Back in 1991, former New York Knicks All-Star and Golden State Warriors head coach, Mark Jackson, was inadvertently involved in a controversy related to a murder. In a Hoops basketball card from 1990, Jackson can be seen throwing the ball with the crowd behind him looking on. Two of the male members of the audience, however, were none other than Lyle and Erik Menéndez, who were convicted of killing their father José Menéndez in August 1989.
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This controversy led to the creation of the 2017 movie Menéndez: Blood Brothers. The initial lawsuit saw the two brothers claim that they had killed their father due to fear for their own lives. However, as per the intriguing story posted on X (formerly Twitter) by Morbid News, the two had bought a ticket to a Knicks game with their parents’ money in 1990 before being caught, which led to them being snapped in the background of the basketball card.
The two accused José Menéndez of “years of sexual, emotional, and physical abuse”, and claimed that their life was at risk when they threatened to “expose” their father for his crimes. “The prosecution argued that they did it to inherit their father’s multimillion-dollar estate” and were initially involved in a mistrial after being charged separately.
However, in a subsequent case that charged them together, both were found guilty and sentenced to a lifetime of prison.
Due to this added feature to this specific basketball card, it is pretty valuable in the market. Many versions of the same are currently selling on eBay, with ungraded copies going for as little as $15, according to ClutchPoints.
A range of unique Basketball memorabilia has been sold at auctions over the years
While Mark Jackson’s basketball card and the story behind it are undoubtedly unique, there is a range of other memorabilia that has been sold at surprising prices over the years. This includes an expired AMEX Credit Card formerly belonging to Michael Jordan.
The card sold for exactly $3,146 back in 2012 at an auction despite effectively being worthless, simply because it once belonged to Michael Jordan. Still, other items have been known to fetch comprehensively higher value as well, in the past.
For example, a pair of sneakers previously owned by Jordan, the Nike Airship, sold for $1.4 million, while James’ 2013 NBA Finals jersey ended up fetching a whopping $3.68 million once upon a time.
A Kobe Bryant rookie jersey fetched a similar price, while Michael Jordan’s ‘The Last Dance’ jersey once fetched a humungous $10.09 million, according to ClutchPoints. Hence, fans tend to pay extortionate amounts in a bid to get their hands on historic NBA items, for their own.
