With New York Knicks player Jalen Brunson being a solid NBA star, leading his team to the Eastern Conference Championship for the first time since the 1999-2000 season, he has earned the chance and the right to have his own signature sneaker. Yet, according to
ad_1 ampforwp-incontent-custom-banner ampforwp-incontent-ad1">According to Sports Illustrated, in a social media post, Ric Mestre, who uses the moniker Unstructed Vision on X, revealed that tidbit during a podcast episode of “The Grindhouse Inc.” He said that when Nike executives approached him about designing his own signature shoes, he politely declined, saying he does not “want a signature” shoe.
“The discussions recently have been if Jalen would have his own signature shoe with Nike,” Mestre says on the show.
“And internally, the discussions have gone on, and it’s gotten to a point now where Jalen’s pretty much said, ‘I refuse. I don’t want a signature. Just let me wear Kobe’s for the rest of my career, and I’ll be good.'”The media outlet cites Brunson meeting Kobe when he was 14 years old on Christmas in 2014, and being given a pair of the Los Angeles Lakers legend’s Nike Kobe 9 Elite “Christmas” sneakers, making the Knicks player loyal to the deceased NBA Hall of Famer. Brunson, who is the son of former NBA player Rick Brunson, who also played for the Knicks (as well as seven other NBA teams) during his nine-year career, has been wearing Kobe’s ever since he signed with Nike.
On Kobe’s birthday last year, Aug. 23, Nike released the Kobe 3 Protro Halo, and Brunson appeared in an ad for the sneakers alongside Kobe’s daughter, Natalia Bryant.
Several days ago, he was seen wearing a newly debuted Nike Kobe 3 Low in a Knicks-inspired colorway.
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