The Most Expensive Shoes EVER Worn In An NBA Game..

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So with plenty of players around the NBA signing multi-million dollar deals and getting their own signature shoes, what some have accomplished while wearing those easily went completely under your radar. With the shoe market becoming more and more valuable throughout the years, people are willing to pay tents, if not hundreds of thousands of dollars for a single pair. But it's not just the sneaker heads that are willing to pay six figures for a pair of shoes. With one NBA player having a custom made pair with crocodile skin dipped in 24 karat gold and diamonds. But that's not even the craziest thing on this list, so let's just get right into it.
Kobe Bryant. Kobe Bryant's career is one of the most iconic and legendary we've seen up to this point. Being drafted originally to the Charlotte Hornets, but immediately being traded to the Los Angeles Lakers, he stayed loyal to the organization throughout his playing day's career. And even after his legendary 60 point final game and retirement, he's practiced and also gave advice and mentorship to the newly acquired talent of the Lakers today. But at no point during him winning five championships or scoring his 25 points per game average throughout his entire career, did he wear his most valuable shoes ever on the court, though? It was actually during the 2008 Beijing Olympics where Kobe did so. But to really take in consideration the significance of these shoes, you really have to take a step back four months before the Olympics. At this time, the players around the league began to push for lighter inspired shoes, and these Kobe hyper dunks symbolized what was quoted as Nike's commitment to producing gear that was engineered to the exact specifications of championship athletes. These shoes happened to be equipped with recently developed flywire cushioning technology that reduced the bulkiness of shoes, and has heavily influenced the newer generation of Nike basketball shoes since, according to Soul Collector. Other than the advanced technology, Nike commissioned Kobe Bryant to create a commercial that showcased just how light these shoes in fact were. Kobe ended up doing so by leaping over and asked Martin on video full speed coming at him. But with such a classic advertisement, a vintage Kobe Bryant performance in the gold medal game that summer while rocking these hyper dunks specifically is what made these game worn editions worth over $37,000.
Stephen Curry.
Ever since the name Stephen Curry became relevant in his college days at Davidson, he's pretty much been a trending topic each year ever since. Being drafted to the NBA with the seventh pick at the 2009 NBA draft, he's stayed loyal to the Golden State Warriors ever since and has even signed a recent $201 million deal for five years while still being paid $4 million annually just from his shoe deal Under Armour. Now despite being argued as the greatest three-point shooter the NBA has ever seen, his shoe line has often been ridiculed amongst his fans. But with that being said, that hasn't stopped him from embracing being the face of this Under Armour brand, as he even extended his partnership with them through 2024, and has even worn some of the most valuable shoes ever worn in an NBA game that we'll get into later in the video.
Stephen Curry's accomplishments have been significantly underrated to say the least. First ever unanimous MVP in the league's history while going back to back, winning MVP in consecutive years and a three-time NBA champion, all while defeating arguably the greatest individual player of all time in LeBron. Many see the Golden State Warriors as a super team in this era of the NBA, but either way you look at it, they aren't necessarily cheating. They still put in the work each and every single day, and continue to dominate some of the best players and teams in the entire world. One thing that is in fact scary about Stephen Curry's game, however, is that he arguably continues to get better each and every single year, despite this constant criticism. Once again this season, he's averaging 30 points per game while making nearly the most threes per game in his career while once again being among the top of the Western Conference with Warriors. With rumors of Kevin Durant's departure from Golden State in the upcoming summer during free agency, the Warriors would still be in fact a championship contender with Steph back as the franchise centerpiece. You could argue that Kevin Durant became the main option every single night upon his arrival to the Warriors a few summers ago, but Steph is still consistently put up ridiculous numbers while being a second option, and this year is even putting up similar numbers to KD. This year, Steph is putting up 30 points, five assists, and five rebounds per game, while Durant is putting up 30 points, six assists, and seven rebounds per game. So with two MVP candidates in the same lineup, it's scary to imagine their field roster with Demarcus Cousins coming back soon. But with Steph being a part of the elite class in the NBA, why wouldn't a player of his caliber be signed with the most universally known shoe brand Nike? Well, there's actually a ridiculous story about how Steph wanted no part in a partnership with them, which is why he went with Under Armour and became a face of the brand itself. In short, it was reported that Nike was apparently lazy in their dealings with Stephen Curry. During the Nike pitch meeting, Steph's father, Dell, who was present during all of this, reported that the meeting started with a Nike official accidentally greeting Stephen as Steph-on. Dell couldn't believe it. He said, I heard some people pronounce his name wrong before. I wasn't surprised. I was surprised that it didn't get a correction. That's just the beginning, and apparently the situation got even worse. During the overall presentation to Steph, a PowerPoint slide said Kevin Durant's name where it should have said his. They literally couldn't believe it. It was assumed that this was left on accident just because of them presenting and negotiating with KD before this, and it was just re-scrapped for Steph coming in. His father, Dell, said, I stopped paying attention after that, and they already knew the decision to part ways with Nike for another brand at that point in time. Nike also didn't give Steph his own summer basketball camp like it had done previously for Kai Rearving and Anthony Davis. This meant a lot to him as he had memories of attending other superstars' camps while he was young, including Chris Paul. But from this point on, Steph spent weeks weighing the decision out, and his teammate at the time, Kent Basemore, signed his own deal with Under Armour and was immediately showered with products while barely even playing in the NBA. In the end, it came down to this. Steph and his family gathered his agent's house in Southern California to figure out the final decision. At this point in time, Steph's daughter Riley was just one years old, and they tested things out by presenting her with the shoes from each brand involved. Steph went on to say she picks up shoe one, which was a Nike, and threw it over her shoulder. She picked up shoe two, threw it over her shoulder again. Then she picked up the third shoe, walked over, and handed it to me, so I knew right then, which of course happened to be the Under Armour variant. It was definitely the right business decision as well, seeing as his deal with Under Armour was around $4 million per year, while Nike's was $2.5 million, and when they had the option to match, they declined. Steph has shown many different versions of his many signature shoes over the years throughout his on court play, despite them being ridiculed constantly, but has still worn rare versions, including a unique gold version of it a few years back. The version of the shoe stood out completely and was arguably the best version of a signature shoe of Stephen Curry that he'd ever displayed, and he did this throughout a ridiculous performance of 38 points, eight assists, and seven rebounds that game, while the highlights of the shoe game racked up millions of views. But despite all of that, many people feel that because of his choice in brand though, the shoes aren't what they're supposed to be from someone who's a face of the league, but he still worn some of the most valuable ones yet. At one point a few years back, Stephen Curry was actually wearing a unique version of his Under Armour Curry 3s called the Oakland Strong, and these customized versions of the shoe pay tribute to the victims of the Ghost Ship warehouse fire that even claimed lives of 36 people. This shoe includes Oakland and Strong, graffiti style writing on the left and right shoe, and even respectively as each affected person's initials on the heel and midsole of it. These shoes ran up a price of $30,000 for the Oakland Fire Relief Fund, and surprisingly, Steph holds the record for the highest price of sneaker worn in a game by a current NBA player, but this is just the beginning.