Kobe Bryant announced his retirement on the 30th of November, prior to the Los Angeles Lakers’ home game against the Indiana Pacers. Thus, we have known for a while now that the ongoing season would be Bryant’s last but the clock has been ticking and the time for his final game at Staples Center (13th April) is just over two days away.
He might not have been the outright best player in the league for the last few years but Bryant had been among the top five players over a span of last 15 years. It’s the end of the era and his shoe sponsors Nike declared two days back that 13th of April will be celebrated as “Mamba Day” in honour of Bryant’s 20-year career. This is how Nike Basketball made the announcement:
The release by Nike stated that beginning from today (April 7th), athletes across the world no matter what the sport sponsored by NIKE will wear black and gold shoes in order to honor Byrant and his illustrious career. It didn’t take long after that release for the athletes to follow suit.
A two-time PGA Championship Winner, Golfer Rory Mcllroy honored Bryant wearing black and gold shoes with 4/13 written on the side:
A couple of days after the Nike release, Nike Basketball released a tribute video with a number of athletes under the Nike family across all sports saluting and honoring Bryant. The video includes big time NBA superstars like LeBron James, Kyrie Irving, Kevin Durant and Paul George. Popular players from other sports including Tennis players Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Serena Williams also featured in the ad.
Watch the video here:
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