Back in 2023, Nike introduced us to the Kobe Halo Series, an annual celebration of Kobe Bryant’s birthday that sees an all-white Kobe Protro released. Kicking off the series was the Kobe 8 Protro Halo, followed by the first-ever Kobe 9 Protro in 2024. Now, for 2025, Nike is launching the first-ever Nike Kobe 3 Protro with the Kobe 3 Halo.
Bryant’s third signature sneaker with Nike, originally released in 2008, continued the high-top design language found in early Nike Kobe sneakers. The model features a one-piece knit mesh upper, a TPU lattice structure across the upper (inspired by a basketball net), and Zoom Air cushioning. The last time the model hit shelves was in 2013 with the Prelude Pack, but as mentioned earlier, this is the first time the model received the Protro treatment.
For those unfamiliar, Protro (performance retro) was conceived by Bryant when Nike wanted to retro his older Nike Kobe models. Instead of just releasing the original with outdated tech, Kobe wanted athletes to have more modern tooling with the look of the original; thus, the Protro was born. The first release was back in 2018 with the Kobe 1 Protro, and since then, we’ve seen the Kobe 4, Kobe 5, Kobe 6, Kobe 8, and Kobe 9 released under the performance retro banner.
