“Adidas sneakers gifted by Kobe Bryant to LeBron James are on auction”: The shoes in which 36-year-old Lakers star beat Carmelo Anthony in high school are going under the hammer

A pair of Adidas sneakers gifted by Kobe Bryant to LeBron James, which he wore against Carmelo Anthony in high school, are now up for auction online.

LeBron James was long tipped to follow in the footsteps of Kobe Bryant and Kevin Garnett as an NBA player out of high school. Every one of his games from his senior high school season were nationally televised! The air of certainty in James as a can’t-miss prospect is yet to be matched ever since.

Overall, LeBron has lived up to all of those expectations, and then some. The King, simply put, is indisputably on the Mount Rushmore of basketball. Kobe Bryant is another player who can stake his claim for a place up there, although his place is less certain.

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Sneakers gifted by Kobe Bryant to LeBron James are on auction now

LeBron James describes the time when Kobe gifted him his signature Adidas sneakers in 2002:

“I think my most fond moment is he gave me his shoes when I was in high school. I think I was playing in a tournament in Teaneck, N.J., and they were playing in the [2002] All-Star game in Philly. And I had an opportunity to go meet him, and he gave me a pair of his shoes, and I actually wore them in a game against Oak Hill, against Melo (Carmelo Anthony), actually.”

Heritage Auctions – the firm in charge of the auction, has posted the following description of the item:

“The patriotic colorway displays the Stars and Stripes on the uppers, rubberized toe boxes, three-stripe motif on the midsoles/outer soles, Adidas on the inner tongues, and the Mamba silhouette on the insoles.”

Report: Rare pair of sneakers Kobe Bryant gifted LeBron James in 2002 going up for auction https://t.co/0nqPRfuzdl

— NBA Central (@TheNBACentral) February 12, 2021

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“The design was created to commemorate the loss of life in the recent 9/11 terror attacks. The custom shoes bear no interior tagging but exhibit fine game wear. Our consignor purchased these, and several other LeBron James items in this auction, from an estate sale in Akron, Ohio. Letter of provenance from consignor. LOA from Heritage Auctions.”