Kobe Bryant will always be remembered as the ‘Black Mamba’ of basketball, but Baxter Holmes recalls on ESPN that Michael Jordan could have been the NBA’s first ‘Black Mamba’.
The Jordan Brand developed a sneaker and advertising campaign inspired by the venomous snake in 2003, years before Kobe Bryant was nicknamed that.
Nike wanted the Air Jordan 19 to be the Black Mamba
The Air Jordan 19 were laceless and the front of the sneaker featured a tubular design that resembled a snake, which led a Nike executive to Google “the most brutal black snake out there”.
The result was the black mamba, a snake that shared qualities with Michael Jordan: “Very fast, agile and feared”.
Nike’s Black Mamba with ‘Air’ didn’t work: “Michael Jordan was terrified of snakes”
Michael Jordan liked the Black Mamba campaign presented by Jordan Brand, but it ultimately fell through when a secret about the Chicago Bulls and Washington Wizards legend was revealed: Air didn’t like snakes.
Someone is going to die because someone is going to throw a snake someday
“Michael Jordan was terrified of snakes. If you were watching TV with him and a snake came on, he would change the channel… Jordan would say to me ‘if you write that, someone is going to die because someone is going to throw a snake someday,'” Mark Vancil told ‘Rare Air’.
The campaign even briefly went public, including a two-page print ad, but never resurfaced at Jordan’s request.
Kill Bill has the key to Kobe Bryant becoming the Black Mamba
Two years later, Kobe Bryant came up with the nickname ‘Black Mamba’ after seeing the movie Kill Bill 2, which was released in 2004.
Officially, Kobe Bryant became the Black Mamba in 2005, after being named as such in an ESPN profile. In 2007, Nike adopted that name for Kobe.
Mamba Day is celebrated on August 24 (8/24), a nod to the two jersey numbers Kobe Bryant wore during his 20-year career with the Lakers.
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