Dawn Staley thanks Vanessa Bryant for special Kobe Bryant kicks in collab with $105.81 Billion worth sneaker giants

Dawn Staley has been a pioneer in promoting women's basketball to the level at which it is today. Be it through her time in the WNBA or her coaching, the South Carolina coach is an icon that several women across the world want to emulate.

Vanessa Bryant is carrying the torch for Kobe Bryant's legacy ever since the Lakers legend's untimely demise. In order to honor Dawn Staley's contributions to the field, Vanessa Bryant gifted her a pair of custom Kobe Bryant sneakers, released in collaboration with Nike.

Staley, showing her gratitude for this special gift, penned down a heartfelt message to Kobe's wife Vanessa Bryant on Instagram on Friday.

"@vanessabryant thank you for always allowing me to be a part of the @kobebryant family!", she wrote in the caption

Vanessa Bryant has gifted Kobes to several colleges across the country, not just to endorse the brand but also to promote women's basketball. In 2024, Bryant joined hands with the $105.81 billion-worth (per Forbes) sneaker giants to gift custom shoes to Caitlin Clark and the Iowa Hawkeyes, the USC Trojans, as well as the men's basketball reigning champions, the UConn Huskies.

The aftermath of Kobe Bryant's retirement: promoting women's basketball, death, Dawn Staley's reaction

After Kobe Bryant retired, seeing his daughter Gigi's interest in the sport rekindled his own love for the sport. While he initially did not intend to coach basketball after retiring, he made it his mission to coach his daughter Gianna. He started his own local 'All-star' team, which later came to be known as "Team Mamba".

Geno Auriemma wearing a Kobe Bryant jersey during an Oregon vs UConn game in 2020 [NCAA Womens Basketball: Oregon at Connecticut - Source: Imagn]

Kobe Bryant even attended multiple UConn games with his daughter, as both were seemingly fans of Geno Auriemma's team. This included the Final Four overtime thriller against the eventual national champions Notre Dame in 2018, in which WNBA star Arike Ogunbowale hit the electrifying game-winner.

Following this, he made it a priority to promote women's basketball and even believed that some WNBA stars could play in the NBA.

In 2022, Dawn Staley spoke to WNBA legend Lisa Leslie about the impact of Kobe Bryant's demise on basketball players across the world. She knows that while Kobe Bryant is no longer with us, his legacy lives on through his wife, kids and everything he did while giving his life to the sport.