBA stars who grew up hooping in Kobes.
Given that particular legacy of Kobe’s sneaker line, it can be easy to forget that Bryant laced up three other Nike silhouettes before the 4 changed the game. These shoes might not have the landscape-shifting legacy of what came after them, but every shoe that Kobe played in holds a special place in sneaker lore. This week, to commemorate Mamba Day—i.e. 8/24, for his two jersey numbers—Nike is bringing back one of those silhouettes for the first time in well over a decade: the Nike Kobe 3 Protro.
Nike
The Protro designation is another crucial innovation of the Kobe line, the result of Bryant’s insistence that his older shoes not merely be retro’d but remastered—improved upon for rerelease to be brought up to contemporary on-court performance standards. Those revamps have helped Bryant’s signatures remain some of the most-worn shoes in the NBA today.
To bring the Kobe 3 back the right way, Nike gave every aspect of the shoe—–the upper, midsole, and outsole—state-of-the-art upgrades. The most notable change comes in the midsole, which has been redesigned from the ground up. The original model featured two small Zoom airbags in the midsole, while the Protro version now boasts a full-length Zoom strobel for extra bounce and comfort. There’s also an upgraded tread pattern down below to help keep your handles crisp and a modified upper for added support and breathability.
Aesthetically, however, everything remains true to the classic. The Kobe 3’s most notable design element is its caged mid-length upper, which was originally inspired by a basketball net. Paired with a mesh underneath, it molds to the wearer’s foot and provides both airflow and support. The launch colorway sticks to the Protro’s reliable ‘Halo’ scheme in all-white.
The Nike Kobe 3 Protro goes on sale August 23 for $210 via the SNKRS app.
