Kobe Bryant

Kobe Bryant's shoes from his "Achilles game" set a high bar for future sales of the Black Mamba's memorabilia at auction.

The shoes that Kobe wore when he shot a pair of iconic free throws after suffering a torn Achilles in a 2013 game against the Golden State Warriors sold for $660,000 in a Sotheby's auction on Friday.

According to Cllct's Will Stern, it was the highest price paid to date for a pair of game-worn Kobe sneakers.

Bryant suffered the injury during the fourth quarter of an April 2013 game against the Warriors and attempted both free throw attempts to tie the game at 109 before exiting with the injury. The Lakers went on to win, 118-116.

Bryant was limited to just six games the following season but returned for 2014-15 and 2015-16 and remained an impact player for the Lakers until his retirement.

According to Cllct, the shoes were acquired by Panini Authentic following the game, and Bryant signed them. They were sold privately and officially hit the open market for the first time for the Sotheby's auction.

His jersey from the same game sold for $1.2 million in June 2024. The most expensive piece of Bryant memorabilia on record is his 2008 MVP season jersey, which sold for $5.8 million in 2023.

Other notable Bryant memorabilia items that have sold at auction include his Staples Center locker, his high school basketball jersey and his championship ring from the 2000-01 season.

Golden State Warriors star Stephen Curry praised the lasting legacy of Kobe Bryant in the world of women's basketball years after the death of the Los Angeles Lakers legend.

"He was the first one I saw consistently and to the masses promoting it," Curry said to The Athletic's Marcus Thompson II. "Not just (his daughter) Gigi's team, but girls' basketball in general. He spent his time reaching out—obviously his relationship with Sabrina (Ionescu), showing up at games, what he did at the academy and opening up facilities for them. He was an unbelievable role model in terms of putting his name and stamp on women's basketball as something to invest in."

Bryant became a bigger and bigger supporter of women's basketball following his retirement after the 2015-16 season. His impact was such that the WNBA began handing out an advocacy award named in his and daughter Gianna's honor in 2022.

Beyond showing up to WNBA games and spreading the gospel, he directly and indirectly influenced a number of the league's top stars.

The Phoenix Suns' Diana Taurasi and Seattle Storm's Jewell Loyd carry the "White Mamba" and "Gold Mamba" monikers, a nod to Bryant's Kill Bill-inspired nickname. Weeks before his death in January 2020, Bryant held a private workout with select WNBA players to emulate something he had done with the next generation of NBA stars.

"Kobe's legacy is way more than basketball," Loyd said to Thompson. "It's a lifestyle. He impacted the minds of so many. The hearts of so many. He knew that basketball could be a vessel but the knowledge he had could be passed down forever."

Vanessa Bryant is giving back to her community amid the wildfires that have devastated the Los Angeles area.

The widow of legendary Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant donated Nike shoes, socks and other essential items through the Mamba and Mambacita Foundation.

The foundation aims to provide a positive environment for underserved athletes for boys and girls in sport.

Bryant is a native of Los Angeles and shared that her and Kobe's first home in Los Angeles was in Pacific Palisades and was destroyed by the fire.

Kobe Bryant played 20 seasons for the Lakers and helped bring five NBA Championships to the city. He has a statue outside of Crypto.com Arena alongside his daughter, Giana, who also died in the 2020 helicopter crash that killed Kobe in nearby Calabasas.

As the city attempts to recover from the tragedy, Bryant's support shows the pride the family has in their home region.

The debate over the GOAT basketball shoe won't be settled anytime soon, but Indiana Fever star Caitlin Clark made it clear where her allegiances lie.

During an appearance on New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce (1:08:56 mark), Clark declared that the late Kobe Bryant's signature line of sneakers is the GOAT basketball shoe in her eyes.

"I play in only Kobe's," Clark said. "Kobe's are my... I'm a big Kobe fan."

During practice for the WNBA All-Star Game this past season, Clark debuted the new Nike Kobe 6 PE sneakers. She also had a steady rotation of Kobe's during her first year as a professional in which she went on to set multiple records and be unanimously named WNBA Rookie of the Year.

When asked specifically which edition she likes, Clark named the Kobe 5 and the Kobe 6. She pointed out that they're low-tops, but she's not afraid of the danger of playing in them.

"But they look cool! And trust me, I sprained my ankles a thousand times, there's no stopping it anymore," Clark said.

Another day and another move up the record books for the King.

LeBron James drilled his 847th career three-pointer in a Los Angeles Lakers uniform during Monday's game against the Detroit Pistons, which moved him into second place on the franchise's all-time list.

Only Kobe Bryant remains ahead of him with 1,827 triples. James broke a tie with Derek Fisher for second.

Social media had plenty of reactions:

James has been with the Lakers since the 2018-19 campaign after previously playing 11 seasons for the Cleveland Cavaliers and four seasons for the Miami Heat. He made 1,251 triples with the Cavaliers and 365 with the Heat.

Here is a look at the top 10 in Lakers history:

1. Kobe Bryant: 1,827 threes
2. LeBron James: 847 threes
3. Derek Fisher: 846 threes
4. Nick Van Exel: 750 threes
5. Byron Scott: 595 threes
6. D'Angelo Russell: 591 threes
7. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope: 522 threes
8. Kyle Kuzma: 510 threes
9. Eddie Jones: 489 threes
10. Rick Fox: 480 threes

James is on the shortest of short lists of the best players in NBA history and moving up the history books on a franchise with as rich of a history as Los Angeles is a testament to his greatness.

While the modern game relies more on the three-pointer than in the past, he still moved into second place on this list within seven seasons.

And he's only going to keep adding to his numbers.

Washington Commanders rookie Jayden Daniels is likely on his way to the Offensive Rookie of the Year and the playoffs in his first NFL season, and one play has stood out above the rest through the team's first 14 games.

Daniels' 52-yard Hail Mary pass to Noah Brown on the final play of Washington's 18-15 victory over the Chicago Bears in Week 8 sent both teams on opposite trajectories and stunned the NFL world.

The quarterback had quite the answer when asked to compare the play to something else during a series of questions from Kevin Durant and Travis Scott for Boardroom (10:56 mark):

"For me personally, I'll say the Hail Mary and how it ended, it's kind of equivalent to when Kobe dropped 60 in his last game," Daniels said. "Where everybody was on their feet, you never knew what was going to happen and he started going crazy. That moment, everybody was just holding their breath when the ball was in the air.

"Are you trying to see if somebody catches the ball and we win or they bat the ball and we lose that. That's just kind of how I remembered myself being watching Kobe's last game when he started going crazy at the end of the game."

Kobe Bryant scored 60 points against the Utah Jazz on April 13, 2016, in the final game of his legendary career. It was a defining performance that saw him take over the game in crunch time and thrill the Los Angeles Lakers fans one more time before retirement.

As Daniels explained, there was an element of fans not knowing what was going to happen next as Bryant dominated that game, and he felt the same way when his Hail Mary pass was hanging in the air.

Bryant finished his Hall of Fame career with five championships, so Daniels has plenty to live up to when it comes to comparing careers. But he is off to an excellent start and already has a memorable highlight that will surely continue to stand out as he progresses in the NFL.

A three-part original series documenting the early life of late Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant is coming to CNN.

Kobe: The Making of a Legend "highlights the early foundation" of Bryant's career by providing insight into his childhood and teenage years, according to a CNN press release.

The show is set to air on three Saturdays beginning Jan. 25. The release coincides with the five-year anniversary of Bryant's death at age 41 in a helicopter crash.

The series features interviews of Bryant's friends and teammates during his childhood in Italy. Bryant moved to the country at age six when his father, former NBA forward Joe "Jellybean" Bryant, signed with a pro team in Rieti.

The show will also bring in Bryant's coaches, teachers and teammates to discuss his time at Lower Merion High School in the Philadelphia area. Bryant was named the Pennsylvania Player of the Year during his junior season at Lower Merion and headed directly into the 1996 NBA draft after his senior year.

The documentary will also share interviews with star athletes including New York Knicks guard Jalen Brunson as well as Hall of Famers Tracy McGrady and Sheryl Swoopes.

Longtime Lakers trainer Gary Vitti, who worked with Bryant during each of his 20 seasons with the team, will also be featured in the series.

Bryant made his Lakers and NBA debut in October 1996. He went on to become one of the most decorated players of all time over the next two decades, retiring in 2016 with five NBA titles and two NBA Finals MVP awards.

The first episode of Kobe: The Making of a Legend will air at 9 p.m. ET on Saturday, Jan. 25, and become available on demand the following day.

Kobe Bryant didn't always think he was going to spend his entire NBA career with the Los Angeles Lakers.

During an appearance on the 7PM in Brooklyn podcast, Adrian Wojnarowski revealed Bryant once thought about joining the New York Knicks after being convinced the Lakers were going to release him using the amnesty clause.

It's not specified when Bryant thought this was going to happen, but Wojnarowski noted it was during the period when Jim Buss was running the basketball operations in Los Angeles.

Buss was in that role from 2005 to 2017. The most likely timeframe for Bryant to assume this was a possibility was between the 2013-14 season and his final year in 2015-16.

The Lakers signed Bryant to a two-year, $48.5 million extension in November 2013. His body had started breaking down at this point. He only played six games during the 2013-14 season due to a torn Achilles and fractured left knee.

Los Angeles finished 27-55 in 2013-14, followed by a 21-61 record in 2014-15. He announced early in the 2015-16 season that it would be his final year in the NBA.

It's also plausible Bryant may have thought this way at some point between 2005 to '07. This was the time period after Shaquille O'Neal had left Los Angeles, and the Lakers went three straight seasons without advancing beyond the first round of the playoffs.

Wojnarowski's recalled telling Bryant that there was no way the Lakers would let him go because fans would "burn this city down" due to how popular he was in Los Angeles.

Bryant probably wouldn't have fared much better in the final years of his career playing for the Knicks. This was at the point when they were also mired in mediocrity, including losing a franchise-record 65 games during the 2014-15 season.

But at least the Knicks would have had Bryant playing in Madison Square Garden to get them excited about something. Sadly, they will never know what might have been if he suited up wearing an orange, blue and white jersey.

Sacramento Kings star De'Aaron Fox offered a mock apology after he fell just short of matching an impressive scoring record set by Los Angeles Lakers legend Kobe Bryant.

Fox dropped 49 points on Saturday in a 121-117 win over the Utah Jazz, one night after his 60-point showing in an overtime loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves. According to NBA.com, it's the second-best combined scoring output on consecutive nights over the last 50 years, only one point less than Bryant.

Somebody must have alerted Fox to the fact:

Fox missed four of his eight free throws in the fourth quarter. While inconsequential toward the final outcome, leaving four points at the charity stripe prevented the 2022-23 All-Star from making history.

Still, Sunday's performance is impressive enough in its own right.

Fox shot 16-of-30 from the field and got to the free-throw line 19 times. The Jazz simply had no answer for him when he was attacking the basket. The 6'3" playmaker nearly had a double-double, too, dishing out nine assists.

Up next for Sacramento are the Atlanta Hawks, who rank 25th in defensive rating, per NBA.com. Don't be surprised if Fox is once again flirting with a 50-point outing.