One of the rarest Kobe Bryant cards has set a record for the most expensive Bryant card sold. The 1997-98 Metal Universe Precious Metal Gems Emerald Kobe Bryant card sold for $2 million last week, according to PWCC Marketplace, a trading card marketplace. The record sale occurred privately. The card shows Bryant, wearing No. 8, passing a basketball in front of an emerald background. The card doesn’t have an autograph nor is it a rookie card.
Tag: memorabilia
TMZ Sports has learned … LO — who …
TMZ Sports has learned … LO — who played alongside Kobe from 2004-2011 and remained close friends with the Hall of Famer in retirement — received the special tribute to the Mamba and Mambacita from his manager, Tonita B. The finished product is a diamond chain and pendant featuring Kobe kissing Gigi on the head … which was based off a famous picture of the two sitting courtside at a Laker game in 2019.
We’re told the chain — designed by …
We’re told the chain — designed by Scoobie Da Jeweler — is made of 25 carats of VS diamonds … and the whole finished product is worth around $17,000. The back of the piece features a special quote from Kobe … which reads, “Rest at the end, not in the middle.” We’re told this all came to be when Tonita decided to do something unique for Lamar to commemorate their new Savvy Talent Management Group partnership … and given his admiration for Bryant and his family, she chose a Mamba-related keepsake.
Mark Cuban on NBA Top Shot: ‘It’s great for our business’
Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, an NFT and crypto advocate, shared via email his thoughts on NBA Top Shot and the company’s outlook. “I’m thrilled from an NBA perspective. It’s great for our business,” he said. “I think their challenge is serving multiple masters, their collectors, their speculators, the yin and yang of supporting developers of apps on their Flow blockchain and speculators in their token. “They have taken on a huge and difficult challenge. The reality is that Top Shot is their proof of concept for their blockchain, but they will need much more to sustain Flow. Which is why I think they have raised so much money. Running a blockchain is a very difficult business.”
“In February, Dapper Labs’ NBA Top Shot …
“In February, Dapper Labs’ NBA Top Shot generated $226 million in trades, accounting for 46 percent of the record NFT trading volume,” DappRadar wrote in its annual industry report published in December. “Although the next wave of Ethereum NFT collectibles caused the robust metrics, it is essential to highlight that Flow’s collection was a critical NFT catalyst for the rest of the year and a sign of things to come.” Overall, NFT projects across all categories did $21-$23 billion, per industry tracking reports, up from about $100 million in 2020 sales and trades.
That NBA Top Shot sales plummeted since …
That NBA Top Shot sales plummeted since the initial explosion isn’t a surprise. In fact, one company executive said that because NBA Top Shot was a beta test phase product, there were no real financial expectations. And because the NFT/crypto industry remains in its infancy, there still are no firm sales goals. “There is no plan. We still consider it a beta,” said Caty Tedman, Dapper Labs’ head of partnerships, in a phone interview last week. “We didn’t know what this industry would look like. … No one has a blueprint for this, so we’re trying to create a blueprint for ourselves.”
These are the backup tapes of every …
These are the backup tapes of every game in the NBA’s archives. The best players, iconic games and classic moments of basketball history live inside a nuclear bunker. The rare footage of Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and today’s highlights of LeBron James, Stephen Curry and Giannis Antetokounmpo share an unlikely home 50 feet below ground. The facility, built in the 1960s by AT&T, is now operated by a data protection and disaster recovery firm called Vital Records, Inc. It stores millions of tape cartridges in a heavily controlled, intensely monitored environment meant to survive when nothing else does.
The irreplaceable corporate archives of …
The irreplaceable corporate archives of the NBA happen to be the world’s biggest collection of basketball highlights, which is why there are backup copies in an indestructible repository, a common practice for sports leagues that preserve their history in a place they hope never comes in handy. “Everybody’s doing it,” Riemann said. “It’s just that nobody knows about it.”
The NBA bought its parcel of VRI’s …
The NBA bought its parcel of VRI’s facility when it became clear that it needed a fail-safe option for an increasingly sophisticated technical operation powered by robotic efficiency. The official archive in Secaucus, N.J. amounts to 37 petabytes of data, which makes the NBA’s holdings nearly twice the size of the Library of Congress digital collection. The gap is widening every day. The NBA’s trove of data grows by several petabytes each season now that each game is being recorded in high definition from 12 different angles.
Darren Rovell: On the left is a Luka …
Darren Rovell: On the left is a Luka card bought this week with a real autograph and a game worn jersey. At $75K, in this market, it makes sense. On the right, is a questionable auto with a jersey tried on for a photoshoot. This price, in an auction that closed tonight, makes no sense.