Former basketball player and current coach of the South Carolina Women’s Basketball team, Dawn Staley, recently received an unexpected gift from the late Kobe Bryant’s wife, Vanessa Bryant. The gift was to express gratitude towards Staley for her dedicated contribution to the sport both as a player and a coach. While Staley accepted the gift and highlighted her thankfulness for the generous thinking, the item also marks and reflects on the long-term relationship that Staley has maintained with the famous brand, Nike.
Vanessa Bryant gifts a pair of limited edition shoes to Dawn Staley, reignites memories of the player receiving her first Nike signature shoes in 1999
The Nike Kobe 4 Proto CHBL sneakers are a pair of limited-edition shoes that were launched recently and are only available in China. This indicates that a majority of the population across the globe won’t be able to access these shoes, which makes them even more special and interesting.
Dawn Staley, upon receiving the gift wasted no time in expressing her gratitude to Vanessa Bryant through her social media account on Instagram, “@vanessabryant I don’t mean to flood your timeline but truly grateful and thankful to receive part of @kobebryant legacy and your vision and love for him elevate that legacy! Don’t ever stop….mamba mentality!”
The yellow-colored sneakers caught the attention of the fans owing to their feature of being limited edition. NBA fans even went on to praise Vanessa for gracefully carrying ahead Kobe Bryant’s legacy even after the player’s demise.
Another factor that makes the gift so special for Staley is the symbolic representation of shoes in highlighting the longtime partnership that the player had with the brand Nike. During her days as a player, Staley received her first signature shoe in 1999, the Nike Zoom S5. This was the point of inception for the long-term collaboration between Staley and the brand. As a coach, she was one of the four coaches who were invited for Nike’s Think Tank Initiative 3.0 in 2024. Staley even went on to review A’ja Wilson’s Nike A’One Black Label Player Edition shoes in 2025.
