Boy King: Early LeBron James Rookie Year Jersey Coming to Auction

What’s billed as the only photo-matched jersey from LeBron James’ rookie season is about to hit the auction block where it’s expected to bring a huge price.  Goldin Auctions will offer the red mesh road jersey in its upcoming Spring Auction, set to open Tuesday.  

The Size 50 jersey has been matched by Resolution Photo-matching and MeiGray to two games from the first full month of his NBA career.  The 18-year-old James wore it during the November 7, 2003 game against Indiana, when he scored 23 points and on November 12 against the Miami Heat, where he tallied 18. Those were the fifth and eighth games of James’ career, which is now in its 17^th season.  The game with Miami marked the first career match-up between Dwyane Wade and James, who would later team up and in two championships together as teammates in Miami.

After being the first overall pick in the draft in 2003, James burst onto the scene and lived up to his high expectations by averaging 20.9 points per game en route to winning the NBA Rookie of the Year award. Since then, he has won four MVP awards, three NBA titles and three Finals MVP honors.

“LeBron James memorabilia is some of the most sought-after memorabilia currently,” stated Ken Goldin, Founder of Goldin Auctions, who will launch the auction catalog this week. “After setting the record earlier this year for the sale of a LeBron James card for $900,000, we are hoping this jersey will set the record for the highest price paid for a basketball jersey.”

James’ jersey from the first half of this year’s NBA All Star Game set that mark last month when it sold through NBA Auctions.   

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About Rich Mueller

Rich is the editor and founder of Sports Collectors Daily. A broadcaster and writer for more than 30 years and a collector for even longer than that, he's usually typing something somewhere. Type him back at [email protected]