With New York Knicks player Jalen Brunson being a solid NBA star, leading his team to the Eastern Conference Championship for the first time since the 1999-2000 season, he has earned the chance and the right to have his own signature sneaker. Yet, according to an industry insider, the guard has “refused” to have one, instead opting to continue wearing Kobe Bryant Nike signature sneakers.
According to Sports Illustrated, in a social media post, Ric Mestre, who uses the moniker Unstructed Vision on X, had revealed that tidbit during a podcast episode of “The Grindhouse Inc.” He said that when Nike executives approached him about designing his own signature shoes, he politely declined, saying he does not “want a signature” shoe.
“The discussions recently has been if Jalen would have his own signature shoe with Nike,” Mestre says on the show. “And internally, the discussions have gone on, and it’s gotten to a point now where Jalen’s pretty much said, ‘I refuse. I don’t want a signature. Just let me wear Kobe’s for the rest of my career, and I’ll be good.'”
Jalen Brunson prefers wearing Kobes for the rest of his career over a signature shoe with Nike 😳
via: @Uninstructed718 🎥: @ChristinaFaith pic.twitter.com/yrQPwPlSFt
— Complex Sneakers (@ComplexSneakers) January 26, 2026
The media outlet cites Brunson meeting Kobe when he was 14 on Christmas in 2014, and being given a pair of the Los Angeles Lakers legend’s Nike Kobe 9 Elite “Christmas” sneakers has made the Knicks player loyal to the deceased NBA Hall of Famer. Brunson, who is the son of former NBA player Rick Brunson, who also played for the Knicks (as well as seven other NBA teams) during his nine-year career, has been wearing Kobe’s ever since he signed with Nike.
On Kobe’s birthday last year, Aug. 23, Nike released the Kobe 3 Protro Halo, and Brunson appeared in an ad for the sneakers alongside Kobe’s daughter, Natalia Bryant.
Several days ago, he was seen wearing a newly debuted Nike Kobe 3 Low in a Knicks-inspired colorway.
