Nike unveiled its Kobe Bryant logo on the fourth version of its Air Huarache 2K5 shoes, which debuted Tuesday.

The company signed Bryant to a five-year, $40 million deal in June 2003, just days before he was accused of raping a 19-year-old woman in Colorado. Since criminal charges against Bryant have been dropped and the civil suit was settled, Nike has slowly been rolling out its campaign for the Los Angeles Lakers guard.

Earlier this month, Nike bought a two-page ad that appeared just inside the cover of Sports Illustrated, in which Bryant rationalizes that he works harder on his conditioning when he hears the critics call him names like "a ballhog" and "a baby."

"It's devoid of any specific Kobe characteristic," said Ed O'Hara, chief creative officer of SME, a design company that has done more than 2,000 sports logos. "Since the silhouetted player is now a thing of the past, Nike is counting on people making the association between the logo and Bryant.