LeBron James debuted in Sacramento, and now you can purchase that memory with an NFT
You can own a piece of sports history.
On Oct. 29, 2003, LeBron James made his NBA regular-season debut at Sacramento’s Arco Arena, launching a career that led to four NBA championships and spurring the ongoing sports debate: Who’s the best of all time, Michael Jordan or LeBron James?
Regardless of how you land in that lofty argument, James has cemented his status as a sports icon, having won championships with three different teams, powering them into 10 NBA Finals appearances and winning the MVP in four of them. He has won league MVP honors four times as well, and has two Olympic gold medals among his collection of trophies. He still towers over the sports world.
His climb to sports legend began that night in Sacramento. He was 18, playing for the Cleveland Cavaliers, his hometown team. The ESPN announcer proclaimed it was “probably the most anticipated debut of any first-year athlete in any sport.” He scored 25 points in a game won by the Kings, 106-92.
No one really remembers the score. They remember James, the Nike commercial his debut inspired and how he delivered on potential to become a dominant force.
The Sacramento Bee captured these historic moments in the newspaper. You can own the NFT for the Oct. 29, 2003, Sports page with an iconic image of James as he was about to launch his surely Hall-of-Fame NBA career that night.
NFT — a non-fungible token — is a certificate that names you as the owner of a particular digital asset. The McClatchy Co., which owns The Bee, is launching The McClatchy Collection at 6 a.m. PDT Thursday, June 17, 2021, and is auctioning the digital certificate for this page.
The NFT will be available for auction at bit.ly/2S3sFJJ for the next seven days and is starting at .2 ETH (or approximately $479.80).
James dominates the collectible market, with his rookie cards selling for millions. But his long career transcends physical memorabilia. His feats sweep through the digital world. An NFT of a video clip of James recently sold for $200,000. He’s still playing, his legend still grows, but he played his first game once and this page celebrates that moment.
This story was originally published June 17, 2021 at 5:00 AM.