'Pawn Stars' boss Rick Harrison pays a fortune for Kobe Bryant's items after Chumlee convinced him
Sports memorabilia is one of the most sought-after items among collectors, and when it's related to a legend such as Kobe Bryant, it's bound to fetch a good value on "Pawn Stars." The NBA icon had won five championships with the Los Angeles Lakers, was named the MVP twice, and won the NBA Most Valuable Player award in 2008, before he passed away on 26th January, 2020. According to a report in Public, in May of 2021, a rookie Kobe jersey sold for $3.6 million, the highest amount ever paid for a basketball jersey used in play. Seeing this, "Pawn Stars" cast member Chumlee jumped at the opportunity to make a 'slam dunk' deal for exclusive Kobe memorabilia from a die-hard basketball fan.
Chumlee explained that he was dragging Rick Harrison with him to crack the ultimate business deal in California. Upon arriving, the 'Pawn Stars' discovered that Nick, the seller, had a roomful of Kobe memorabilia. "Since 1998, my father and I have been collecting Kobe Bryant memorabilia, some of them are game-used balls um some of them consist of game-used jerseys and warm-ups that are signed, along with some signed shoes. My father and I are looking to share our Kobe Bryant collection with everyone else, and we're willing to sell the collection for $75,0000," Nick said.
At that point, Chumlee went into a nostalgia mode and narrated Bryant's career highlights one by one. The collectors then passed to admire the NBA legend's signature shoe collection, giving a little piece of history about his Nike and Jordan collections. The seller moved on to explain more about the original jerseys worn by Bryant, "This is, you know, Kobe number 24. He was originally number eight, but Kobe actually switched up numbers in the middle of his career. Even when you switch teams, you usually keep your number when you're a player like Kobe, I mean, arguably the greatest player ever, maybe he just thought he was three times better," Chumlee said.
After lauding the jersey and rookie shorts collection, Chumlee and Harrison were left impressed by the only basketball signed by the OGs Jordan, Phil Jackson, and Bryant. But their hopes were dashed when Nick let them know the total value of his collection. Chumlee soon went into a salvage mode, "So I picked out a few things that I think would be good for the shop, a few pairs of game warmers, player edition sign sneakers, a warm-up suit, a jacket, some Kobe artwork, a ticket from Kobe's final game and a signed piece of the court from the forum," he revealed.
After bringing in a sports expert to cross-check the valuation of the collection, the "Pawn Stars" went back and forth with the genuine items. Nick quoted $50,000, which was soon turned down, and they pressed a fresh $40,000 quote. Nick, without wasting time, agreed to part with the memorabilia at the new rate. "So Rick and I decided to settle on $ 40,000, and I felt that was a pretty fair bargain considering it's not about the money, it's about breaking up the Kobe collection, sharing it with everybody else. However, I am going to miss those Allen Iverson sneakers," Nick nostalgically concluded.
