The Los Angeles Lakers bested the Golden State Warriors on Thursday night and Laker Anthony Davis honored Kobe Bryant with his choice of footwear for the game, wearing “Carpe Diem” Nike Kobe 4s, which Bryant himself wore in 2009.
The shoes have a black upper with purple and gold accents and the words “Carpe Diem” on the tongue.
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The Lakers beat the Warriors 116-86 for the Lakers’ seventh straight win, and Davis gave his team 23 points and six rebounds in three quarters. The Lakers’ star player, LeBron James, sat out the game due to injury, and Davis told reporters that the rest of the team had to step up in his absence.
LeBron, when he’s out, it’s taking away a lot of things that we do, so it’s on all of us to make sure we kind of fill those voids, and I think we did that tonight,” Davis said, via Yahoo! Sports.
At the NBA All-Star Game earlier this month, Davis wore a pair of sneakers reported to be a new colorway of the Kobe 5 Protro. According to Footwear News, the release is planned for March and that the new color option includes a purple-based upper with black accents and gold detailing. Nike has not confirmed the release info but select retailers have the “Lakers” Zoom Kobe 5 Protro scheduled to release on March 26.
The original sneaker debuted in 2010 and is the same one Bryant wore when the Lakers won the NBA Championships against the Boston Celtics that year. Near the end of last year, Nike reintroduced the model as part of its Protro program, which gives classic shoes modern upgrades while maintaining the shoe’s original aesthetic.
The rumored release of the Kobe Protro will give fans a chance to purchase shoes in memory of the NBA legend. After Bryant’s death in January, his shoes immediately sold out before being marked up to incredibly high prices on resale sites in a similar fashion to other memorabilia.
The ethics surrounding memorabilia sales after the death of a high-profile figure are murky, and some sellers have decided to take a break in order to avoid capitalizing on fans’ emotions, while others are continuing to sell Bryant items at sky-high prices. Earlier this week, eBay has had to remove listings from sellers attempting to make a profit on items given out at Bryant’s memorial, as the company has a policy that prohibits sellers from profiting off of “human tragedy or suffering.”
Photo Credit: Getty / Noah Graham
