LOS ANGELES – Julien’s Auctions will present Sports Legends, an annual sports event taking place on Thursday, April 30, 2020. Among the highlights is a collection of items from Kobe Bryant, the basketball legend and 18-time All-Star who won five NBA championships with the Los Angeles Lakers. Absentee and Internet live bidding is available through LiveAuctioneers.
Over 300 historic sports artifacts will stand atop the auction podium in a winners’ circle of uniforms, medals, shoes, memorabilia, sports equipment and more from the worlds of basketball, soccer, baseball, hockey and beyond.
Items include: Bryant’s full Los Angeles Lakers number “8” home uniform, game-worn during the 1999-2000 NBA Finals and embroidered with an official NBA logo under a black armband worn in remembrance of Wilt Chamberlain (estimate: $10,000-$20,000); Bryant’s 2011 handprints in cement from Grauman’s Chinese Theater in Hollywood where the NBA legend became the first athlete to cast prints at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre, a tribute typically reserved for Hollywood stars (estimate: $4,000-$6,000); Bryant’s Los Angeles Lakers home number “24” jersey game worn during the 2006-2007 season (estimate: $4,000-$6,000); a pair of black and white Adidas brand basketball shoes game worn and signed by Bryant and additionally inscribed with his jersey number “8” (estimate: $2,000-$4,000) and a Spalding NBA All Conference basketball signed by the members of the 2009-2010 Los Angeles Lakers including, Bryant, Ron Artest, Shannon Brown, Andrew Bynum, Jordan Farmar, Derek Fisher, Pau Gasol, Didier Ilunga-Mbenga, Adam Morrison, Lamar Odom, Josh Powell, Sasha Vujacic and Luke Walton (estimate: $2,000-$4,000).
Born on August 23, 1978, in Philadelphia, Kobe Bean Bryant was the son of Joe Bryant, a professional basketball player in Italy where Bryant and his family lived for eight years and where Bryant learned to speak Italian fluently. In 1996 after graduating from high school at the age of 18, Bryant became the youngest player at the time in NBA history when he joined the Los Angeles Lakers, the team he would play for throughout his entire professional career. In his spectacular 20-year basketball career, Bryant would elevate the sport to new heights and achieved other unprecedented feats and honors including 18 NBA All-Star titles, five NBA championships with the Los Angeles Lakers, two NBA Finals Most Valuable Player awards, four NBA All-Star Game MVP awards, two Olympic gold medals for men’s basketball and ranking as the fourth-highest scorer in NBA history. On April 13, 2016, in his final NBA game before retiring, Bryant scored an astounding 60 points for the Lakers who defeated the Utah Jazz 101-96. In 2017, the Lakers retired Bryant’s jersey numbers No. 8 and No. 24. Bryant also won a Sports Emmy and Academy Award for the 2018 Best Animated Short Film, “Dear Basketball.”
On Jan. 26, 2020, Bryant’s tragic death, at the age of 41 in a helicopter crash with eight other people including his 13-year-old daughter Gianna, sent shock waves across the globe. Before his death, Bryant was named one of the eight finalists for the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame this year.
“As one of the millions of fans mourning around the world, we were deeply saddened and shocked to learn of Kobe Bryant’s passing while we were preparing for our annual Sports Legends auction a few weeks ago, said Darren Julien, president and chief executive officer of Julien’s Auctions. “We are honored to include this collection of his items and pay tribute to this giant who was an inspiration not only to basketball fans but to the entire world. We welcome his fans to our free to the public exhibition opening April 27 at our gallery in Beverly Hills which will feature these treasures from his brilliant life and career.”
Other Sports highlights include: a Jules Rimet replica trophy presented to Marco Antônio Feliciano during the 1970 World Cup with the Brazilian national soccer team when Brazil defeated Uruguay 3-1 in the semifinals and crushed Italy 4-1 in the tournament final at Estadio Azteca in Mexico City (estimate: $30,000-$50,000); a Los Angeles 1984 Summer Olympics silver medal (estimate: $6,000-$8,000); a 2002 FIFA World Cup gold winner’s medal awarded to a player from the champion Brazil national football team from the first World Cup to be held in Asia and the first and only World Cup to be jointly hosted by more than one nation, in South Korea and Japan (estimate: $20,000-$40,000); a 1994 FIFA World Cup gold winner’s medal awarded to a member of the champion Brazil national football team during which Brazil defeated Italy 3-2 in a penalty shootout after the game ended 0-0 in extra time, the first World Cup final to be decided on penalties (estimate: $20,000-$40,000); a yellow and green satin sash presented by the Brazilian Football Confederation to commemorate Brazil’s fourth FIFA World Cup victory (estimate: $2,000-$4,000); a gold tone medal awarded to a player from the champion Brazil national football team, winner of the 2005 Confederations Cup during which Brazil won the tournament, defeating Argentina 4-1 in the final at Waldstadion in Frankfurt (estimate: $3,000-$5,000); and a 2009 medal awarded to a player from the champion Brazil national football team, the winner of the 2009 South Africa Confederations Cup by defeating the United States 3-2 in the final to retain the Cup trophy the team won in 2005 (estimate: $3,000-$5,000).
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