Vanessa Bryant fires back at report that DeMar DeRozan is ‘face’ of Kobe Bryant sneaker line in now-deleted comments

On Monday, Shams Charania reported that Chicago Bulls star DeMar DeRozan agreed to a four-year contract with sneaker giant Nike. Charania also said that by signing the deal, DeRozan is set to remain the face of the Kobe Bryant sneaker line.

The report struck a nerve with Vanessa Bryant, who took to social media to push back.

Vanessa Bryant explained that her late husband is the only face of the Kobe Bryant sneaker line.

DeRozan has been named an All-Star five times in his career. He was named to the NBA’s midseason classic for the first time during the 2013-14 season, when he averaged 22.7 points and 4.0 assists per game.

He was a fixture of the Toronto Raptors for a long time, which ended in 2018 when he was traded to the San Antonio Spurs.

This past season, despite being 32 years of age, DeRozan took his game to an impressive level. He put up 27.9 points per game as a member of the Chicago Bulls while earning his fifth All-Star bid.

DeRozan, who is a native of Compton, Calif., seemingly wanted to become a member of Kobe Bryant’s former team, the Los Angeles Lakers, last offseason.

He was a free agent, and he felt that the team was going to find a way to bring him to Los Angeles.

Of course, it didn’t turn out that way, and after the rough 2021-22 season L.A. had, many Lakers fans probably wish DeRozan had become a member of the team instead of Russell Westbrook.