When does the Nike Kobe 5 Protro “Year of the Mamba” drop?

2025 is the Year of the Snake and Nike is tapping into its Mamba Mentality with a special Protro release from the legendary Kobe Bryant.

The Kobe 5 Protro “Year of the Mamba” drops in an Eggplant colorway on Thursday for a retail price of $200.

Nike Kobe 5 Protro “Year of the Mamba – Eggplant”
January 9 ($200) pic.twitter.com/nL9T9SEh6E

— Nice Drops (@nicedrops) January 1, 2025

This will be the first release of an entire “Year of the Mamba” collection, which will include apparel as well as:

• The Kobe 5 Protro “Year of the Mamba” in a red colorway
• The Kobe 9 “Masterpiece” Protro
• The Kobe 6 “All-Star” Protro

Nike also dropped a video to their YouTube page inviting fans to have a Hard Year in honor of Kobe’s legendary Mamba Mentality.

The Kobe 5, of course, had a tough act to follow in the legendary and revolutionary Kobe 4, which kickstarted the lightweight, low-cut basketball sneaker era. Designed by Eric Avar, the Kobe 5s once again utilized a low-top design inspired by Kobe’s love of soccer and featured Zoom Air cushioning, carbon fiber and a reinforced heel cup for more of a lockdown fit. The upper once again made use of Nike’s then-new and revolutionary Flywire technology in tandem with Hyperfuse, allowing the shoe to be one of the lightest of Kobe’s entire line. Kobe laced up the Kobe 5s for his final championship season with the Lakers in 2009-10. However, the Kobe 5s made their public debut on Lopez Tonight, the TBS talk show hosted by comedian and basketball fan George Lopez, in November 2009.

Unlike the Air Jordan line, when Kobes come back they don’t come back just like the originals. The Kobe line, at Mamba’s instance, introduced a new form of retroing called “Protros” — re-releasing popular models from Kobe’s past but with new technology to keep them in line with current performance trends. This, as well as Kobe’s enduring popularity with the current generation of NBA and WNBA stars, has made the Kobe line extremely popular on the hardwood. The Kobe 5 Protro “Year of the Mamba” is no different, with Nike noting that they “took a great basketball shoe and made it even better by upgrading the traction and cushioning.“

During his time with Nike, Kobe made several trips to China, so it is only fitting that the Swoosh takes inspiration from the Chinese Zodiac for this pair of Protros. Nike highlights attributes it says Kobe shares with the snake in the Chinese Zodiac sign, namely that he is intuitive, strategic and intelligent. The brand also says this colorway is inspired by “Kobe’s preference for choosing to do things the hard way every day.”

The upper honors the Year of the Snake with a golden serpent graphic that works its way around the Swoosh on the lateral side of the eggplant upper. The “Year of the Mamba” 5 Protros also add the illusion of snakeskin to the black heel area as a further nod to this year’s Zodiac symbol, along with Chinese symbols on the inside of the tongue and the golden snake on the insole to further represent the inspiration for this pair. The “Year of the Mamba” 5 Protros will also come with a special red drawstring bag with that golden snake once again along with Kobe’s numbers 8 and 24. Additionally, this colorway is basically a perfect match to Lakers colors, with that purple upper adding gold and black accents and an icy outsole sure to make Lakers fans swoon.

So whether you are a Kobe fan, Lakers fan or really want to celebrate the Year of the Snake, this pair has something for almost everyone. Kobe sneakers remain extremely popular and are always hard to come by, with this colorway already on StockX for an average price of $305, which represents a 43% price premium. So best of luck to all looking to pick up a pair to celebrate the Year of the Snake!

Nike Kobe 5 Protro “Year of the Mamba” Release Details

To see more of this month’s releases, check out our release date calendar.

The Crown Is Yours: Sign up for DraftKings and experience the ultimate host for games and betting experiences!