Kentucky reportedly selected as a Mamba Program ahead of men’s basketball season

Kentucky’s men’s basketball program this season will wear exclusive Kentucky-themed Kobe Bryant sneakers and apparel, and may include possible special uniforms featuring the Mamba logo.

This report came from Kentucky Sports Radio, and it explained that Vanessa Bryant — wife of the late Kobe Bryant — hand-picked UK as the first Mamba school in the partnership with Nike, and a process over a year in the making is now finalized. Several other programs are expected to join the fold over the course of the multi-year rollout.

John Calipari and the Wildcats have long had a connection with the Bryants.

Vanessa Bryant and the Mamba & Mambacita Sports Foundation, a nonprofit organization founded in memory of Kobe and Gianna “GiGi” Bryant after their deaths in 2020, gifted the team Mambacita Kobe 4s ahead of Kentucky’s trip to Toronto for the GLOBL JAM in July.

Calipari also received a personal gift from the Bryant family back in May: his own pair of Mambacitas, along with a Gigi Bryant jersey and Kobe’s book, “The Mamba Mentality: How I Play.”

Sports betting in Kentucky opens next month. Here are details to take advantage of lucrative sportsbook promos and sign-up bonuses.

Previously, Kentucky hosted Natalia Bryant, Kobe’s oldest daughter, and the family’s organization for the Mamba Skills Academy last October at Memorial Coliseum.

I just received the most incredible gift from Vanessa and Natalia Bryant.

Happy 17th birthday, Gigi!!

Thinking today of Gigi and all of the lives she touched and continues to touch!!#PlayGigisWay pic.twitter.com/mruCZIFaop

— John Calipari (@UKCoachCalipari) May 1, 2023

Keith Farner

A former newspaper veteran, Keith Farner is a news manager for Saturday Down South.