Kobe Bryant's wife Vanessa shows off Santa's elves rocking cloth-made Kobes
Kobe Bryant's wife, Vanessa, has been enjoying the festive feel of Christmas, as seen from her Instagram stories on Friday. She shared a picture of Santa Claus’ elves rocking knitted socks resembling Kobe’s signature shoes.
The elves’ shoe wear was complete with the Nike brand logo and Bryant’s signature logo on his sneakers. Vanessa Bryant used a pointing finger sticker to show off the Christmas-themed Kobes.
The Mamba’s influence has been undeniable even after his untimely death in a helicopter crash in January 2020. His game and personality transcended the basketball court as he is considered a great ambassador of the sport in the mainstream.
Bryant wore 11 different shoes in his sneaker line during his 20-year career with the Los Angeles Lakers, where he won five NBA championships and one regular season MVP award.
Kobe’s signature shoe line has been one of the most iconic in Nike’s brand history. NBA superstars such as Sacramento Kings forward DeMar DeRozan and Phoenix Suns’ Devin Bookers have used Kobe’s sneaker line for most of their careers. Both have patterned their game to the late basketball icon.
For most of them, Kobe’s shoes symbolize his work ethic and killer mentality, which propelled him to greatness.
Most Improved Player candidate looks back at Kobe Bryant’s influence on his career
LA Clippers guard and Most Improved Player candidate Norman Powell, an avid user of Kobe's sneakers, recalled how big of an influence Bryant was in his career.
Powell, who has idolized Bryant, has been constantly using the Kobe shoes this season. According to kixstats, Powell wore a Kobe sneaker in the first 20 games of the season.
He cited the former Lakers star for inspiring him to work harder in his game every day.
“Kobe always talked about multiple workouts during the day, getting up super early," Powell said in an interview with The Athletic. "And that started early … During lunch in high school, I was not going to eat; I was getting shots up in the gym. ‘Cause that’s what it took. My favorite player said that. And I was like, this is what I’m going to do. Whatever he said was the road for success, I was going to follow it.'
He’s just telling me how you raise a killer, how you become a killer in the league. And just removing the emotional side of the game, and just thinking tactically (about) your approach. And that’s what stuck with me, that tip he told me on the side — just removing emotion and thinking tactically when you’re out there playing, and thinking the game through, rather than, ‘Oh, I missed a shot, now I’m up and down, I got a turnover, I got a bad call.’ Remove all that.”
Powell averages 23.7 points per game to help the Clippers, whose lineup misses two-time NBA champion Kawhi Leonard.