Fanatics Honoring LeBron James with Patch for 24th Season
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No one has played in the NBA longer than LeBron James, and Fanatics is honoring the 42-year-old forward with a patch on each of his game-used jerseys this season. The company made the announcement the morning of October 20, just hours before James tipped off the season with his new team, the Philadelphia 76ers.
According to the announcement, multiple patches will be used to make one-of-one cards, but the post does not indicate how many will be made. It also does not indicate which product these cards will be inserted into.
BREAKING: LeBron James will wear a special 24th season jersey patch throughout the 2026-27 season.
— Topps (@Topps) October 20, 2026
The patches will be removed from his jersey after each game, and certain patches will be placed into ultra-rare 1-of-1 trading cards. pic.twitter.com/uuVRuncNPD
Starting with the MLB Debut Patches in 2023, Fanatics has seen its new innovation explode, with even marginal players seeing their debut patch autograph cards going for thousands of dollars. Now they're capitalizing on that success with new ways to both honor the player and make a one-of-a-kind collectible.
A Patch Made For LeBron
New threads, new patch for a HISTORIC Year 24 👑
— NBA (@NBA) October 20, 2026
LeBron James makes his @sixers debut TONIGHT vs. the Knicks at 7pm/et on NBC and Peacock! pic.twitter.com/xXuVyM6i3W
Fanatics came up with a design that is perfectly fitting for James. It creates a silhouette of him after his famous pre-game chalk toss, set in front of a crest-like shape with the words "NBA Seasons" placed just above the number "24" printed in a noticeably larger font. They also color-schemed it in red, white, and blue, the colors of our nation's flag and of the 76ers.
24 Seasons Makes That A Record
James entered the 2026-27 season having played 23 seasons since he was drafted No. 1 overall in 2003. He and his son LeBron James Jr. (nicknamed Bronny) also became the first father-son duo to set foot together in an NBA game, a testament to his longevity.
The previous record holder for the most NBA seasons played was Vince Carter, with 22 seasons, a number James reached a couple of years ago.
What's The Market For Patch Autos
It's hard to place a value on or speculate about what the market will be for these cards, especially if this ends up being James' last season. Cooper Flagg's Rookie Debut Patch card sold for just north of $8 million, while the same card of Dylan Harper and Kon Knueppel went for $2.88 million and $2.34 million, respectively.
But those were Rookie Debut Patch cards, literally the only ones for those players in existence. A better barometer might be a card that's currently being auctioned off. The MVP dual patch autograph card of Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani is live on Fanatics Collect. It's currently at $650,000 after 41 bids, and extended bidding starts tomorrow
The fact that Fanatics said there will be multiple one-of-ones will definitely hurt the value when these start hitting the open market. But when it's all said and done, it will still be a LeBron James game-used patch one-of-one card.
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After graduating from the University of North Dakota in 2008, Cole worked as an advertising copywriter until shifting to print journalism a few years later. Managing three weekly newspapers in the Dakotas, Cole won numerous awards from the North Dakota Newspaper Association including Best of the Dakotas and, their top award, General Excellence. He returned to collecting in 2021 and has since combined his passion for writing with his love of cards. Cole also writes for the Sports Cards Nonsense newsletter and has made guest appearances on multiple sports card collecting podcasts including Sports Cards Nonsense, and the Eephus Baseball Cards Podcast. IG: coleryan411 X: @colebenz