Duke, Kentucky, LSU Among CBB Schools to Wear Kobe, Gigi Bryant Nike Shoes in 2023-24

Several universities that sport Nike basketball gear will honor Kobe and Gianna Bryant during the 2023-24 season.

Duke, Kentucky, LSU, UConn, USC and Oregon have partnered with the Mamba & Mambacita Sports Foundation for the 2023-24 campaign and will wear Kobe and Gianna Bryant Nike shoes, according to Nick DePaula of ESPN.

"We are grateful for the amazing support of these prestigious universities…to further the legacies of Kobe and Gigi," Vanessa Bryant said. "So excited to see their players wearing Kobe and Gigi's NIKE shoes this upcoming season!!"

It's unclear exactly what shoe design the teams will wear.

Nike and Vanessa Bryant came to a licensing agreement for new Kobe Brand merchandise in March 2022 after the deal between her late husband and the company expired in April 2021.

Nike relaunched the Kobe Brand this summer and released the Nike Kobe 8 Protro Halo shoes on Aug. 23, which is Bryant's birthday. Vanessa Bryant worked with Nike to create the Halo concept.

"This will be one of many Kobe 8 'Halo' styles coming soon," Vanessa Bryant wrote on Instagram last month.

Nike also launched the Kobe 4 Protro "Mamabacita" shoes in May.

Kobe, his daughter Gianna and seven others were killed in a tragic helicopter crash in Calabasas, California, in January 2020.

Their lives have been honored in a number of ways since, and while Kobe didn't attend college, opting to make the jump from Lower Merion High School in Philadelphia straight to the NBA, the universities wearing Kobe Brand shoes is still very special.