Why a collector bought Bronny James' Summer League debut jersey for $38,400

David Kohler has fairly a powerful assortment of Lakers memorabilia.

A plaster solid worn by Kobe Bryant.

The microphone utilized by Chick Hearn for his ultimate broadcast.

Goggles worn by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

The rim the ball went by way of when present Lakers celebrity LeBron James broke the NBA’s all-time scoring report.

The newest addition to Kohler’s assortment is tied to a participant who has but to play a regular-season sport. It’s the jersey worn by Bronny James in his first NBA Summer time League sport with the Lakers on July 12, just a little greater than two weeks after the previous USC participant was drafted by his father’s crew at No. 55 general.

“Sure, I purchased that for the Lakers Shrine,” Kohler instructed The Occasions of his non-public assortment of memorabilia.

Kohler, the founder and president of SCP Auctions in Laguna Niguel, paid $38,400 for the gold No. 9 jersey in an public sale by Sotheby’s, which had initially estimated the merchandise would obtain prime bids of $6,000 to $10,000.

“On the finish of the day, that is all about historical past and folks can debate what issues are price,” Kohler mentioned. “These are historic artifacts and it’s not all the time in regards to the {dollars}.”

Kohler was born and raised in Los Angeles and is a life-long Lakers fan. He takes nice pleasure in his assortment, which preserves quite a few artifacts from the crew’s days in Minnesota by way of the current. To him, Bronny James represents the subsequent chapter of the Lakers’ storied historical past.

James performed with the Lakers in two California Basic video games in early July earlier than making his Summer time League debut throughout a 99-80 loss to the Houston Rockets. He completed that sport with eight factors, 5 rebounds and two steals.

“To have the ability to get that game-worn jersey with the historical past of this franchise, I simply thought it was essential,” Kohler mentioned. “I simply love the father-son story and all that.”

Bronny James performed his first preseason sport with the Lakers on Friday, a 124-107 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves, and shared the courtroom together with his father for the primary time two nights later in a 118-114 preseason loss to the Phoenix Suns. The 2 James males are set to turn into the primary father-son duo to play in a daily season sport.

Will gadgets from any of these video games be making their means into Kohler’s Lakers Shrine?

“You by no means know,” he mentioned. “Various things that turn into accessible I may need curiosity in. Once more, that is the historical past of this nice franchise, so it’s been lots of enjoyable to have the ability to observe down lots of these items.”