Kobe Sneakers From Torn Achilles Game Sell For $660,000

The shoes that basketball legend Kobe Bryant wore when he tore his Achilles tendon during an iconic 2013 game have sold at auction for $660,000 (£532,000).

Playing for the Los Angeles Lakers, Bryant stayed in the game against the Golden State Warriors to score two clutch free throws despite the crippling injury.

“There is no moment in Kobe’s career more emblematic of the ‘Mamba Mentality’ than ‘The Achilles Game,” auction house Sotheby’s wrote in a description for the sale.

The Basketball Hall of Famer died aged 41 in a helicopter crash that killed eight other people, including his 13-year-old daughter Gianna in January 2020 in Calabasas, California.

The 12 April game started painfully for Bryant, who was 34 at the time.

The shooting guard hyperextended his knee early on in the second half of the game, causing him to hobble on one foot.

Then, with three minutes left in the fourth quarter, Bryant took another hit, falling and holding his left heel.

“As soon as I made the move, I knew it. It feels like the shock absorbers in the back of your foot are just gone,” Bryant said of the tear at the time.

He hobbled to the bench, but then returned to the court moments later and made two free throws. It was one of Bryant’s most famous moments on the basketball court.

Sotheby’s estimated the Nike Kobe 8 Elite sneakers would sell for between $600,000 (£483,000) and $800,000 (£645,000).

A number of other Bryant items have sold for high prices at auction since his death. His jersey from the same 2013 game sold for $1.2m (£967,000) in June 2024.

In 2023, a jersey Bryant signed and wore during his MVP season from 2007 to 2008 sold for more than $5.8m (£4.6m). It was the second-most expensive basketball jersey ever sold, according to ESPN.

(BBC)