Eight never-before-seen photos of Los Angeles Lakers icon Kobe Bryant were recently sold as NFTs, with each selling for more than $10,000 each.
According to ESPN, the photos were taken by David Factor for a magazine shoot back in 1999. It was held in a abandoned warehouse in downtown L.A. Contrary to his usual photos on a Lakers jersey, though, Bryant wore a variety of outfits for the shoot.
Factor then decided to auction off the photos as non-fungible tokens after the encouragement of Tommy Alastra–co-founder of Cryptograph, a platform where people can buy or bid on NFTs. The auction started on Mamba Day, August 24th, and lasted for 72 hours.
All eight photos of the Lakers great garnered were bought through Ethereum, with each garnering at least three ETH. The highest one–titled “Time”–was sold for 5.767 ETH. As of time of writing, one ETH is worth $3,200.
According to Alastra in the ESPN report, 100 percent of the profits from the auction will go to the Mamba & Mambacita Sports Foundation. However, it was not an official collaboration between Cryptograph and the Bryant estate.
— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) August 24, 2021
With the current craze for NFTs and the popularity of Kobe Bryant memorabilia, it's not really surprising to see the NFTs of the late Lakers legend sell for thousands of dollars.
For what it's worth, the debut shoes of the former Lakers superstar was auctioned off for over $100,000, while a rookie card of him sold for over $1 million.
Since Bryant is a well-loved basketball icon, it's safe to say all Kobe-related items–be it physical or digital–will continue to generate tons of money in the future.
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