Los Angeles Lakers

Kobe Bryant is only gifting shoes to NBA players with the 'cojones' to ask

Published Mar. 29, 2016 5:30 p.m. ET

Andrew Lynch

When Kobe Bryant's final NBA season started, we expected that he'd be showered with gifts during his retirement tour. But the Los Angeles Lakers and Bryant quickly put an end to that early in the year, saying they didn't want to take away from the games themselves.

Apparently, Bryant had a secondary reason for not wanting any gifts -- instead, he wanted to be the gift-giver.

The Black Mamba has given away numerous pairs of his signature shoe this season to long-time foes and emerging stars: LeBron James got a pair. So did Kevin Durant. Draymond Green did, too. Tony Allen was honored by Bryant for his tenacious defense over the years. And Devin Booker's status as the future of the NBA was cemented with a kick-based gift from Bryant, too.

That's a whole lot of shoes being handed out by Bryant. And with his kicks in such high demand, Bryant is having to come to the arena prepared.

Via ESPN.com:

In fact, on average Bryant brings about five pairs to each road game -- and as many as seven in at least one instance -- because he knows the demand is especially high.

So what are the requirements for receiving an autographed pair?

"Why? You want some?" Bryant joked when he was asked this week.

"Nah, generally guys that got the cojones to ask, I give it to them. I've got plenty of them back there, so I'm not going to run out, so it's all good."

Well, then. That explains everything. It also kind of takes some of the shine off of the gifts, though, right? Imagine having one of your heroes handing you a personalized token ... just to turn around and do the same thing for someone else.

And seriously, they are generally the exact same shoe. Look at the one he gave to Allen:

Salute ✊ @kobebryant #Respect ? pic.twitter.com/vq60gu8XHb
— Tony Allen (@aa000G9) February 27, 2016

And the one for Green:

Kobe just left Oracle, but not before leaving @Money23Green with a pair of signed game worn Kobe XIs pic.twitter.com/KYRMv6LzJE
— Logan Murdock (@logan_murdock) January 15, 2016

Bryant's gift to Booker was similar, minus the coloring on the upper around the ankle:

NHL star Alex Ovechkin was gifted that same pair, too:

We understand that the Kobe 11 has only come out in a limited number of colorways, and that Bryant has worn a select number of those versions in games. That's fine. But we guess only NBA stars get unique kicks from Bryant, who gave LeBron this bright yellow pair:

Kobe Bryant gives signed shoes to LeBron James postgame. #Brotherhood pic.twitter.com/LzINg5rGzq
— PinPoint Sports (@SportsPinPoint) February 11, 2016

And Durant's gift was a high-top Kobe model rather than a low:

Durant and Kobe exchanged shoes last night. Kobe wrote on the pair he gave to Durant: "To KD, be the greatest" pic.twitter.com/nB3PuPvHzR
— Doctor NBA (@DoctorNBA) December 24, 2015

Next on Kobe's list? Perhaps Dwyane Wade, whose Miami Heat face the Lakers for the final time on Wednesday.

We'd rank these different gifts, but Bryant made that impossible by going with the same shoes over and over. With that said, which is your favorite?