LeBron James’s L.A. Lakers Jersey Is Already a Best-Seller
On Sunday, LeBron James shifted the entire landscape of the NBA by announcing his plans to leave the Cleveland Cavaliers for the Los Angeles Lakers. The move will have massive on-court ramifications when the NBA season boots back up in October. But before LeBron even touches the floor at Staples Center, he’s shaking up a record-breaking number of closets.
James’ announcement was made around 8:45 p.m. EST Sunday. Just a couple minutes later the official NBA store, operated by Fanatics, a sportswear retailer, was preselling LeBron James blanks (meaning the number was listed as “00,” but wouldn’t be produced until the official number was confirmed). Fanatics was ready for this moment. Before free agency revved up, the company created virtual storefronts and even physical samples for every one of James’ possible destinations, based on Vegas odds. So buried deep at Fanatics’ headquarters, there are one-off LeBron James jerseys that see the King playing for the Houston Rockets, San Antonio Spurs, Boston Celtics, and Philadelphia 76ers.
There was only one winner, though, and all that preparation paid off: So many of James’s Lakers jerseys moved in just the final three hours between the announcement and midnight that the piece became one of the 10 best sales days for a jersey in Fanatics company history. “It’s by far the strongest free agent or traded player performance we've seen in the NBA,” says Jack Boyle, Fanatics’ co-president of direct-to-consumer business. “This is the first time we've seen a free agent's performance hit a top-tier day like this.”
Fanatics tells me that free agency doesn’t create as much business supercharged by player movement as you might expect. In fact, James’ Lakers jersey is the only one sold during free agency that’s cracked the company’s top 10. That’s a huge accomplishment when you consider all the high-profile players that have changed jerseys over the past several years: Kevin Durant to the Warriors, Chris Paul to the Rockets, Gordon Hayward and Kyrie Irving to the Celtics. James, naturally, had only himself to beat after creating a sales spike when he returned to Cleveland in 2014. He outdid himself by a wide margin: sales last night were 600 percent higher than the purchases made when James went back to the Cavaliers four years ago. Don’t feel too bad for Cleveland, though as fans there seem to be supporting the move: Cleveland is the fourth-largest market buying James’ new Lakers jersey.
Fanatics says the temporary bubble created by Bron’s new surroundings won’t pop anytime soon either. The company went live with the blank last night, but updated the page with a jersey bearing James’ number 23 this morning, after it got official confirmation from the league. “As we updated the number today, we've actually seen the business accelerate,” Doyle says. “Already today we've blown by last night’s numbers, so we're seeing the business and sales momentum accelerate in the second day.”
This is the LeBron Effect. The best player in the league, with a real claim to being the greatest in history, is taking his talents to the most popular and decorated franchise in the NBA. (The Lakers already sold the sixth-most jerseys in the league last season without an established star like James.) The cherry on top is that James signed a four-year deal—assurance for some fans who might not want to spend on a jersey that could be irrelevant a year from now.
Doyle says Fanatics has already moved into “manufacturing mode” despite the fact jerseys can’t ship until the league office opens and makes the deal official this Friday. Regardless, the Lakers are back on top of the NBA, and soon their fans will have the jersey to prove it.
