It’s good to see Nike releasing Kobe sneakers again, but they’re totally doing it the wrong way

Nike’s Kobe sneakers are just as hard to get as they used to be.

Things in the sneaker world move fast, man. One moment, everyone can be elated and overjoyed at the thought of a drop. The next moment? That joy can immediately be cut off by the smallest of details.

That’s exactly what happened with the return of the late Kobe Bryant’s sneaker line to Nike.

Bryant’s signature shoe line was lost in the shuffle after Vanessa Bryant and the Bryant estate cut things off with the company when Bryant’s original deal expired. Vanessa was looking for a “lifetime” deal for the estate and didn’t receive it, so she moved on.

Nearly a year later, however, the two sides came back to the table and struck an agreement in March. The signature line was coming back and its first release would be the Mambacita Sweet 16 shoe honoring Gigi Bryant. The shoe had leaked before, but we never got it because the deal was done.

Clearly, things changed and now we were. Finally, another chance for Kobe fans to cop something to honor their fallen idol. People everywhere — sneakerheads and otherwise — were thrilled by this news.

Until Friday, that is.

Nike finally unveiled the shoes to the public via the SNKRS app. They come on May 1 to honor what would’ve been Gigi’s 16th birthday. They also feature a personal note in the packaging from Vanessa Bryant.

Along with this news and these images, though, Nike unveiled the release strategy for how they’d be distributing these joints. And this is the part that had people riled up.

The drop will come in two different ways.

The first one is via a SNKRS Pass, which is Nike’s geolocation-based release system. To qualify for a SNKRS pass on certain drops you have to live in certain areas where the specific shoe is being distributed. In the case of these Kobe’s, it’s in Los Angeles. So you’ll need to be there for the drop.

The second way is via exclusive access on the SNKRS app. This is the tricky one. Exclusive access is exactly what it sounds like — the shoe will be distributed to certain Nike customers who are selected by the algorithm on the app.

The goal is to get the shoes to Kobe’s biggest fans. How will the algorithm select them? Well, honestly, we have no idea. These were the best details we were given on that process.

“Who receives Exclusive Access will be determined by a combination of factors to ensure that pairs are going to Nike members, old and new, with a genuine passion for the game of basketball and Kobe Bryant’s signature line.” 

Confusing, right? But wait, there’s more. It also notes that exclusive access here is no guarantee for a pair. Your size might not be available and, also, they might just sell out before you can get a chance to buy them.

And now you see the problem with Nike’s exclusive access system. It’s unclear. There’s no transparency at work. We don’t know what the standards are or how that “genuine passion” is determined.

It all feels random and that’s so frustrating — especially when you consider the fact that Bryant’s shoes being so inaccessible was part of the reason things went left with the Bryant estate in the first place.

Here’s Vanessa Bryant on that back in 2020.

Yet, somehow, here we are again. This is supposedly a plan to get Kobe’s sneakers into the hands of more fans, but this doesn’t really feel like that at all.

Lots of fans are going to leave this drop empty-handed and frustrated. Really, it feels like we’re right back at square one. And that’s such a shame because all people want to do is celebrate Kobe and Gigi Bryant.

Someday soon, hopefully, they’ll be able to. Maybe without having to be chosen by Nike.

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