An ESPN report reveals Nike originally pitched the “Black Mamba” campaign to Michael Jordan in 2003 before Kobe Bryant made it iconic. Explore the stunning what-if scenario that could have reshaped sneaker history,

Before Kobe Bryant was known to all as "The Black Mamba," Nike intended for Michael Jordan to wear the moniker in 2003.

Long before the world connected the words Black Mamba to Kobe Bryant, the identity was sitting inside a Nike conference room, wrapped around a prototype shoe meant for Michael Jordan. It started with a piece of industrial tubing.

When Kobe Bryant claimed his 2012 Olympic squad could defeat the 1992 Dream Team, Michael Jordan and Charles Barkley didn’t get angry, they simply laughed it off as a massive miscalculation.