FLOAT 100 · Sneakers · No. 6
Kobe Bryant 'Achilles Game' game-worn Nike Kobe 8 Elite (2013)
With 3:08 left and his Achilles tendon torn, Kobe Bryant stayed on the floor long enough to make two free throws and tie the game, and the purple-and-gold Kobe 8s on his feet became the most expensive Kobe sneakers ever sold.
- Year
- 2013
- Maker
- Nike
- By price in sneakers
- 6 of 100
Create a free account to see every recorded price and every grade.
Create a free account- Model
- Nike Kobe 8 Elite 'Lakers Home' player exclusive
- Colorway
- Mostly white, gold branding and laces, purple heel, tongue and film overlay
- Size
- 14
- Game
- April 12, 2013, Golden State Warriors at Los Angeles Lakers, Staples Center
- Bryant's line
- 34 points in 44:54, including two free throws after the tear; Lakers won 118-116
- Signed
- By Bryant, after the pair was acquired following the game
- Ownership
- Acquired after the game by a trading card and memorabilia company, then held privately
- Record
- $660,000 at auction in New York, February 7, 2025: the highest price paid for Kobe sneakers
- Estimate
- $600,000 to $800,000
3:08 to play
On the night of April 12, 2013, the Lakers were fighting for a playoff spot and Kobe Bryant was carrying them. It was his seventh straight game of at least 40 minutes, in a season when he averaged 38.6 minutes, his most in six years. Golden State came to the Staples Center with a 45-34 record; the Lakers were 42-37.
The fourth quarter was a shootout. Bryant hit a 25-foot three with 5:05 left and a 28-footer at 3:45 to tie the game at 107. At 3:08, driving on Harrison Barnes, he drew a foul and went down. He had torn his left Achilles tendon.
He did not leave right away. With the Lakers down 109-107, Bryant stood at the line and made both free throws to tie the game at 109. Then he was taken out, with Metta World Peace replacing him, and walked off the court.
The Lakers won 118-116. Bryant finished with 34 points on 9-of-21 shooting, 4-of-8 from three and 12-of-16 from the line, with 5 rebounds and 4 assists. Stephen Curry scored 47 for the Warriors. Bryant had surgery the next day, April 13, with an expected recovery of six to nine months.
The season that ended there
The 2012-13 Lakers had been assembled to win a title. They added Steve Nash and Dwight Howard to Bryant, Pau Gasol and Metta World Peace, five All-Stars with 33 selections between them. Instead, coach Mike Brown was fired after a 1-4 start, Mike D'Antoni took over and the team fell to 15-21.
Bryant kept them alive. He averaged 27.3 points, 5.6 rebounds and 6.0 assists, scored 40 or more eight times and had 11 games with 10 or more assists. On March 30, 2013, he passed Wilt Chamberlain to become the fourth-leading scorer in NBA history.
Without him, the Lakers still finished 45-37 and seventh in the West, clinching on the season's final day. San Antonio swept them in the first round, the franchise's first opening-round sweep since 1967.
The shoe
The pair is a Nike Kobe 8 Elite in Bryant's 'Lakers Home' player-exclusive colorway: a mostly white shoe with gold on the branding and laces and purple on the heel, the tongue and the fused film overlay. It is a size 14 and was presented for sale as a one-of-one.
The Elite version of the Kobe 8 differed from the standard shoe in three ways described at the time of the sale: Flywire support in the upper, carbon fiber in place of plastic in the heel counter and a slightly more breathable mesh base.
After the game the pair was acquired by a trading card and memorabilia company, and Bryant signed the shoes. It then changed hands privately and did not appear in a public sale until 2025.
To auction, 12 years later
The shoes were shown in 'The One,' an exhibition and sale in New York presented five years after Bryant's death in a helicopter crash in Calabasas, California, on January 26, 2020. The estimate was $600,000 to $800,000.
They sold on February 7, 2025, for $660,000, the highest price paid to date for Kobe Bryant sneakers. The jersey he wore in the same game had sold for $1.2 million in June 2024. Other Bryant items have brought more: his Staples Center locker sold for $2.9 million in August 2024, and a jersey from his 2008 MVP season for $5.8 million.
What the free throws meant
Bryant returned on December 8, 2013, with 9 points, 8 assists and 4 rebounds in a 106-94 home loss to Toronto. At the 2025 sale the night was presented as the Mamba Mentality in its highest form: finishing the job even when the job had become impossible.
Most game-worn sneakers are valuable because of who wore them. This pair is valuable because of what happened in it, a moment on the box score that is easy to find: 3:08, fourth quarter, Bryant 2-of-2 from the line, 109-109.
The numbers
- Game
- April 12, 2013, Warriors at Lakers, Staples Center, Los Angeles
- Final
- Lakers 118, Warriors 116
- Bryant
- 44:54 MIN, 9-21 FG, 4-8 3P, 12-16 FT, 5 REB, 4 AST, 5 TOV, 34 PTS
- The free throws
- 3:08, 4th quarter, foul on Harrison Barnes; 2-of-2, tying the game 109-109
- Opponent
- Stephen Curry 47 PTS (17-31 FG, 9-15 3P)
- Records after the game
- Lakers 43-37, Warriors 45-35
- 2012-13 season
- 27.3 PPG, 5.6 RPG, 6.0 APG, 46.3 FG%
Timeline
The Lakers open a season with Steve Nash and Dwight Howard added; Mike Brown is fired after a 1-4 start.
Bryant passes Wilt Chamberlain for fourth on the NBA career scoring list.
Bryant tears his left Achilles at 3:08 of the fourth quarter against Golden State, makes two free throws to tie the game, and leaves. The Lakers win 118-116.
Bryant has surgery on the tendon.
The Lakers finish 45-37 and are swept by San Antonio in the first round.
Bryant returns against Toronto.
Bryant dies in a helicopter crash in Calabasas, California.
The jersey from the Achilles game sells for $1.2 million.
The Kobe 8 Elites from the game sell for $660,000 at auction in New York, a record for Kobe sneakers.
The world in 2013
Barack Obama begins his second term as president.
The Baltimore Ravens win Super Bowl XLVII, delayed 34 minutes by a power outage.
Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Argentina is elected Pope Francis.
Two bombs explode at the Boston Marathon, killing 3 and injuring 264.
The Rana Plaza collapse in Bangladesh kills 1,134 people.
Edward Snowden's disclosures of U.S. mass surveillance begin.
Croatia becomes the 28th member of the European Union.
Price record
| Date | Price | Kind |
|---|---|---|
| Feb 7, 2025 | $600,000 | Estimate, not a salePre-sale estimate $600,000 to $800,000. |
| Feb 7, 2025 | $660,000 | Sold at auctionSold at auction in New York; record for game-worn Kobe sneakers. First public sale. |
A realized auction price is what a buyer actually paid on the date shown, including the buyer's premium where the sale reported it. It is the strongest kind of reference price, and it is a record of one sale of one object on one day, not a promise of what the next example will bring.
By reference price, Kobe Bryant 'Achilles Game' game-worn Nike Kobe 8 Elite (2013) is number 6 of 100 in the sneakers entries of the FLOAT 100. 22 of those 100 rest on a realized sale; the rest carry an asking price or a guide value, and each page says which. Rank within the FLOAT 100 itself (6 here) is editorial: how much an object defines its field, not price alone.
Did you know
- Bryant made both free throws on a torn Achilles, then left the game; the Lakers still won by two.
- Stephen Curry scored 47 in the same game.
- The injury came in Bryant's seventh straight game of 40 or more minutes.
- The shoes are a size 14 and were signed by Bryant after the game.
- The Achilles-game jersey sold for nearly twice what the shoes did.
- Two weeks before the injury, Bryant had passed Wilt Chamberlain on the career scoring list.
How this page is made
- The figure
- One reference price, shown with its own kind. FLOAT does not average it with anything or adjust it for time.
- Realized or not
- A realized price is a completed sale. An asking price, an estimate and a price-guide value are not sales, and are labeled as such wherever they appear.
- The story
- Researched from published records and checked fact by fact. Updated Oct 1, 2026.
- Archive
- Oct 5, 2026