Anthony Davis certainly is the caliber player who could receive a signature shoe with Nike, but the past few seasons he has been perfectly content wearing models of late Los Angeles Lakers legend Kobe Bryant.
Davis’ preference to wear pairs from the Nike Kobe signature line has taken on added significance since being traded to the Lakers in 2019. Along with San Antonio Spurs guard DeMar DeRozan, Davis has regularly been the first to wear an upcoming release or be outfitted in his own player exclusive of a Nike Kobe 4, Kobe 5 and Kobe 6.
However for Christmas, Davis helped Nike celebrate the 10-year anniversary of the Kobe 6 ‘Grinch’ by wearing the protro version against the Dallas Mavericks. Nike released the shoe in limited quantities on Christmas Eve.
While the NBA has loosened guidelines for players’ footwear, Christmas annually is used to unveil special models of sneakers. As such, Davis deemed the Nike Kobe 6 grinch as the No. 1 shoe for that holiday, per ESPN’s Nick DePaula:
“[The best] Christmas shoe is definitely the Grinches. I don’t think no one can argue that. Switching to Kobes 3 years ago & sticking with ‘em ever since, especially after everything that happened, it’s a great way to just honor him on Christmas. Playing for the Lakers, it’s the 10th anniversary — it only just lines up for me to be able to wear those shoes.”
Bryant memorably debuted the Kobe 6 grinch on Christmas Day in 2010 when the Lakers hosted LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and the Miami Heat. The shoe released that morning and instantly became one of the classics from the Nike Kobe signature line.
Davis’ opinion of the ‘Grinch’ colorway as the perfect Christmas shoe is shared not only by most fans, but several players as well.
Vanessa Bryant plans with Nike for Kobe shoe releases
On top of regular interest in Kobe shoe releases, his tragic passing has made it all the more difficult to purchase a pair without needing to resort to the secondary market. Ahead of what became another challenging release, Vanessa Bryant said she was working on plans with Nike to make shoes more accessible to fans.
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