Nike Is Dropping 13 New Kobe 4 Colorways—But Which One You’ll Get Is a Surprise

Nike is releasing 13 Kobe 4 Protro colorways to mark the 30th anniversary of the 1996 NBA Draft, but buyers won’t pick which pair they receive. The shoes come in blind bags, with an all-white base that fades during wear to reveal team colors—each tied to a fra

For Kobe Bryant, Draft Night wasn’t about being seen early. It was about being worth the wait.

Nike is leaning into that story for the 30th anniversary of the 1996 NBA Draft, announcing 13 colorways of the Kobe 4 Protro. The twist is what makes the release feel like a challenge instead of a simple buy: you don’t choose which one you get. They’re packaged in blind bags. the kind you’d expect from a card pack or a small collectible drop—open it and find out.

Bryant’s path matters here because it was never straightforward. He was drafted 13th overall in the 1996 NBA Draft by the Charlotte Hornets. The Rockets—sorry. the Hornets—sent him to the Los Angeles Lakers at the request of the Lakers. and the teams quickly agreed on a swap that delivered Vlade Divac to Charlotte in exchange for Bryant.

That choice, of course, didn’t happen in a vacuum. The same draft class included Allen Iverson going first overall to the Philadelphia 76ers, while Stephon Marbury and Ray Allen went fourth and fifth. Two picks after Bryant, the Phoenix Suns selected Steve Nash.

Still. the story Nike is selling is the one fans have argued about for years: teams that passed on the undersized high school phenom they could have been building around. The colorways in this drop are tied directly to franchises that skipped Bryant in ’96—names like the Toronto Raptors. Milwaukee Bucks. Grizzlies. Celtics. and Clippers sit at the center of the release’s “what if” energy.

Nike’s base set is made up of 12 shoes, each built on an all-white look. The uppers and soles are white, with the only immediate color coming from the outline of the Nike Swoosh, the sockliner, and Bryant’s sheath logo on the tongue.

Then the shoe changes. Each colorway represents one of the teams that didn’t draft Bryant—purple and red for the Toronto Raptors. green and purple for the Milwaukee Bucks. and so on. The catch is that the uppers use a wear-away material: spend time on the court and the white fades. revealing the team’s colors underneath.

The drop is designed like a draft itself—no control over what you land with. only the process of opening and waiting. And for anyone who remembers how often greatness can come from deeper in the order. it’s a fitting homage to a night Bryant’s selection didn’t come from the spotlight. It came from surprise—and it ended up changing everything.

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