Top 10 Nike Kobe 10 Colorways

Every time I think about the Nike Kobe 10, my mind goes to that picture of Kobe Bryant holding up the 5AM Flight colorway. The photo was part of the press release for the sneaker’s debut, as Kobe and lead designer Eric Avar explained the inspiration for the new model and the improvements that they had made from the Nike Kobe 9.

I’m sure in their minds they thought that this image of Kobe holding the sneakers in a unique position - right hand over left, fingertips propping up the sneakers like they were pillars holding up a mythical structure, Kobe looking at the camera like he just saw Nick Young take another shot he wasn’t supposed to - is supposed to inspire the Mamba Mentality in all of us, a year before he would coin the term.

Here’s the thing: when I see that picture, I can’t help but laugh. The silliness of the pose had me wondering how Kobe managed to keep a straight face while taking what were probably dozens of photos at multiple angles. The man turned his hands into a bird’s nest with a hatchling resting peacefully on top.

It should be a meme rife with jokes like his infamous “White Hot” LA Times photoshoot that made him look like the cleanest Fallout survivor ever. Instead, it’s another iconic Kobe sneaker photo, right up there with the Kobe 9 photo that features the sneakers hanging around his neck like a boxer holds up their gloves, or the Kobe 8 photo that feels like the Charmander to the 10’s Charizard.

Ultimately, Kobe wins because he got my attention. He could have held it up as he had done with previous signature Kobe models, but it elicits zero thought. The Kobe 10 becomes a more interesting sneaker just from the way he held it; it’s a sign of his understanding of storytelling. Previous models had more straightforward inspirations, like a particular game or moment before gravitating towards nebulous concepts like the galaxy or what predators he rocks with.

The Kobe 10 is an exploration of his struggles with injury and the steps he has taken to overcome them. It fits the narrative switch happening with Kobe as well, since his days of being a dominant player were winding down. He might not be able to break scoring records like he used to, but if he can still make you believe through sheer force of will that sometimes includes being a ruthless taskmaster to his teammates, he was going to do it.

With the release of the Nike Kobe 10 Protro on August 23rd, on what would have been the Black Mamba’s 48th birthday, here’s a look back at the 10 best Nike Kobe 10 colorways.

10. Nike Kobe 10 Emerald City

Nike doesn’t explicitly say that this colorway is an homage to Seattle Seahawks superstar running back and fellow wearer of the number 24 Marshawn Lynch; it’s just that the details are undeniable. The Deep Royal Blue upper paired with Green Shock is not an exact match to the College Navy Blue and Action Green of the team, but there are enough allusions to Marshawn on Nike’s official text that imply anything else to just misdirecting people who might take offense (*cough* the NFL *cough*) to the connection. A glaring omission to our sneakers that Seahawks fans could have worn to the championship parade earlier this year, but that might just be the 49ers fan inside of me being a bit of a hater.

9. Nike Kobe 10 Pain

The graphics on the engineered mesh of this Nike Kobe 10 colorway are not meant to be pretty. It’s clearly a sneaker that is implied to have seen and felt some things in its life that they would not wish upon their enemies. The torn-to-shreds look is a representation of the injuries that Kobe has endured not only in the seasons prior to the release of the Kobe 10, but also in one notable incident when he broke his nose during practice in high school. With Lower Merion two wins away from winning the state championship, Kobe took off the mask prior to the semifinal game because he struggled with the restrictive gear. Refusing to let himself and his teammates down, Kobe risked further injury to his nose in order to help his team win the state championship and close out his high school career.

8. Nike Kobe 10 Mid EXT Liquid Gold

During the mid-2010s, Nike Sportswear was very connected with Nike Basketball’s signature shoe lineup. From the Kobe 8 to the KD 5 to the LeBron 10, every signature model during that time was given a lifestyle-centric offshoot that was very daring but also very polarizing. The program was on its last legs by the time we got to the Nike Kobe 10, and depending on who you ask, it’s probably for the best that Nike Sportswear’s involvement didn't move forward, or it’s a sign of what could have been. Count me among the latter because the gaudy and opulent Nike Kobe 10 Mid EXT Liquid Gold is somehow both brilliant and a cautionary tale for sneaker brands about stretching things too far.

7. Nike Kobe 10 Overcome

Originally believed to be the EYBL Kobe 10 colorway, Nike set the record straight by stating that this sneaker is a representation of Kobe’s dogged determination to overcome any obstacle, including the pain from his injuries. It’s more of an abstract representation with the deep bruising colors and the not-too-welcoming graphical touches. Maybe the lesson of overcoming is one that kids in the EYBL need to learn had this been the colorway that was meant for them. At least it’s better than my Charlotte Hornets-inspired Draft Day guess when I first saw this pair over a decade ago.

6. Nike Kobe 10 Elite Mambacurial

When images started to circulate around the sneaker interwebs of this new Kobe 10 colorway, it was clear right away that this was going to be a follow-up to one of the most popular Nike Kobe 8 colorways in the Mambacurial. Inspired by the Nike Mercurial boot, this take on the Nike Kobe 10 features the same bold pink that’s quite common on the pitch, but with a more understated finish compared to the Kobe 8, with the smart use of black and grey. The final touch was the Swoosh on the lateral side stretching from the toe to the midfoot.

5. Nike Kobe 10 Elite Grinch iD

After a long absence that saw Nike take a different approach to their holiday Kobes, NIKEiD was the surprising place that the brand brought back the Grinch theme under the “Coal Hearted” moniker. Available on the custom platform for a limited time, the Flyknit upper was locked in as sneakerheads could only play around with the colors for the tongue, the Swoosh, and the tooling. Not surprisingly, any search for these sneakers online will result in Kobe 10s that look very similar to the iconic Nike Kobe 6 Grinch. With the holidays fast approaching, an interesting way to debut the Nike Kobe 10 Elite might be reintroducing the Grinch colorway on the Nike By You platform.

4. Nike Kobe 10 5AM Flight

When Kobe Bryant was recovering from his horrific April 2013 Achilles tendon tear that the world saw in real time, part of his recovery was jumping off a high dive platform at 5 AM that same August. He did it partially to face a fear that he had, but also to test how his recovery was going. The inviting water of the pool and the shade of blue that it made at 5 AM were the inspiration for the sneaker that was initially called Blue Lagoon. It’s also the sneaker that Kobe held like it was a baby bird, so of course it was destined for a top 5 spot on this list.

3. Nike Kobe 10 Elite Draft Pick

With the Lakers favorability ranking dropping with every new piece of information that is coming out of the sale of the team to a private equity firm yet another group of rich and unrelatable billionaires, it’s time to sit back to think about the good old days when LeBron James won the purple and gold their most recent championships (yes, the NBA Cup counts like an Intercontinental Championship counts in the WWE) and the Buss family were the only owners most fans had ever known. But if they want to go back even further, this Nike Kobe 10 Elite dubbed Draft Pick is a stunning representation of the franchise that would trade for Kobe in a bit of a subversion from the Draft Day Kobes that used Charlotte Hornets colors.

2. Nike Kobe 10 Elite HTM Collection

The ultra-exclusive, ultra-rare, and ultra-expensive Kobe Elite HTM collaborations are among the best releases across the entire Kobe line. Designed by the Big 3 of Hiroshi Fujiwara, Tinker Hatfield, and Mark Parker, the colorways for the Kobe 10 edition might feel too simplistic to the untrained eye, as the Oreo, Shark Jaw, and Arrowhead are all combinations of black and white with the occasional hit of silver. However, all three pairs look dramatically different from each other, speaking to the versatility of the Flyknit upper that is able to alter a sneaker’s look with just a few threads. The Racecar pair is what people typically expect with the mismatched multicolor look that would not look out of place on a Flyknit Racer or Flyknit Trainer that was popular at the time.

1. Nike Kobe 10 Elite Drill Sergeant/Elite High Commander/Sgt. Mamba iD

A few weeks prior to the reveal of the Nike Kobe 10 in 2015, Kobe Bryant sat down for an interview with Chuck Klosterman for GQ. It starts out like your typical fluff piece that was full of platitudes before Klosterman and Bryant become bored with the milquetoast conversation and begin to have an actual conversation. After touching on subjects that people who have already made up their minds about Kobe might find eye-opening in retrospect, Klosterman brings up Whiplash. The 2014 film stars J.K. Simmons as a music instructor whose abusive treatment of Miles Teller’s drummer character crosses, tramples, and spits on several lines of common decency, all for the purpose of fulfilling Teller’s potential. When asked what he thought of the film, Kobe says, “That’s me.”

Klosterman didn’t know at the time if that meant Kobe related to Simmons or Teller’s character more, but maybe if he were a sneakerhead (or just watched Kobe’s appearance on Jimmy Kimmel a few weeks later), he would realize that Nike released a pair of Kobe 10 colorways - Elite Drill Sergeant and the Sgt. Mamba NIKEiD exclusive - that alludes to Kobe’s tough-minded approach to mentorship.

The third pair, an Elite High colorway called Commander, is a nod to then-President Barack Obama’s role as Commander-In-Chief with a special shoutout to his high school days, according to the blogs. The high school connection would make sense if the colors of the sneaker, Black/Metallic Silver-Blue Lagoon-Volt, matched the colors of Punahou High School, Buff (a light shade of yellow) and Blue, also known as the sand and the sea. Something tells me if Kobe were running any of these blogs at the time, he would not be pleased.

Juan Martinez

From video game journalism to veteran of the sneaker blog era to podcasting about well, everything, Juan is smiling through it all and can't believe this is his life. After recently getting into Formula 1, he now has hot takes about who the greatest driver of all time is. Email: juan@soleretriever.com