KTAF NEWS

In LeBron James rookie year, he averaged a robust 21 points, 5.5 rebounds, and 5.9 assists. At the time people knew he was special, but nobody would have predicted he would have this sort of career almost two decades later. In his 19^th season, the soon to be 37-year-old James is arguably still a top-five talent.

Soon after the King signed a $90 million contract deal with Nike before he played a single NBA game, Nike went to work on his first signature shoe that eventually became the famous Nike Air Zoom Generation—or LeBron 1. Aaron Cooper, one of the designers of this shoe, said “LeBron put them on [for the first time], jumped up about four to five times, stopped and said, ‘These are the most comfortable shoes I’ve ever worn.’”

A new investment platform geared towards sports memorabilia, Collectable, is the newest in the digital age to offer anyone a chance to own portions of an item, like stocks. This is somewhat similar to the NFT craze that is going on with NBA Top Shot, as they have become one of the most popular NBA digital currencies on the market. The difference is how Collectable only has one item, and people can buy portions of it for a fraction of the listed IPO price.The IPO price for these LeBron James Nike Air Zoom Generation shoes is listed at $450,000 (yes, almost half a million) with shares being sold for $5 each. The listing will be available for people to invest starting on December 12 at 5pm PST.

Meigray, an authenticator for the NBA,photo-matched these shoes for three of James’ rookie games. One of the three games on December 3, 2003, was James first game at Staples Center against the Clippers.

For sports fanatics and collectors this is an interesting way for anyone to get a skin in the game. Traditional, the stock market was geared more towards people that were looking for possible investments, but this new avenue potentially allows fans to make a profit with sports memorabilia.