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Source: VINCENT LAFORET / Getty

When it comes to iconic basketball sneaker lines, few can challenge Nike‘s run.

But within the Swoosh, there’s the legendary Kobe Bryant signature line and His Airness‘ of course. In the past, the late Laker legend has been a fan of the Jordan 3 silhouette –like that time he wore the True Blue colorway during the All-Star game– and now it looks like Jordan Brand is paying homage by releasing a colorway that’s pretty close to one of his player exclusive pairs.

Sneakerheads will remember that back in 2016 while Kobe was going on his retirement tour across the league in his final 82 games, Michael Jordan decided to gift the Black Mamba a complete set of Jordans, from the 1 to the XXX. Not only did he get them all in two sets, one in black and one in white, but several of them were donned in Laker’s purple and gold to make the offering even more special.

The mock-ups of the November 14, 2020 Jordan 3s — soleheatonfeet and zSneakerheadz– look pretty similar to the Kobe exclusives save for the yellow eyelets that remain purple on the general release.

Beyond the competition of figuring out who was a better player, despite both being legends in their own right, the two shared an appreciation for greatness and pushing themselves. Jordan spoke about his relationship with Kobe at his memorial back in February.

“Everyone always wanted to talk about the comparisons between he and I. I just wanted to talk about Kobe,” Jordan said through tears.

“He used to call me, text me, 11:30, 2:30, 3:00 in the morning, talking about post-up moves, footwork, and sometimes the triangle. At first, it was an aggravation, but then it turned into a certain passion. This kid had passion like you would never know,” Jordan added.