The Nike Kobe 6 Protro “Reverse Grinch” was worn by Jaylen Brown on the court on Saturday night. The shoe has been seen a lot in the NBA this season, but Brown’s is unique because it was painted to honor Kobe and Gigi Bryant.

There was a handmade design on each quarter panel of the pair, and on the sides of the shoes, there were two photos of Kobe and his daughter. There is a black-and-white picture of the two of them in uniform from behind on the left shoe. Gig’s hand is around Kobe’s waist. Then, on the right, you can see both Bryants biting their shirts, which was a habit Kobe had. On both sides in the middle, “In loving memory of Kobe and Gigi” is written in handwriting.

Shoe customizer Marcus Rivero, whose Instagram name is “SolesBySir” and lives in Miami, made the shoes for Brown. Rivero is best known for making special boots for NFL players, but he also regularly makes shoes for Brown and a number of MLB players.

Rivero said he made the shoes for the Celtics’ holiday game against their old rivals, the Los Angeles Lakers, in an Instagram post from Christmas Day. But Brown didn’t wear them until Saturday’s game against the Indiana Pacers. Before that, he wore a different pair of Kobe 6 Protro “Reverse Grinch” shoes that had been customized to not have a Nike Swoosh on them.

As Brown has come to expect, the Swoosh was taken off of his Kobe 6s from the weekend (see picture). Brown had previously said that Nike did the wrong thing by ending its relationship with Kyrie Irving after Irving shared an antisemitic video on social media and took a long time to denounce the views. Brown has kept wearing the brand’s boots, but they don’t have their main logo on them anymore.

The Nike Kobe 6 Protro “Reverse Grinch” came out in December in a style that was the opposite of the Kobe 6 “Grinch” that Bryant wore on Christmas Day, 2010. In honor of the shoe’s 10th anniversary, the “Reverse Grinch” Kobe 6 Protro came out in December 2020.