Justin Kubatko: The @Chicago Bulls Zach LaVine (31 points) and DeMar DeRozan (29) each scored at least 25 points in the same game for the 11th time this season. The last duo to record at least 11 such games through the first 24 games of a season was Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant in 2000-01. pic.twitter.com/WNyvvPTU9f
Kobe Bryant Rumors
All NBA Players
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Kobe Bryant
Position: -
Born: 08/23/78
Height: 6-6 / 1.98
Weight:220 lbs. / 99.8 kg.
Earnings: $328,237,108 ($402,826,486*)
Born: 08/23/78
Height: 6-6 / 1.98
Weight:220 lbs. / 99.8 kg.
Earnings: $328,237,108 ($402,826,486*)
Thunder equipment manager Wilson Taylor was digging around the team storage facility prior to the start of the season. He happened to find five pairs of Thunder-colored Kobes initially intended for Derek Fisher, who played in OKC from 2012-2014. Within minutes, Giddey was at the facility looking to secure them. (Taylor) pulled out his phone, took a picture and texted it to Josh Giddey. “No way!” Giddey wrote back. “Can I come right now?” … Giddey, cradling the boxes like a child on Christmas, looked at Taylor and said: “Can I have them all?”
NBA players hoarding Kobe Bryant's Nike sneaker line
“If you weren’t in on them for the last few years,” says DeRozan, a longtime Kobe model enthusiast, “you’re having a tough time.” Kobes are now considered “deadstock,” taking them into a vintage market that ups the ante. NBA players have chased deadstock shoes for years, often to add to their collections to wear or display off the court. Miami Heat forward P.J. Tucker is known for wearing high-end vintage models in games, but he’s an outlier.
The current situation around Kobes is a whole new game, even for players paid to wear Nikes. Giddey, who signed a multiyear deal with Nike before the season, and players like him are spending more than $1,500 on pairs of Kobes right now as they try to stock up for this season and beyond. Their agents are sniffing around for them, calling in favors and hunting the secondary market for their clients, but without much success. “I’ve had a few guys reach out to me for help,” says Phoenix Suns star Devin Booker said. “I’ll never run out of Kobes.”
The rumors of the end of the Bryant family agreement with Nike started circulating last season before becoming official in April. Nike reps quietly told team equipment managers to prepare their Kobe guys for an end. “Some of us got the word, and we started hoarding them,” says Suns forward Jae Crowder. “By the time the news came out, I had banked up enough for about two years.”
Either way, as this season rolls on and the supplies of the remaining Kobes begin to dwindle with no replacements, the demand for the late Hall of Famer’s beloved shoe design will only increase. In a time when some players are dabbling in cryptocurrency investments, there might be a new exchange developing as more players get desperate. “I’ve always had so many pairs, but I’m looking at them differently now. Guys are asking me [for them], but I can’t go through them like I did,” DeRozan says. “If it gets bad, I may have to even go to my secret vault.”
Los Angeles County has filed a motion for summary judgment against the widow of Kobe Bryant, arguing that she never saw photos of her dead husband and daughter and that she has no standing to sue the county over photos that were deleted and never shared with the public at large.
