Kobe 9 Shoes: KRM EXT 'Challenge Red' Release Date, Photos, Price & Where to Buy

You would think Kobe Bryant has hit rock bottom in his basketball career, but he recently went from the guy who missed the most shots in NBA history last November to the guy who surpassed the legendary Michael Jordan's number of points, 32,293 to be exact, throughout his career on Sunday — and fans might want to mark that by purchasing a Kobe 9 KRM EXT "Challenge Red."

Scheduled for release before the weekend break on Dec. 19 at 8 a.m. EST, the shoe model is worth $275 a pop, available on Nike.com at one per customer and later on at retailers like Rock City Kicks and Kixify.

"Mamba meets the Red Viper," said the Nike website. "The Kobe 9 continues to stretch the imagination, taking its heightened innovation from the court to the community with a Mamba-centric lifestyle feel."

There's a reptilian feel to the red high-cut shoes, black on the inside and the sole, the type of red very catchy. It has the Kobe emblem in three parts — red at the bottom of the shoe, silver on the tongue and embossed at the heel. There's no Swoosh symbol, and would somehow resemble boxing shoes.

"As usual, the shoe revels in how high it is by extending well past the ankle, but this time, it's decked out in ballistic mesh and luxurious snakeskin. The tonality of the challenge red upper is broken a bit by a black outsole and hits of metallic silver paneling come in to ramp up the contrast as well," the  The Boombox elaborated.

According to Kicks on Fire, the serpentine look zeroes in on Bryant's animal-like instincts at work whenever he hits the court. It added that the model sports TPU-molded triangles to stay true to the venomous Red Viper's pointed scales.

Challenge Red had become the year's star colorway, said Complex.com, claiming that the Kobe brand did not pass up on the chance to close the year using it. It said that the model might have taken some elements of the Air Yeezy 2's "Red October."

Friday will be a big day for NBA stars' fans, because the Nike brand will also release new colorways of the KD 7 and LeBron 12, said Latin Post.

KD 7, Kevin Durant's seventh Nike signature shoe, will hit the sneaker market with "Wild West," which is Metallic Silver/Urban Orange-Wolf Grey-Pure Platinum.

LeBron 12 will also be out with a Black/Bright Mango-Hyper Punch-Volt color combo — aka Data — at $200 per pair in select Nike retailers worldwide, the report said.

Meanwhile, about the red release, The Boombox asked, "We're not one to stoke the rumor mill but could this BRED-ish colorway be a nod to the student becoming the teacher as far as points go?" We think it's a question worth asking.