2. Kobe Bryant Debuts the Nike Kobe IX Elite
Kobe Bryant was back from the April 2013 Achilles tendon tear, but at this point in time he was nursing a different injury. Instead of waiting for him to return, Kobe and Nike elected Nick Young to debut his then-new Kobe 9 Elite in a game against the Miami Heat towards the end of January. It’s cool that Young got a chance to debut the Mamba’s new kicks at the time, but it still would have been nice to see Kobe be the first to heart the high-top sneakers.