Lakers News: Latest on Kobe Bryant, LeBron James Memorabilia Markets

The two all-timers are not without significant merch.

Mar 10, 2016; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron James (23) guards Los Angeles Lakers forward Kobe Bryant (24) on the court in the first half of the game at Staples Center. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports / Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports

Los Angeles Lakers legends Kobe Bryant and LeBron James are two of the greatest players in the history of the game, not just L.A.

Accordingly, they're two of the most robust targets on the memorabilia market.

Tyler Santiago, owner of Santiago Sports in Matawan, New Jersey, spoke with Brandon "Scoop B" Robinson on his "Scoop B Radio" podcast about the markets for both Hall of Famers.

"So obviously Kobe passed away," Santiago said. "But before he did pass, he signed a lot. There’s not really a shortage of Kobe autographs out there. So you can find Kobe just about anything. Of course over time it will get tougher because he stopped signing and whatnot, and he passed away at an early age but you can find Kobe stuff readily available."

The market for James, a current Los Angeles star, is another story.

"LeBron is a little different because he was exclusive with Upper Deck and is now with Fanatics which is taking over big time but, LeBron was with Upper Deck who then lost their licensing and they stopped making basketball cards in ‘09-’10; so he really didn’t have licensed NBA uniformed autographs since then," Santiago revealed. "The only LeBron stuff that you could get was Upper Deck was still making them but they would insert it in the products that weren’t basketball based like Goodwill Champions or patches of butterflies and weird stuff like that in there and all different mixed sports. It kind of pays homage to the old products back in the day but, LeBron was smart about it. He understood his value and his market and was like, I shouldn’t be mass producing and signing anything that I can. I gotta keep some rarity to what I’m doing…  So, he took full advantage of that and apparently, he has a bunch of his own cards in his collection that could be worth millions.

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