Kobe Bryant‘s memorabilia is now a priceless commodity. Since his untimely death in a helicopter crash in 2020, fans and collectors have paid top price for any item christened by the late Lakers great. So when a locker he used for 13 years went up for auction, it unsurprisingly sparked a stunning bidding war that eventually stopped at a jaw-dropping $2.9 million.
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It was the locker from inside the home dressing room at the Crypto.com Arena that the five-time NBA champion used from 2003 until his retirement in 2016. According to Sotheby’s, the auction house that hosted the bidding war, Bryant’s locker is now the most valuable memorabilia of its kind.
However, the $2.9 million price tag is only the third-highest amount that an item owned by the two-time Finals MVP has fetched at an auction. In May 2021, a game-worn autographed jersey from his rookie season was auctioned off for a whopping $3.6 million. It was the most expensive Bryant memorabilia at the time but was usurped in July 2023.
A game-worn jersey from his 2007-08 MVP season was sold for an eye-popping $5.8 million. According to Sportico, it’s the ninth-most valuable sports memorabilia ever sold. These items were sold without much controversy. However, that wasn’t the case when one of Bryant’s most prized possessions was auctioned off.
The auction of Kobe’s first championship ring caused an uproar
In April 2024, Bryant’s first championship ring sold for $927,000. According to Hypebeast, it was the highest price paid for a championship ring. It surpassed the record held by Bill Russell’s 1957 championship ring, which was auctioned off for $705,000 in 2021.
However, there was massive outrage about the Lakers icon’s first ring being auctioned off. Bryant had gifted it to his father, Joe Bryant. When his parents decided to auction it off, fans called them out and claimed the ring belonged to his wife Vanessa Bryant, and his children. They argued that they had no right to sell it without their consent.
However, Bryant’s parents were going through economic hardships and had no option but to auction it off to ease their financial troubles. The Lakers icon had a strained relationship with his parents and had reportedly cut them out of his life.
His untimely passing did little to help repair their relationship with Vanessa and his kids. Unfortunately, they had no say in the sale of one of his most valued possessions.
