Nike’s Kobe Bryant Kobe 4 Protro Blind Box Features 14 Colorways — Including 13 From Teams Who Didn’t Draft Him

The Nike Kobe line will take its storytelling to another level to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Kobe Bryant being drafted into the NBA.

Leaks previously indicated 14 different colorways of the Kobe 4 Protro would release for the occasion, and Nike has now revealed it will employ the mystery box format that’s helped drive the Labubu phenomenon.

The Nike Kobe 4 Protro Draft Day Pack will launch in June with customers not knowing exactly what sneaker they’ve purchased until they’ve torn open the gold wrapping inside the box. A cheeky concept sees 13 of the 14 colorways calling out the teams the teams that didn’t draft him, as well as the Charlotte Hornets, who traded Bryant to the Los Angeles Lakers after selecting him with 13th pick. The 14th variant is then made for the Lakers and is the only one in the assortment not to start off with a white base.

Accents on all 13 of the primarily white sneakers match those of their respective teams, and the leather upper can be worn away to reveal their primary color. As an example, the Philadelphia 76ers colorway will see it its upper turn from white to blue. A lottery ball graphic on the left insole of every pair denotes the given team’s position in the draft, and an inner-tongue tag on all 14 sneakers duplicates the draft board with Bryant at the 13th slot.

Through the announcement on the Snkrs app, the language makes clear the provocative intent of the collection. The Lakers are said to have “got it right,” while the other 13 teams are described to have “missed on a legend” in what might be the pettiest basketball retrospective since Michael Jordan’s Hall of Fame speech.

The Nike Kobe 4 Protro Draft Day Pack will release through the Snkrs app June 26, exactly 30 years after the 1996 NBA Draft. Pricing is set at $190.