Look, man. LeBron James is the greatest basketball player of all time.
And I know there are tons of people who disagree. I liked Jordan as much as the next kid who wanted to be like Mike, but King James be different yo. Yes, MJ’s era was way more physical, and there was no “load management,” but the athleticism of rank-and-file NBA players have evolved like threefold. Plus, LeBron got to be in the Space Jam sequel everyone forgot about
But even I can’t (continue) to defend this. Even though Topps (you know, the trading card people who did a card of the current Pope) has been doing this for quite some time, they are going to adorn LeBron James’ jerseys with a ‘24 Seasons’ patch, celebrating James’ first season playing for the Philadelphia 76ers.
From Yahoo Sports:
The jersey patch is being done by the NBA in conjunction with the Topps trading card company.
The patch on a given James jersey will be removed after every game.
Topps will then place some of the patches into extremely rare trading cards that will technically be 1-of-1, since the patch will have just been worn in one game and put into one card. - Yahoo Sports
And that’s wild. Because if you think about it, Michael Jordan would never subject himself to wearing a patch that would become a trading card. No, Jordan would probably sign a deal with a trading card company so that he can sell ‘em for $10 Grand each, with him getting a 50% cut.
Times have changed.
How long will this go on? I’m sure there would be a Year 25 patch. But will there be patches when James retires? Will Bronny inherit his dad’s patches? Will the patches have patches on their own? It’s ridiculous. And who’s really collecting these things? I have nothing but questions. I don’t have questions on LeBron’s ability, however. On the 2026-2027 opener, he went to work against the current defending champion New York Knicks.
Maybe…just maybe commemorating cards aren’t a bad idea. I do I own the Pope Leo card after all, so what do I know?
