Lakers News: Nike's New LeBron XX Sneakers Are Clearly Inspired By Another Lakers Great

One L.A. champ is borrowing from another.

The sneakers of one 18-time All-Star Laker who was drafted straight out of high school has apparently had quite the impact on the footwear of another 18-time All-Star Laker who opted out of college to fast-track his stint in the league.

For those of you scrambling through Basketball Reference pages at home, I'll resolve the mystery: I'm talking about Kobe Bryant and LeBron James, two First Ball Hall of Fame Los Angeles legends, both of whom have a line of signature shoes with Nike.

To commemorate James's 20th (!) NBA season, Nike is issuing the LeBron XX's. But one expert posits that the new shoes have more in common with Bryant's line of signature shoes than the Chosen One's.

In a new unboxing video, Mike D. Sykes, II of USA Today/Special Delivery took stock of the latest installment of King James's signature shoe, and found the LeBron XX to bear more than a passing resemblance to one another all-time Lakers great with a Nike shoe deal.

"The thing about these joints right here is they don't actually look like LeBrons," Sykes said. "Every time we go to the Nike outlet, we see all these LeBron shoes and I call them 'the LeBron Combat Boots,' and there's a reason for that. It's because they're big and thick and bulky and all that. These shoes [the LeBron XX's]... have zero of those qualities. In fact, I'd say these look more like Kobe [Bryant] sneakers than they do LeBron sneakers. It kind of makes sense because of the whole Kobe-ification of Nike basketball."

As Sykes writes on USA Today, the Beaverton, Oregon sportswear giant's traditional Kobe sneakers are thin, aerodynamic low-tops, which is in line with the new James shoes.

Sykes also adds that, with the arrival of his 20th signature shoe, James has reached terrain only previously traversed by the current basketball GOAT, Chicago Bulls legend Michael Jordan. It's quite the achievement for LBJ, who continues to play at a high level well into his supposed NBA dotage.