The thing with sneakers—all sneakers, really, but hoop shoes especially—is that it’s as much about the story as the shoe. A new signature silhouette or limited colorway can hit all the right aesthetic notes, but if the player they’re named after never manages to create a signature moment in them, they could easily get lost to the annals of sneaker history. There are a lot of shoes bearing Kobe Bryant’s name and no shortage of great stories attached to them—but few are greater than the one that took place 20 years ago today.

For all of Kobe’s legendary feats—the five rings, the MVPs, the 18 All-Star Game appearances—none are quite as singular or indelible as the time he dropped 81 points on the Toronto Raptors on January 22, 2006. It’s an accomplishment that makes everything surrounding it feel significant, including his sneakers. Bryant had recently signed with Nike after defecting from Adidas and took the court in his first signature model, the Nike Kobe 1. It’s a mid-top heater that became beloved by sneakerheads for its aesthetics as much as its performance capabilities. Colorways were mostly kept simple, with Lakers-friendly purple accents adorning most of the early silhouettes. The shoes that would become known as “81 Point Game” were about as straightforward as they come: white uppers, black Swoosh, purple accents on the ankles and soles. They’re clean, uncomplicated. On their own, they could border on boring. But when worn by someone creating the stuff of legend on the court, they become iconic.

I’m of the Kevin Durant mindset when it comes to talking hoops stats, but these numbers warrant crunching. Eighty-one points. Eighty-one. It’s the second-most points ever scored in an NBA game, bested only by Wilt Chamberlain’s mythical 100-point outing over the Knicks in 1962—which, to be fair, came in a bygone era of basketball that’s hard to compare to Kobe’s. The final score of Wilt’s game, for perspective, was 169-147, to date the highest point total scored between two teams in an NBA game. Those are All-Star Game numbers today, the sort where defense is a second (and often third, fourth, or even fifth) thought for the stars on the court.

In 2024-2025, the average points scored per game by every shooting guard (Bryant’s position) in the league came out to 9.7. That season, the highest number of points scored in a game by a player was 61 by Nikola Jokic of the Denver Nuggets. Since the current season began, there have been a dozen 50-plus-point games scored by 11 players (Jokic has done it twice). The highest number of points scored in a game this season currently stands at 56, also a Jokic performance. In the 2005-2006 season, when Bryant dropped 81 on the Raps, the highest average number of three-pointers made per game by a team went to the Phoenix Suns with 10. This season it currently stands with the Golden State Warriors with 16.4 per game. All of which is to say that Bryant’s accomplishment came in an era in which efficiency hadn’t taken over the game of basketball. His 81-point total consisted of 13 threes, 28 field goals, and 18 free throws. That means Bryant matched Jokic’s current 56-point record on two-pointers made alone.

Enough math. We’re here to talk shoes. The “81 Point Game” Kobe 1 colorway came back with revamped performance specs under Bryant’s Protro line in 2019, but otherwise hasn’t been seen since. Nike hasn’t touched the Kobe 1 since Bryant’s passing and the silhouette has been the sort you have to drop a few hundred bucks on through a resale platform if you want a pair for yourself. Today, that changes. To commemorate the 20th anniversary of one of the greatest performances in the history of professional basketball, Nike’s brought back the “81 Point Game” via SNKRS for $210. Act fast—it’s a generational shoe that’s going to move off the shelves accordingly. It’s been seven years since anyone had a chance to buy a pair, and you can bet it’ll be at least that long before it comes back.