Kobe 5

Optimising the low-top basketball shoe

When Kobe Bryant came to Eric Avar with the idea to create a low-top basketball trainer, it began a series of events that would eventually change how people approached the sport. At the time, it was thought that high-top or mid-top footwear was the only safe and sensible option for basketball as a low-cut shoe would lead to broken ankles and other injuries. Kobe and Avar proved everyone wrong by producing a high-performance low-top design that was incredibly successful and even helped the Los Angeles Lakers to a famous NBA title in 2009. Just a few months later, Avar completed the work on its follow-up, the Nike Zoom Kobe 5 – a sneaker even more optimised for the courts that became one of the greatest in the Kobe signature line.

A fantastic start

Kobe and the Los Angeles Lakers began the 2009-2010 season on a high. They had just won the NBA Finals, taking the franchise to fifteen championships and Kobe to four, and the players were looking stronger than ever. They got underway with a 99-92 victory over local rivals the Los Angeles Clippers in which Kobe top-scored with 33 points to send out a clear statement from day one. He continued to show the value of wearing a low-top basketball trainer as he played each game in the Kobe 4, stepping up in the absence of the injured Pau Gasol by surpassing 40 points in four of the first eleven matches to join basketball greats Wilt Chamberlain and Michael Jordan as the only players to hit that mark in 100 or more games. By 1st December, his team sat at the top of the Western Conference with a record of 14-3 – a position they would hold onto for the rest of the season. At that point, it was hard to imagine a better piece of performance footwear than the Kobe 4, but just a few days later, the Zoom Kobe 5 was formally unveiled, and the game changed once more.

Unveiling the Kobe 5

The official launch wasn’t the first time people had seen the new design – Kobe had already shown it off in an interview with George Lopez on the very first episode of Lopez Tonight on 9th November, 2009 – but it was the first time its creator, Eric Avar, and Kobe Bryant had sat together in public to talk about it. The event took place on 6th December at the old Lakers stadium, The L.A. Forum, which had been the team’s home for more than thirty years until they moved to the Staples Center in 1999. Half of the court was covered in grass as a reference to the fact that Kobe’s time playing soccer as a child in Italy was the inspiration behind his switch to a low-top basketball shoe. On the stage beside Kobe and Eric was biomechanics researcher Matt Nurse, who had been part of the team responsible for designing the Kobe 5 and was there to answer questions on its technology. He explained that, in creating a low-top basketball shoe, it would not be enough just to take a high-top and give it a lower profile as that would simply remove the support it provides without compensating for it in any way. Rather, the designers needed to go right back to square one and build it from the ground up. This they had done with the Kobe 4, which acted as a strong foundation for the creation of the Kobe 5.

Shedding weight

In fact, the design of the Kobe 5 was inextricably linked to that of its predecessor. On his fourth signature model, Kobe had asked Avar to produce the lowest and lightest basketball trainer possible, and during the launch event, he laid out the instructions he had given the designers for his fifth: he wanted a shoe with no excess weight whatsoever as he could not afford to lose even a second of speed. Keen to meet his exacting requirements, the team approached the Kobe 5 somewhat like they would a running shoe, removing every single element that wasn’t absolutely necessary to make it ultra-lightweight and give Kobe those extra milliseconds that were required to be the very best. As a result, the Nike Kobe 5 was even lighter and lower than the Kobe 4, making it Nike’s lightest basketball shoe to date at just 10.6 ounces for a men’s size 9.

A plethora of performance features

Avar and Nurse were able to achieve this remarkable feat thanks to a new TPU material developed by Nike’s experts specifically for the Kobe 5. Its innovative design allowed them to craft the upper into a single flexible covering that was half as thick and half as heavy as that on the Kobe 4 for a lightweight feel and a great fit. This was just one performance feature in Avar’s wider project to build the Kobe 5 around its technological elements so as to mirror the technical precision of Kobe’s game and improve his ability to play with maximum speed and agility. Others included the Flywire cables stretching across the flanks, which made the outer strong and robust without adding any extra bulk, and the heat-bonded overlays on the toe and eyestay, which removed the need for traditional stitching and therefore shed even more weight from the design. Perforations on the toe and medial sidewall helped to ventilate the foot, while the sculpted external heel counter held it securely in place during sudden changes of direction. This firm lockdown was a crucial part of the new era of Kobe shoes initiated by his fourth signature model as it allowed the low-top to function effectively as a basketball trainer, providing the stability of a high-top combined with the manoeuvrability of a low-profile design.

A carefully crafted sole unit

The construction of the sole unit was also key as it incorporated a number of technological components that boosted the player’s agility and speed on the court. Just like all previous Kobes, it had Zoom Air units in the forefoot and heel, with Phylon foam through the midfoot to provide lightweight, responsive cushioning, effective impact absorption and excellent court feel. The sculpted medial arch further enhanced lockdown, the carbon fibre shank plate delivered additional support below the arch of the foot and the decoupled heel created a stable base while also facilitating a more seamless transition through the foot. Down the lateral side of the forefoot, the outsole jutted out slightly to stop the shoe from rolling over during fast cuts, and its heartbeat tread produced maximum grip with minimal material.

Influencing the aesthetic

The unique traction pattern on the outsole of the Kobe 5 featured the image of a heartbeat rhythm as seen on an electrocardiogram (ECG). It came about during a design meeting when Kobe simply wrote the word “heart” on a piece of paper and passed it across the table to Avar, but this wasn’t the only influence the player had on the shoe’s aesthetic details. He was also responsible for the sequence of distinctive dots debossed into the lateral forefoot, whose meaning was to be revealed throughout the course of the season. Now known as the Kobe Code, these intriguing markings have since appeared on many other sneakers in the signature line, with fans eventually working out the meaning and even producing online translations to help people understand them. More familiar branding completed the captivating look of the Kobe 5, with traditional Nike swooshes on the flanks, Kobe’s ‘The Sheath’ logo on the tongue and outsole, and, lastly, his signature on the heel counter.

The beginning of a beautiful partnership

Kobe transitioned from his beloved Kobe 4 to the more refined Kobe 5 in December 2009. He had the chance to show off the stunning abilities and eye-catching details of the new Chaos colourway – a black, purple and green version that emulated the iconic look of Heath Ledger’s Joker from the 2008 film The Dark Knight – in a memorable game against LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers on Christmas Day. Just like Ledger, Kobe immersed himself in his role both on and off the court, and the shoe he was now able to showcase was a testament to this dedication. Unfortunately, LeBron’s team was too strong for the Lakers on the day, but Kobe himself put in a great personal performance, top-scoring with 35 points while also making 10 rebounds and 8 assists. In fact, December was a great month for Kobe, and he was awarded Player of the Month for the Western Conference with a points per game return of 31.3, making it a wonderful start for his partnership with the new signature shoe.

Honorific colourways

Kobe proceeded to put on several spectacular displays in the Zoom Kobe 5 throughout the ‘09-’10 season, often turning up to matches in new colourways that reflected his persona, career-defining moments or people who had inspired him. One such design was the Bruce Lee colourway, which honoured the martial arts legend with a black and yellow outer based on his outfit from the 1978 film, The Game of Death, and red scratch marks on the side mimicking the wounds his character suffered at the hands of the villainous Han in their epic mirror-hall battle from the 1973 classic, Enter the Dragon. Lee was one of Kobe’s heroes, and the player had even taken lessons in the movie star’s own style of martial arts, June Keet Do, to improve his speed and self-discipline on the court. When the colourway was released, Kobe appeared in a series of playful print adverts that replicated the look of vintage Bruce Lee movie posters, creating memorable images that drew even more fans to the Kobe 5 and made this particular sneaker highly sought-after.

An important milestone

As well as designs that honoured Kobe’s heroes, there were several Lakers-based colourways, including the black, purple and gold Away edition he wore on 1st February, 2010, as he scored 44 points against the Memphis Grizzlies, and its white, purple and gold Home counterpart. Though the Lakers lost the game against the Grizzlies, Kobe’s points return, which was his joint highest for the season, took him past a significant landmark as he became the franchise’s all-time leading points scorer by overtaking Jerry West’s career tally of 25,192. Later that season, he also surpassed other Hall of Famers Reggie Miller and Alex English on the list of all-time NBA top-scorers.

A first round test

Reaching this landmark both demonstrated Kobe’s basketballing prowess and highlighted the strength of the Kobe 5, proving yet again that Avar’s low-top design could perform at the very highest level. Despite missing 9 games of the season through injury, Kobe accumulated 1970 points to finish 5th amongst the league’s top-scorers behind four legends of the era: Kevin Durant, LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Dirk Nowitzki. Kobe would have the chance to test his skills against some of these players during the Playoffs, starting in the first round, when the Lakers, who had topped a very competitive Western Conference with a record of 57-25, faced Durant’s Oklahoma City Thunder. Arriving for Game 1 in the Home colourway of his latest signature model, Kobe was not at his best, but the Lakers put in a solid team performance to win by 8 points. He came back far stronger in Game 2, scoring 15 points in an electric fourth quarter that took him to 39 for the game and moved the Lakers into a 2-0 series lead. Oklahoma levelled things up in the next two matches before the Lakers proved too good in Games 5 and 6, winning the series 4-2.

Dominating the Playoffs

In the Western Conference Semifinals, the Lakers took on the Utah Jazz, who they swept aside in four quick games. Ably supported by the magnificent Pau Gasol, Kobe made 30 or more points in every match to finish with a top score of 128 as he and the Zoom Kobe 5 continued to show off their combined abilities. In the next round, the Lakers came up against the Phoenix Suns in a high-scoring Western Conference Finals series. Both teams made over 100 points each in every game, and Kobe made the highest score in four of the six matches, including a massive 40 points in Game 1. As they had against the Thunder, the Lakers pulled away from their opponents at 2-2, winning the last two games to make the NBA Finals yet again. Kobe’s tremendous series saw him accrue 202 points, 43 rebounds and 50 assists, and he looked in top form going into the Finals. This was good news for his teammates as they were about to face their old rivals, the Boston Celtics – the team who had defeated them at the same stage back in 2008.

Performing on the Big Stage

The 2010 Boston Celtics were a very similar team to the one that had beaten the Lakers just two years earlier. They had one of the greatest power forwards of all time in Kevin Garnett, as well as the 2008 Finals MVP, Paul Pierce, and the three-point expert Ray Allen, so this was sure to be a tough series. The Lakers needed a strong start and, thanks to 30 points from Kobe, they got exactly that, winning by a comfortable margin of 13 points in Game 1. Playing in a new white and gold Kobe 5 known as the Big Stage for the player’s ability to perform during important occasions, he underlined the victory by shooting a beautiful three-pointer with mere seconds left on the clock. Throughout the game, Kobe showed incredible intensity, even ignoring Chris Rock when the comedian tried to chat to him on the sidelines so as not to lose his laser focus. At the time, the commentator remarked, “Funniest man in the world, telling jokes, and take a look at Kobe Bryant… ‘I don’t even hear, I’m on a mission.’”

A challenging series

Game 2 presented a more difficult challenge as the Celtics turned up to the Staples Center with revenge in mind. After a closely fought contest that saw the teams tied at 85-85 with 6 minutes to go, Boston ramped things up in the final minutes to win the game, Ray Allen showing off his skills by making 8 three-point field goals from an attempted 11. The Lakers then travelled to the TD Garden arena in Boston for Game 3, where they hoped to take the lead in the series once again. Now sporting the Away version of the Big Stage colourway, whose sleek black outer was covered in shimmering gold details, Kobe top-scored with 29 points to lead his team to a crucial away victory. The commentators showered him with praise throughout the game, one of them saying, “Give me Kobe Bryant as a teammate any day of the week, cause I know the guy is gonna leave it on the floor. He’s an all-time great competitor, he’s an all-time great player.” Later in the same match, Kobe made a long three-pointer after deceiving his opponent with a fake shot, leading the commentator to suggest why he’s so hard to play against: “You play outstanding defence, and then a great player makes a tough shot.” Kobe continued to play well in Games 4 and 5, making 33 and 38 respectively, but the Lakers lost both matches, leaving them 3-2 down in the series and facing the prospect of another agonising NBA Finals defeat to the Boston Celtics.

A remarkable decider

With no room for error, the Lakers returned home to the Staples Center for Game 6, and Kobe switched back to his elegant white and gold colourway. An incredible first half saw them go up by 20 points, giving the Lakers a huge advantage that the Celtics simply could not overturn. They went on to win by a margin of 22 points – the largest by either team in the whole series. Two days later, on June 17th, the franchises met in Los Angeles one last time for the deciding game of the 2010 NBA Finals. It was a different story to Game 6, though, as Boston came out hard to lead by 9 points at the end of the first quarter. The next period was much closer, but Kobe struggled with his shooting, finishing the half having only scored three of fourteen field goal attempts and missing all four of his three-point shots. Never one to give up, Kobe continued to work hard in the second half, and his teammates came together in a performance that was full of heart. Over the course of an incredible final quarter, they turned a 13-point deficit into a narrow lead. Kobe then set up Ron Artest, who coach Phil Jackson later said was the most valuable player in Game 7, for a three-pointer that put the Lakers 79-73 ahead with just one minute left to play. The Celtics pulled it back to within 3 points, but, as the clock ticked down, Kobe was fouled while surging towards the basket. With just 25 seconds to go and under huge pressure, he showed his trademark composure to make two free-throws and seal the victory. As the final buzzer went, Kobe raised his arms aloft before running to his teammates to celebrate another NBA championship in front of his home fans.

The sweetest victory

By the end of the 2010 Playoffs, Kobe Bryant had amassed 671 points – more than any other player that year – and his series performance against the Boston Celtics, in which he made 28.6 points per game, had earned him the NBA Finals MVP award for the second year in a row. Many saw it as his greatest ever Finals series, partly due to the grit and determination he showed, and partly thanks to his excellent personal contributions, but also because of how he supported and worked with his team to get the win. This was exemplified in the final game when, despite struggling to find his best form, Kobe top-scored with 23 points and even made 15 rebounds, which prompted the post-game interviewer to compare him to former Lakers legend Kareem Abdul-Jabar. During the interview, Kobe also admitted that the occasion had gotten the better of him for a while – “I wanted it so bad. Sometimes you want something so bad, it slips away from you.” – but praised his teammates for picking him up in the hard moments, singling out Pau Gasol in particular with the words, “that guy’s unbelievable, and just a hell of a player. We wouldn’t have won it without him.” He also spoke of the magnitude of the victory, particularly as it was against the Lakers’ long-time rivals, saying, “This one’s by far the sweetest cause it’s against them, and because it’s the hardest one by far.”

The aftermath

In earning himself a fifth championship ring, Kobe created a magical story for his fifth signature shoe. Although he would go on to have more great moments with the Los Angeles Lakers, the 2009-2010 season was the last time they reached the NBA Finals with Kobe in the team as the franchise lost coach Phil Jackson in 2011 and was hampered by injuries in the mid-2010s. This made the 2010 victory even more special, and the Zoom Kobe 5 went down as one of the greatest sporting shoes of all time for its part in the action. Its popularity soared throughout 2010 as more colourways were released, including the Rings edition, which Kobe himself wore when the Lakers celebrated their 16th NBA championship at the Staples Center on October 26th. During the ceremony, he was introduced by teammate Derek Fisher as “The world’s best basketball player”, thus showing the respect the other players had for him.

The Prelude Pack

In following the Kobe 4 with another excellent low-top basketball trainer, Nike had proved beyond doubt that the format worked, and more than a decade later, it remains the dominant style on NBA courts. Even after its popular successor was released, people continued to wear the Kobe 5, particularly during 2014, when the celebratory Prelude Pack came out. Created in the run up to the release of the Kobe 9 Elite, this eight-shoe collection featured artistic colourways of all models in the existing signature line, including a version of the Kobe 5 with a bold pop art aesthetic. Its stunning design combined with the powerful memories associated with the model made it one of the most popular shoes in the pack, but, after this, no more Kobe 5s were released for another five years, at which point the gamer exclusive Chaos Alternate colourway was offered to those able to complete a challenge in the 2019 video game, NBA 2K20.

The Kobe 5 Protro

The Zoom Kobe 5 made its true comeback in 2020 with the creation of the Protro model. This updated version was a kind of retro that embodied Kobe’s desire to constantly push the boundaries of performance by adding new technologies to older designs in order to make them even more effective than they were at the time of their initial release. From the outside, the Kobe 5 Protro looked no different to the original, but several alterations enhanced its internal makeup. The biggest of these affected the sole unit, which made use of a new cushioning technology known as Cushlon. This upgraded foam incorporated rubber in specific ratios to improve the already excellent cushioning qualities of Phylon, while also making it more durable. It also removed the need for a second Zoom Air unit in the heel as the enhanced foam was both incredibly soft and highly responsive. Meanwhile, Nike enlarged the forefoot Zoom Air by replacing it with a Zoom Turbo unit that was twice as big and thus provided extra support beneath the toe. The grip lines on the outsole were also altered to increase the surface area that made contact with the ground and deliver more reliable traction, while the most up-to-date materials and production techniques were used to ensure that the Kobe 5 Protro performed even better than the 2009 version.

A tragic event and poignant moments

2020 was a tragic year for the world of basketball as Kobe Bryant sadly passed away. This made the release of the Kobe 5 Protro even more poignant, and players everywhere donned the shoe in honour of the great man. Perhaps the most touching moment of the year, though, was when Lakers player Anthony Davis wore the Kobe 5 during the 2020 NBA Finals as he and LeBron James took the franchise to its first title since Kobe’s 2010 success. This was mirrored in the WNBA by Jewell Loyd, who wore her Gold Mamba Player Exclusive model as she won the women’s championship with the Seattle Storm.

The Undefeated collaboration

Following this, the Kobe 5 was the most popular basketball shoe in the NBA during the 2020-21 season – a mark of its technical prowess and how highly respected Kobe was amongst the basketball community. That same year, Undefeated collaborated with Nike on the What If Pack, which consisted of two specially designed colourways. The pack’s name was a reference to the massive opportunity that was missed by the 12 teams that passed on Kobe during the 1996 NBA Draft and the Charlotte Hornets, who picked him, but sold him to the Lakers before he had even played a game. The aesthetics also reflected this as the first design combined the colours of those 12 franchises, while the second featured the white and teal of the Hornets. Both were highlighted with golden details as a nod to Kobe’s five NBA titles.

Honouring a legend

Undefeated returned in 2021 with the Hall of Fame colourway – an edition that honoured Kobe’s posthumous induction into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. Its design highlighted key aspects of his career, with the golden outer referencing his championship wins and the snakeskin texture paying homage to his Black Mamba persona. The purple, red and blue tones of the swooshes and the numbers 24, 10 and 8 etched into them then echoed the colours and digits of his beloved Lakers and his time with Team USA, while the insoles listed key career milestones, such as the year he made league MVP. Meanwhile, the Kobe 5 was still widely used in the NBA. Even after the release of the Kobe 6 Protro, it remained a top choice, and during the 2022-23 season was still worn by 21 different players, putting it third on the list of the most popular basketball shoes for that year. Many modern greats, including P.J. Tucker, Devin Booker and DeMar DeRozan, have received Player Exclusive models, the last praising the model for how it “stuck to your foot how you wanted as a basketball player.” Others, such as Davis, lauded the shoe for what it allowed them to achieve, saying, “I jumped higher. I shot better. I just felt like Kobe.”, while Loyd, who was mentored by Kobe, loved the story concealed within the design, suggesting that you had to “look at the details of it and figure out what story Kobe was trying to tell.”

An unforgettable silhouette

The Zoom Kobe 5 stands out from all the other models in the Kobe signature line. When it came out, it was the fastest, most agile shoe in the NBA, making it the perfect design for Kobe and providing him with the edge he needed to win a fifth championship. It was also wildly popular amongst other NBA players as its high-tech performance features gave them more speed and manoeuvrability than the high-tops they were used to. This saw it return to the top of the game over a decade later, while its timeless aesthetic captured the hearts of a whole new generation of sneaker enthusiasts too – it’s no wonder the silhouette is regarded as one of the best of all Kobe’s signature sneakers for both its technical abilities and its stylish look. Many will never forget the moment Kobe won his final championship ring, but even for those who weren’t there to see it, the Nike Kobe 5 will forever remain as a reminder of that incredible event and a powerful symbol of the player’s outstanding achievements.