Nike Originally Developed Kobe Bryant’s Black Mamba Persona for Michael Jordan

Some nicknames transcend time and are universally recognized, and unless you live on a deserted island, you know that the “Black Mamba” refers to Kobe Bryant. Well, unless you're a film buff and recognize this nickname from Kill Bill, then maybe you’ll look at the name as a reference to Beatrix Kiddo, Uma Thurman’s character in the film.

You’d never associate “Black Mamba” with Michael Jordan now, would you? He’s always referred to as a Black Cat, with the nickname used on a variety of Jordan Brand sneakers over the years. But at one point in time, the “Black Mamba” was going to be associated with Michael Jordan.

ESPN writer Baxter Holmes revealed in a new story posted earlier today that in 2002, Nike had originally planned to associate the venomous snake with Michael Jordan. Not in the same context as his “Black Cat” moniker, but to be used as inspiration for the then-upcoming Air Jordan 19. Gentry Humphrey, the legendary former Nike and Jordan executive, recalled that he and others tasked with creating the sneaker thought the Tech Flex material eventually used on the braided sleeving on the model looked like a snake.

Humphrey would later go home and discover the black mamba snake, a highly venomous and deadly snake native to sub-Saharan Africa. He pitched a connection between the black mamba snake and Michael Jordan’s lightning-fast and agile playing style, and people bought in. After developing the Air Jordan 19, Jordan Brand tasked Wieden+Kennedy, one of the most legendary advertising firms and the agency responsible for the “Just Do It” tagline, with marketing the sneaker’s snake connection.

Eventually, after advertisements were created and millions were poured into getting marketing ready for the Air Jordan 19, Jackie Thomas, who was Jordan Brand’s new director of marketing, met with Michael Jordan and a team of other Jordan Brand execs to go over the game plan. Over the course of an hour, she broke down the marketing campaign for the AJ 19, spending some time making the connection between MJ and the black mamba snake. Larry Miller, president of Jordan Brand, told Thomas after the meeting that the pitch was fantastic, but that there was one major problem: Michael Jordan didn’t like snakes.

Thomas would reach out to MJ and explain the situation, with Jordan saying he understood that they can’t start from scratch and ditch the campaign, but that “you need to reconcept before the next colorway drops.” Following an ad print campaign with the Air Jordan 19 enveloped by a black snake, future ads focused on Team Jordan athletes like Carmelo Anthony.

As for Kobe Bryant’s association with the “Black Mamba” nickname, multiple sources have indicated that Bryant was unaware of this marketing campaign pitch for Jordan. The long-cited story is that one restless night, Kobe had stayed up well past 2 AM watching Kill Bill Vol. 2 and was fascinated with the black mamba snake Elle Driver uses to (spoiler alert) kill Budd and walk away with $1 million and a Hattori Hanzō sword.

Of course, we now forever associate the “Black Mamba” name with Bryant as Nike and Kobe would both lean into the nickname for sneaker releases and marketing campaigns for nearly 20 years. But in an alternate reality, “Black Mamba” may not carry any cultural weight and forever be tied to the Air Jordan 19, a sneaker that is often forgotten by sneaker heads and rests as a footnote in MJ’s long-standing Air Jordan series.

Nicholas Vlahos

Sneakerhead from South Florida who turned his passion into a career. When not writing for Sole Retriever, I enjoy watching films and discovering music. Follow me on Letterboxd @nickvlah For tips, reviews, or any shoes in a size 13, email nick@soleretriever.com