John Kim 
Kobe Bryant entered the NBA in the 1996 season and took just one year to be voted as a starter on the Western Conference All-Star team – and he wasn’t even a starter on the Lakers! That season, four Los Angeles Lakers made it onto the Western squad (Shaq, Nick Van Exel, and Eddie Jones rounding out that group), but it was Kobe’s arrival to the spotlight (in New York City of all platforms) and his match-up against Michael Jordan that rose as one of the biggest sub-stories of that All-Star weekend at Madison Square Garden. During the game, Kobe Bryant wore this White/Black colorway of the adidas Crazy 8 (we’ve added a nice in-game shot for you below); it features choice hints of Lakers purple and gold around the shoe, and the notable ‘8’ stitched at the base of the tongue. Until now, this colorway had never seen a retro release, but the wait is over because these are available now in-store and online at Packer Shoes, so hit them up to cop a pair!
