Kobe Bryant’s widow, Vanessa, is not a happy camper these days! Earlier this year, the widow didn’t renew the contract with Nike to extend his longstanding deal with the company. Now, she is furious as there has been a public leak of the Mambacita sneakers she designed that honors her and Kobe’s late daughter, Gianna, who died in a helicopter crash with her father early last year.
According to
NBC News, Bryant is
seething that the shoe that she designed for Nike honoring her daughter has been leaked and not approved by her as she didn’t renew the contract her husband had with Nike. She expressed her dismay on her Instagram account.
“This is a shoe I worked on in honor of my daughter, Gianna. It was going to be called the MAMBACITA shoe as an exclusive black and white colorway on her daddy’s shoes. The MAMBACITA shoes are NOT approved for sale.
I wanted it to be sold to honor my daughter with ALL of the proceeds benefitting our @mambamambacitasports foundation, but I did not re-sign the Nike contract and decided not to sell these shoes. (The MAMBACITA shoes were not approved
to be made in the first place.) Nike has NOT sent any of these pairs to me and my girls. I do not know how someone else has their hands on shoes I designed in honor of my daughter, Gigi and we don’t. I hope these shoes did not get sold.”
“In the 2nd photo, it appears someone already has Gigi’s MAMBACITA shoe in their possession. If someone can share how they have these shoes in their possession, that would be great because my daughters and I don’t have any of Gigi’s MAMBACITA shoes.”
Bryant played his whole 20-year NBA career with the Los Angeles Lakers. He was a five-time NBA champion, a two-time Finals MVP, and the league’s most valuable player in 2008. During his career, Bryant made the All-Star team 18 times and was the youngest player to ever reach 30,000 points. Bryant retired from the NBA in 2016, scoring an NBA-season-high 60 points in his final game.
The 41-year-old basketball legend died in a helicopter crash in Calabasas, Calif., along with his 13-year-old daughter, Gianna, and seven other people on Jan. 26, 2020.