Slept On: The Case for the Kobe 2.
Written by Brandon Pulmano
Founder | Sideline Society Media
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I never had the opportunity to hoop in the Kobe 2 but would love to get my hands on a pair. To be honest it’s a shoe I rarely see on court. Nike released the Kobe 2 on Christmas Day 2006, right as Kobe changed his jersey number to 24 and the Lakers took on the Heat in Miami. It was the first time Kobe sat in the room and helped build his own signature shoe from the ground up. Ken Link had designed the original Kobe 1 while Kobe was still working his way back from injury. That shoe was super bulky and built for a guy who needed the support more than the speed. By the time the 2 came around, Kobe wanted something different. He and Ken Link sat at the same table and stripped the design down.
Kobe credited Link's talent later, describing the process as the two of them chopping it up together until they landed on something he actually liked. The result was leaner. Synthetic leather replaced some of the bulk from the 1, and Nike kept the Zoom Air cushioning underneath but wrapped it in a shoe built for a faster player. The shoe's biggest moment didn't happen in an NBA arena.
Kobe wore the Kobe 2 through the 2007 FIBA Americas tournament. The competition that marked the start of what became known as the Redeem Team. USA Basketball had come off back to back bronze medal finishes in 2004 and 2006. This was an embarrassment for a program that expected gold every time out. Jerry Colangelo brought Kobe onto the roster to shif the culture.
Months before the actual Olympic run in Beijing. A red, white, and blue Olympic colorway followed, tying the shoe to that stretch of Team USA basketball.
Kobe averaged 31.6 points a game that season. A wild number for a guy switching sneakers, jersey numbers, and international rosters all at once. The Kobe 2 never became the sentimental favorite among collectors the way the 1 or the 3 did. Some call it one of the best performing shoes in the whole line. Others say it hasn't aged well next to what came right after it, since the low top era was only a couple years out and the 2 still carried weight from where the line had come from.
The Kobe 2 wasn't the shoe that defined an era. It didn't have a signature moment stapled to it the way the 1 had with the 81 point game. It was shoe where Kobe stopped wearing a Nike design and started building one. This when he sat across the table from Ken Link and asked for exactly what he wanted instead of taking what he was handed. If Nike gave the Kobe 2 the protro treatment in a low top form it would change the way people view this shoe.
Kobe Bryant wearing the Kobe 2 USA colorway.
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