Jalen Brunson says his Kobe shoes were inspired by his Villanova journey. They’re called ‘The Nattys.’
“I kind of wanted to reflect on how I’ve gotten to the point I’ve [gotten], and I wouldn’t be here without ‘Nova for sure,” Brunson said.
Though Villanova men’s basketball won’t go dancing for a third year in a row, one of its former stars recently paid homage to his alma mater — and its two most recent titles.
New York Knicks guard Jalen Brunson, who is one third of the “Nova Knicks” trio that also includes Mikal Bridges and Josh Hart, had a custom-designed player edition shoe inspired by his journey to becoming one of the NBA’s premier players. During a Feb. 26 matchup against the Sixers, a 110-105 victory for the Knicks, Brunson debuted his Kobe IV Protro PE “The Nattys” shoes, an homage to his national championships at Villanova in 2016 and 2018. Brunson scored 34 points, along with seven assists and three rebounds, in that game.
On the latest episode of the The Roommates Show podcast, which he cohosts with Hart and Matt Hillman, Brunson was asked what inspired his shoe design.
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“It was one of the story lines that I thought was really cool,” Brunson said during Thursday’s episode. “The cool thing about Nike and the Kobe brand, I figured out that there’s a lot of storytelling behind certain shoes. Any shoe that comes out, there’s some type of story about it, when it comes to, at least, Kobe’s.
“I kind of wanted to reflect on how I’ve gotten to the point I’ve [gotten], and I wouldn’t be here without ‘Nova for sure.”
The shoe has Villanova’s lighter blue color on the heel collar, on the front half of the midsole, and on the outer lining of the Nike swoosh. On the vamp, the signature snakeskin material is Villanova’s navy blue color, the Nike swoosh and Kobe logo are gold, the back half of the midsole is white, the quarter panel is black, and the bottom of the shoe is half navy blue, half light blue that fades into each other.
Brunson has worn Kobe’s since high school. In August, Brunson recalled getting a pair of red “Christmas” Kobe 9 shoes from Kobe Bryant himself after Bryant didn’t play in a game against the Chicago Bulls on Christmas Day in 2014. Brunson was a Stevenson High School senior at the time and attended the game in Chicago.
“Kobe didn’t play, but he had a pair of Kobe 9s he was going to wear, the red ‘Christmas’ Kobe 9s,” Brunson told NBA Kicks. “He literally brought them out of the locker room in his hand, and [said], ‘Here you go.’”
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The New Brunswick native says even though his school had a strict rule about wearing only school colors, Brunson, who says the shoes were his size, wore the red Kobe’s during a holiday tournament.
Brunson has missed the last three Knicks games with an ankle sprain he suffered during a March 6 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers and is expected to miss another week as he continues his recovery. In 61 games played this season, Brunson is averaging 26.4 points, 7.4 assists, and three rebounds, and the Knicks currently hold the Eastern Conference’s third seed.