Fanatics Honoring LeBron James with Patch for 24th Season

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.

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

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.