All The Shoes Jalen Brunson Wore This NBA Season

After 53 years, the New York Knicks can finally call themselves NBA champions again. You couldn’t (and still can’t) escape the Knicks fever, no matter what part of the globe you reside on, with social media feeds full of SideTalk NYC-style clips of New Yorkers going wild for their city. Burned buses, broken property, and a bunch of Spurs fans trying to survive a night of what, for them, seemed like The Purge shouldn’t define this NBA Finals victory; what should is Jalen Brunson’s efforts throughout the season and the playoffs.

Finishing the series as NBA Finals MVP, Jalen Brunson has already ascended into legendary Knicks status, soaring past the likes of Patrick Ewing and Carmelo Anthony for the simple fact that he was able to bring the Larry O’Brien trophy to the five boroughs. Both of these Knicks superstars from the past laced up their own signature models while on the court, but Brunson is also in a league of his own when compared to the sneaker choices of Ewing and Melo.

Brunson is (reportedly) sticking to Nike Kobe PEs instead of going the signature model route. It’s not entirely unheard of for an NBA player to continually receive player exclusive colorways and not receive a signature model, but a player of Brunson’s status almost certainly gets their own shoe.

Now, we’re not here to complain about the fact that Jalen Brunson, for all intents and purposes, is the de facto face of the Nike Kobe line and has plans for more Kobe PEs. In reality, it’s much easier to get the public to buy into already-established silhouettes with special colorways done by a modern-day superstar than forcing a new design down our throats. Just look at the most-worn sneakers in the NBA and WNBA each season. Nike Kobes are always at the top.

For the 2025-26 NBA season, the Kobe 6 was the most-worn shoe, with 71,312 minutes on the court. Next in line? The Kobe 5 with 26,804 minutes. In total, four of the top ten shoes were Nike Kobes. Last WNBA season, the Kobe 6 ended up at number three with 9,250 minutes, which was 1,665 minutes shy of first place.

To celebrate the Knicks’ championship and Jalen Brunson’s performance throughout the playoffs, we’ve decided to look back at all the Nike Kobes Brunson wore during the last year. Each of the 25 shoes below were worn by Jalen at least one time during the 2025-26 NBA regular season and postseason.

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Nike Kobe 6 Protro Statue of Liberty PE

Brunson’s first-ever Nike Kobe PE to hit retail, the Kobe 6 Protro Statue of Liberty debuted during the Knicks’ playoff run in the 2024-25 NBA season and released in December 2025. Since the Knicks won the chip, the shoes have skyrocketed in price, with some sizes selling for over $1,400.

Nike Kobe 6 Protro Sunrise PE

Just weeks before dropping his Statue of Liberty PE, Brunson laced up a sunrise-inspired colorway of the Kobe 6 Protro in a game against the Mavericks. It became a common fixture for Brunson to wear the pair throughout the regular and postseason.

Nike Kobe 3 Low Protro Arancia PE

Nike chopped the top off the Kobe 3 and converted the sneaker into a low-top in 2025. The public wouldn’t get a shot at owning any colorway of the Kobe 3 Low in Protro form until NBA All-Star Weekend (we’ll touch on that later), but Brunson was one of the first NBA players to wear the model with his own PE colorway in Knicks orange. The Arancia colorway is expected to release later this year.

Nike Kobe 4 Protro High School State Champ PE

Jalen Brunson did plenty of winning before leading the Knicks to an NBA Championship, including an Illinois state championship for Adlai E. Stevenson High School in 2015. To honor his alma mater, Brunson and Nike cooked up a Kobe 4 Protro PE in the school’s colors.

Nike Kobe 5 Protro Jordyn PE

Did you know Jalen Brunson is a girl dad? Well, he made it quite clear when he took the court in a special heart-covered Nike Kobe 5 Protro themed after the pajamas his daughter Jordyn wore.

Nike Kobe 5 Protro NY vs NY PE

Nike has been hosting the NY vs NY tournament, which pits the best youth hoopers against one another every summer, since 2017, and the PEs that come from the event are some of the best releases each year. For 2026, Nike created a Kobe 5 Protro for Brunson that also ties in to NY vs NY, and Foot Locker dropped the pair early in NYC in celebration of the Knicks making the Finals.

Nike Kobe 6 Protro Knightfall Vader PE

Victor Wembanyama has been an outspoken Star Wars fan, rightfully disparaging the sequel trilogy and previously getting a custom pair of Wookie-themed shoes. But Wemby can’t say he’s an NBA champ. Brunson has him beat there, and he also has him beat in the sneaker department, with the Knightfall Vader Kobe 6 inspired by Anakin Skywalker’s turn to the dark side and his transformation into Darth Vader.

Nike Kobe 3 Low Protro Super Saiyan PE

The power levels on this one are most definitely over 9000. Jalen Brunson’s nerd-dom is not limited to Star Wars, with this Kobe 3 Low Protro inspired by the Blue Super Saiyan in Dragon Ball Z.

Nike Kobe 6 Protro NBA Finals PE

This one is technically just a custom version of the Kobe 6 Protro Statue of Liberty PE, but it was worn during the Knicks’ recent NBA Finals run. The pair adds a gradient pattern to the midsole and changes the colors of the Swoosh for a colorway that pops a bit more than the OG.

Nike Kobe 3 Low Protro Warning Label PE

Nike Basketball’s NBA All-Star Weekend collection was dubbed the “Warning Label,” with signature sneakers and inline models getting vibrant metallic and shiny makeovers across the roster. Included was a Warning Label Kobe 3 Low Protro. Technically, there are two versions of the sneaker, with Brunson’s pair getting more of a metallic gold look to its purple overlays compared to the ultra-limited retail version.

Nike Kobe 5 Protro LNY University Red

The Year of the Snake was in 2025, and Nike leaned into Kobe’s Black Mamba nickname by declaring it the Year of the Mamba. Part of this snake-themed Kobe collection was a two-pack of Kobe 5s covered in slithering snakes. An Eggplant version was more widely available, with a University Red colorway being limited to the Asian market and a small release in San Fran for the US.

Nike Kobe 5 Protro WTR PE

Jalen’s father, Rick, played in the NBA and bounced around the league quite a bit. In total, he took the court for nine different franchises, including the Trail Blazers, Knicks, Celtics, Bulls, Raptors, Clippers, Super Sonics, and Rockets. Those nine teams inspired Jalen’s Nike Kobe 5 Protro WTR (What The Rick) PE.

Nike Kobe 6 Protro Caitlin Clark Light Armory Blue

Showing love to another torchbearer of the Kobe line, Jalen Brunson wore Caitlin Clark’s Nike Kobe 6 Protro in Light Armory Blue plenty of times throughout the year.

Nike Kobe 6 Protro Lilac PE

Over the last few years, Kobe’s wife, Vanessa Bryant, has taken to Instagram to showcase upcoming Nike Kobe drops and flex the exclusive shoes we could only dream of owning. One pair, with the theme never fully explained to the public, was in a purple lilac finish, which was spotted on a few different NBA and WNBA stars. Brunson was one of the lucky few who would wear the shoe, and he even laced up the colorway in the Finals.

Nike Kobe 4 Protro CHBL PE

Sometimes it's the youth hoopers who get the PE heat. Just look at the Chinese High School Basketball League, which has received a number of Nike player exclusives over the years. In 2025, a yellow-shaded Kobe 4 Protro hit shelves in Asia for the CHBL, and of course, Brunson was able to get his hands on a pair.

Nike Kobe 5 Protro Joke's on You PE

Last NBA season, Brunson was sidelined for 15 games with an ankle injury, and returned just ahead of the playoffs in a pair of Nike Kobe 5 Protros inspired by Batman’s arch nemesis, The Joker. It’s a bit similar to the Chaos colorway, but it’s different enough to stand out on its own.

Nike Kobe 3 Protro Christmas

Nike introduced the world to pre-orders via the SNKRS Reserve program with the Nike Kobe 3 Protro Christmas. Jalen Brunson didn’t have to load up the SNKRS App and wait 3 months for his pair to arrive, as he laced the shoes up in the early parts of the 2025-26 NBA season.

Nike Kobe 6 Protro WNBA

Showing love to the W, Jalen was spotted wearing the WNBA-themed Nike Kobe 6 Protro a few times during the year. Luckily, the orange shade is also a perfect match for the Knicks' orange.

Nike Kobe 6 Protro USC PE

Brunson is a Villanova alum, and even though he wore a Kobe 4 PE inspired by the school during the 2024-25 season, he showed love to another program this season by wearing USC’s Kobe 6 PE.

Nike Kobe 4 Protro Gift of Mamba

All-black kicks may forever be associated with referees, but the Kobe 4 Protro Gift of Mamba is luxe enough to stand out among the sea of triple black shoes. Brunson only wore the shoe once this season, but it’s still one of the best Kobe 4s to have hit shelves in the last few years.

Nike Kobe 6 Protro 3D All-Star

Since this season’s NBA All-Star festivities took place in LA, Nike went back to the vault and dropped the Kobe 6 Protro 3D All-Star, a pair that originally dropped 15 years prior when the city last hosted the event. Jalen was spotted in the sneaker a number of times throughout the year, and a quick glance might have you mistake this for his Vaderfall PE.

Nike Kobe 6 Protro All-Star 2.0 Sail

A simple, yet effective Protro colorway of the Kobe 6, this sail-shaded iteration of the shoe swaps out the traditional snake skin-inspired upper for star-covered TPU panels.

Nike Kobe 6 Protro Kay Yow PE

Nike’s tie to the Kay Yow Cancer Fund has seen a boatload of kicks come covered in pink shades over the years. A new version of the Kobe 6 Protro Kay Yow was gifted to various NCAA programs and pro basketball players, including Jalen Brunson.

Nike Kobe 3 Low Protro Mamba Magic

While Jalen Brunson was lacing up his own PE colorway of the Kobe 3 Low Protro, he also has worn pairs we mere mortals have had the opportunity to purchase. The Warning Label pair doesn’t count since his version was different from the one that hit retail, so the first time he laced up a pair that we could cop with the Mamba Magic colorway.

Nike Kobe 4 Protro Draft Pack

In the final weeks of the NBA Playoffs, Jalen Brunson wore a pair of Kobe 4s that comes as part of the upcoming Draft Day Pack. The collection features 14 different colorways, 13 of which are themed after the teams that passed on Bryant in the 1996 NBA Draft. The ultra-rare 14th pair is done in Lakers gold, but the one that Brunson wore is for one of the teams that missed out on a generational talent.

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