The idea came to Kobe Bryant right away when his longtime collaborators at Nike told him the Lakers wanted their fourth jersey -- the so-called "city edition" -- designed in his honor: a snakeskin pattern to play off of his "Black Mamba" nickname.
"The snake came to me immediately," Bryant says. "It came to me so fast, I was thinking, 'This can't be that easy. This idea is not going to work.' I spent months trying to talk myself out of it. But in the end, simplicity always wins."
Esleban Montoya, Nike's art director for NBA uniforms, had worked with Bryant before on shoe designs and knew Bryant would want to be involved with every step in the creation of the first "Lakers Lore" jersey.