Duke Women’s Basketball Shows of Blue Devil Kobe 5 Protro PE
Quick Facts
- The Duke women’s basketball showed off a new Kobe 5 Protro PE
- The Kobe 5 Protro PEs feature a blue, black, and white colorway to match Duke’s jerseys
- Unless you are taking the court for Duke or are one of the Cameron Crazies, we’re gonna bet you’ll never even see a pair of these in person
Kobe Bryant famously never went to college, skipping the NCAA step and going straight from Lower Merion High School in suburban Philadelphia to the NBA draft. If he had gone to college, though, Kobe always made it known that he would have packed up his life in Philly and taken a trip down to Tobacco Road in North Carolina, picking between UNC and Duke. In a 2017 Tweet asking him to pick between the two schools, Bryant responded with a one-word answer, “Duke.”
Now, as the Duke women’s basketball team gets set to start the 2025-’26 season, the Lady Blue Devils will be lacing up new pairs of team-colored Kobe 5 Protro PEs. Posted to Instagram by the official team account, the Kobe 5 Protro PEs feature a blue, black, and white colorway to match Duke’s jerseys, with blue on the toecap, side, and heel panels, black on the toe, lace panels, and sock liner, and white on the Swoosh and tongue logos, with a Duke “D” on the left shoe and Kobe’s sheath logo on the right. The midsole is split into a two-tone mix with black on the forefoot and blue on the heel.
Duke basketball’s Nike sponsorship has been souped up with Kobe PEs for the past few years now, with a set of Kobe 9 Lows rolled out for March Madness last year and a pack of Kobe 8 Protros for the teams the year before that. So far this year, we’ve mostly seen Jordan PEs from college hoops teams this year, with Marquette and Cincinnati both showing off Jordan 40 and Luka 4 exclusives.
Like past Duke Kobes, these pairs will no doubt be highly sought after on the secondary market, but unless you are taking the court for Duke or are one of the Cameron Crazies, we’re gonna bet you’ll never even see a pair of these in person. To stay up on all the latest college hoops PEs, download the Sole Retriever mobile app.
Zach Harris is a writer based in Philadelphia. His work has appeared in Rolling Stone, Vice, Complex, High Times, and more. He is obsessed with skateboarding and bowling. He is still looking for his first 300. For tips, reviews, and anything in size 10.5 - zach.h@soleretriever.com
