Kobe's Hunger Games

Kobe Bryant has always been one of the most competitive athletes of the world. The adrenaline and the taste of the challenge are always been his addictions. Now that Kobe is not on the pitch anymore, he still does not want to give up on challenges. In order to advertise the Kobe A.D. shoes (his new collaboration with Nike), the five time NBA Champion started to throw challenges to some USA’s superstar on his Instagram profile. The concept of the campaign is simple: the shoes are available in five different colors and each color is linked to a word that refers to a #mambamentality challenge. To the original five challenges, Kobe added two extra for some of his ex co-workers on the parquet: Giannis Antetokounmpo and John Wall.

 The first one is “Fearless”, linked to the Isaiah Thomas’ challenge. The new Cleveland Cavaliers player must be on the All-NBA first team at the end of the next regular season. That means he has to play better than three players among Stephen Curry, Russell Westbrook, James Harden and the new Celtics’ star Kirye Irving. The most interesting challenge is called “Honesty” and is destined to DeMar DeRozan. The Raptors’ player from Compton (California) has to reconnect with old friends from in his neighborhood. Compton has been always known as one of the most violent cities of the West Coast, DeRozan has always maintained a strong link with his neighborhood and this challenge could give a new hope to many aspirant basketball players in the city. 

The word “Detached” marks the post for Kendrick Lamar: Kobe challenge the rapper to revolutionize the music program at the Centennial High School in Montana. KDot has ever been an example for the USA’s teenager especially in Compton in fact when he wrote “Black Boy Fly” he was simply trying to turn envy into motivation using his friend Arron Afflalo as a role model. The NFL cornerback of Seattle Seahawk's Richard Sherman received the “Optimism” challenge: Kobe dares him to break the interceptions season record for his team. The last challenge of those five is called “Passion” and involve the gold Olympic and legendary speedster Allyson Felix: she have to coach USA sprinters for the next Special Olympics Games or rather a competition reserved to people with intellectual disabilities.

The two extra challenges are reserved to Giannis Antetokoumnpo and John Wall. The Black Mamba defied the Wizards’ captain to seek the First All-NBA defensive team; in 2015 Wall was prized in the Second All-NBA defensive team. The last and the most difficult challenge is for Giannis Antetokoumpo. The Greak Freak has to be the next MVP of the regular season: at the moment Dirk Nowitzki is the only European MVP in all NBA history.