Why Michael Jordan Turned Down Nike's 'Black Mamba' Campaign That Went to Kobe Bryant

The popular image and legacy of Kobe Bryant might be a lot different if Michael Jordan wasn't afraid of snakes.

ESPN's Baxter Holmes revealed Wednesday that Nike initially sketched out a vision to build a black mamba-inspired campaign around Michael Jordan's newest sneaker.

Nike executive Gentry Humphrey recounted laying out the plan to Jordan during a meeting in spring 2003. Unfortunately, it hardly got off the ground.

"You could just tell from the very beginning he was uncomfortable," Humphrey said.

Nike and marketing agency Wieden+Kennedy had put together promotional images, apparel and a design for the Air Jordan 19 that incorporated the black mamba. Jackie Thomas, the Jordan Brand director of marketing at the time, also pitched MJ personally later that year and felt optimistic.

Jordan Brand president Larry Miller informed her of one major issue.

"MJ doesn't like snakes," Miller told Thomas, per Holmes.

Eventually, Jordan expressed his preference for a new concept altogether and that was that. One black mamba ad for the Air Jordan 19 appeared in an issue of ESPN The Magazine.

As basketball fans know, the venomous snake became synonymous with Bryant. He became enamored with the black mamba after it was featured in the 2004 film Kill Bill: Volume 2.

"I read up on the animal and said, 'Wow, this is pretty awesome,'" he told the New Yorker's Ben McGrath in 2014. "This is a perfect description of how I would want my game to be."

The "Black Mamba" became both Bryant's nickname and on-court alter ego. It was interwoven into his signature line with Nike, and "Mamba Mentality" became shorthand for 18-time All-Star's general approach, something for others to emulate.

None of that probably happens if Nike successfully follows through on the marketing campaign it originally constructed around the Air Jordan 19.