LeBron James is unarguably the best basketball player in the world today. With four NBA titles and MVP awards under his belt, he's easily locked in for the Hall of Fame when he calls it a career.
Naturally, with his success on the basketball court and massive influence off it, everything he touches becomes gold. In this case, everything that has his name and picture (and more) on them are worth a lot!
For avid NBA card collectors, having a LeBron James card–specifically his rookie card–is literally owning an asset that continuously increases in value as time goes by. While the basketball card market is largely up and down, the value of LeBron cards remain high.
In fact, this 2020 alone, amid the pandemic and the growing uncertainty of the economy, two cards of LeBron were sold at an all-time high.
with that said, we take a look at three of the most expensive cards of James that have been sold. Of course, as mentioned, two of which were from this year.
3. 2003-04 Ultimate Collection Ultimate Logos Signature 1/1 (Last sold for $312,000)
The card is truly one-of-a-kind, and it's no wonder why it sold for $312,000 in 2016. Truth be told, its value is probably higher now. However, there are no details if it has changed ownership since it was put up for auction four years ago.
This specific LeBron James rookie card, which can be seen on the PSA website, has the iconic logoman and the signature of The King himself. It also has a handwritten “1/1” below the patch, which makes it all the more noteworthy and valuable. It is only graded PSA 9, but that doesn't really matter since the card will definitely still fetch a lot of money even if it is not in a really great condition.
2. 2003-04 Upper Deck Exquisite Collection “Logoman” – LeBron James and Michael Jordan (Last sold for $900,000)
There's no autograph from either player on the card, but only one has ever been printed–making it a true gem of a basketball card. It only got an 8.5 from the Beckett Grading System BGS), but if you have THE two best players in NBA history in a 1-of-1 card, that is not really an issue.
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The rare card, which features a pair of NBA logo patches from game-worn jerseys of both players, was sold for $900,000 last February 2020. The buyer of the card is unknown, as it was sold at a private sale by Ken Goldin of Goldin Auctions.
1. 2003-04 Exquisite Rookie Patch (Last sold for $1,800,000)
Sold by Goldin Auctions last July 2020, the short print card of LeBron James is graded 9.5 by BGS–almost a true gem had it not been for its graded 9 corners.
Still, the $1.8 million sale price is the second-most expensive modern day basketball card ever sold. It actually held the record for six weeks before a National Treasures rookie patch auto of Giannis Antetokounmpo (graded 9 by BGS) was sold for $1.812 million.
This LeBron James card just sold at @GoldinAuctions for $1.8 million, the record for a modern day card.
Winner is @LeoreAvidar, who says purchase is part of strategy to “bring something big to the collectibles and alternative asset business in the coming months.” pic.twitter.com/rN9lepvVpE
— Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) July 19, 2020
As we reported at the time of its sale, the card's auction winner is Leore Avidar, who is said to be the CEO and co-founder of Lob.com, a B2B email platform service. Avidar is a professional collector, though it's still amazing to cash out nearly $2 million for a basketball card today.
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