LeBron James to wear 23rd season jersey patches that will go into trading cards
LeBron James will wear a unique patch on his jersey for the rest of the season, starting Monday night when the Los Angeles Lakers visit the Sacramento Kings to commemorate his record-breaking 23rd NBA campaign. After each game, those patches will be removed from the jersey and some will be inserted into Topps basketball cards to create a unique insert in what could be James’ final season.
The patch will be placed on his upper right chest, above the Nike Swoosh on his Lakers jerseys, featuring a multi-color design honoring the teams he’s played for (Lakers, Cleveland Cavaliers, Miami Heat) with his silhouette at the center in his pre-game chalk-toss pose.
The patch will be removed postgame by the Lakers’ equipment manager and dated, all captured on video. It will then be sent to Topps’ production facility in Dallas, where it will be authenticated by CGC and later inserted into a trading card.
How many patch cards will be produced, will any of the cards possess James’ autograph and which set those cards will appear in wasn’t disclosed by Topps on Monday. James signed an exclusive trading card and memorabilia deal with Fanatics in January 2024 after more than two decades with Upper Deck.
That James is wearing the first of these patches in Sacramento is particularly significant since he came off the bench for the Cleveland Cavaliers to make his NBA debut there on Oct. 29, 2003.
This adds another unique patch to the trading card space since Fanatics acquired Topps in 2022. Topps took over the exclusive NBA trading card license in October and subsequently announced the extension of its game-worn rookie Debut Patch program to the league (still to be released in an undisclosed set) and the gold NBA Logoman patch for last season’s MVP, defensive player of the year and rookie of the year (those appear in 2025 Topps Chrome). Debut Patch cards are limited to just one per player and the gold Logoman cards were limited to 10 for each award winner.
James’ 2006-07 Exquisite Collection dual NBA Logoman patch autographed one-of-a-kind card with Michael Jordan stands as his most expensive card, selling for $10 million in a private sale on Sept. 26, 2025, according to Card Ladder — an online card sales database. His most expensive individual card was a 2003-04 Exquisite Collection patch autographed rookie card, one of 23 in existence, which sold for $5.2 million in a private sale in 2021.
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