Only sneakerheads would remember, but Kobe Bryant was for a brief period part of the Jordan brand and now the shoes, signed by the Los Angeles Lakers superstar himself, were sold for a cool $25,000.

When Jelly Bean was a rookie, he wore Adidas and when he cut ties with the brand, he was the most sought after free agent in terms of being one of the biggest shoe endorsers back in 2002-2003 season.

Nike had Kobe Bryant test a pair of size 14 Player Edition Air Jordan VII, featuring the signature purple and gold color of the Los Angeles Lakers. The 6-6 shooting guard scored 46 points wearing the sneakers on Feb. 6, 2003.

"The shoes eventually got to Mike Nguyen -- co-owner of the famous IndexPDX sneaker shop in Portland -- who tells us the second he put 'em up for sale, he was bombarded with offers from serious sneakerheads," said TMZ.

"They sold hours later to a hardcore shoe collector -- but Mike says the buyer wishes to keep his ID under wraps," the report added.

Complex magazine rated the custom Jordan VII shoes that Kobe Bryant wore as third among his best shoes to date.

"It makes sense that Kobe Bryant would like the Air Jordan VII, seeing that it shares DNA with the Air Flight Huarache," it said. "And the way it took to Lakers colors almost qualified as blasphemy-Magic Johnson must have been so mad. Only thing is, if you're gonna go so far as to produce Lakers VIIs, why not put an 8 on the back? Then again, Mike himself could probably only take so much. "

Kobe Bryant, of course, already has his own signature kicks and the Los Angeles Lakers superstar even revolutionized the NBA with his Carpe Diem Kobe IV, launched in 2008, because it was low-cut when the traditional belief was that it was going to be dangerous for his ankles.

Well, he was proven right in the end because Kobe Bryant won MVP that season.