Jason: It's time for Boomin' Sports Cards Player of the Week, where we spotlight the athletes whose performance is making waves not just on the field, but in the hobby as well. My name is Jason and alongside me as always is Alex Ready To Go. This week's Player of the Week is none than Kobe Bryant, a man that defies greatness, work ethic, and a pure competitive fire. From his early days coming straight from high school to becoming a five-time NBA champion.

Alex: How's it going?

Jason: with the Los Angeles Kobe built a legacy that goes far beyond the stat sheets and 18 time All-Star, two time NBA Finals MVP, ⁓ 2008 MVP. He's known that relentless Mamba mentality. So ⁓ Alex, Kobe Bryant, this ⁓ arguably top three all scores.

Alex: Happy.

Jason: I mean, you got LeBron, you got Jordan, Kobe's right there. You can argue between those three guys who's the best scorer of all time. fun facts about him? Anything cool about Sir Kobe Bryant?

Alex: Yeah Kobe's fluent in Italian and Spanish up in Italy Kobe came fluent Italian he later learned Spanish to communicate with his teammate Pagosa and to speak on the floor without the opponent's understanding Which is kind of a Kobe thing to do ⁓

Jason: What a dog, His career is truly one of a kind. mean, coming from high school to the NBA, an era where like, fouls weren't too common, it was rough out there, they can smack you all around. And then here comes this 18 year old, 19 year old going into the NBA with the Los Angeles Lakers, one of the most franchises in NBA history. And he dominated. Sure gave him like a season or two to adjust, but when he adjusted, this man went crazy out there.

Alex: One bananas. barbecue chicken.

Jason: Barbecue chicken like Shaq said that this man made everyone their fools and Five-time champions like there's not that many guys who can get that done as a star like sure you can be a role player out there But like as a star Kobe carry that team even in his older age Just a pure dog that mama mentality still lives on in many of these players cuz like he was a mentor for money those players Who are sealed today? I mean Jason Tatum He's the most cringe guy out there, but like, yeah, people were inspired by him. He has long impact in the NBA. Yeah, so he's our player of week. So let's start with our budget card, Alex.

Alex: We did it! I picked up a Colby brand rookie card 1996 skybox Z Force 142 goes for 30 bucks Pc 10 is 210 and a PSA 10. It'll be 2100 so I mean awesome at PSA 9 for tooth 10 and PSA 10 for 1200 2100 which is not bad So if you do get it graded and if you get a 9 you did make a lot of profit, which is not that bad

Jason: That's a dope card. ⁓ What's the... Is it a Flir? What is it? What's the... Skybox was like, okay, the more you know. That's a dope card. mean, yeah, those colors pop out. Bryant in pink leather and the red background. Got some gold to it. Young Rook, young Kobe. It looks like he has hair in it still. Yeah, I think he has hair. He looks really skinny in that picture.

Alex: Skybox, Skybox, Skybox used to be... used to be... Um, so yeah, it's uh I know right so skybox is famous for uh I wonder like like 1999 no 1990 91 mba cards the metroflare 1985 And they were both acquired by upper deck in 2005. So So they used to be their own thing and they merged and now they are owned by uh upper deck

Jason: Damn, that was before my time. Yeah, I wonder if I didn't know. That's a dough card, Alex. Yeah, I seen that card a couple times, but I didn't know it was a rookie. That's a pretty dough card.

Alex: Yeah. nice that something that i feel like you could find this car anywhere and you wouldn't lose money on it it's a rookie card and if it's in good condition and you eat like at least a nine it's not bad

Jason: No. Yeah, that's a dope card. For my budget card, I went with a FLIR Ultra G266 Rookie Encore Gold Medallion. This card, raw, is going $55. PSA 9, $277. PSA 10, $299. It's just a dope card. looks like he's about to dunk. Purple background, gold jersey. Says rookie on the side. He's just... It just shows how iconic he was. He has hair on this picture. So you know it's a young Kobe. He's a dope rookie guard.

Alex: the 10 is not bad $300 and if you do get a 9 it's not bad either it's not a bad card and it's also a flare card too so

Jason: Yeah, I feel like Flare is very underrated. I don't know. People sleep on it. Like, like Lebron has a lot of like Flare rookie cards and they're pretty cheap compared to his like tops and Panini. But I love those cards because it just gives you like that old nostalgia. Obviously, we probably weren't watching Kobe and Lebron back when those guys were rookies. But like it gives you nostalgia of the beginning of greatness.

Alex: All right. The beginning of greatness. go over to my second card for Kobe cause Jason makes the good cards and I saw his earlier and I was kind of jealous. So I had like, stuff it up a bit. I picked up, ⁓ the extractor with a Kobe Bryant and LeBron. that's the one from the top scrum, something 2007 or eight. And it is at, this is a high budget card. when I said tell you the price for it, you can be like, okay. ⁓ Maybe one day all four of this raw. Yeah, well, it's Kobe and then has Lebron and young Lebron there. So it's like a timeless card. Um, raw 1500, a nine is 6,000 and a 10 is 13,000, which is, which is crazy. But the extractors used to be more difficult to get. And I think they were used. don't remember if they were a hobby exclusive or, uh,

Jason: Yeah, if you got the bread like that, buy these cards. Cause it's Kogi, you know?

Alex: I think it was a hobby exclusive at one point and that's why it was hard to get and this is why these cards are expensive But this is an iconic card. It's timeless

Jason: Yeah, I love that design. It gives you like that old school look, the letters in circles with Lakers on top. It's kind of funny that now Lebron's a Laker. So this card has like more meaning now because, yeah, two Lakers legends now, two big stars going at it. Just a dough card. Yeah, and that axe right there is just a cherry on the top, you know, looks beautiful.

Alex: ⁓ but yeah, it's something I would probably want someday. ⁓ where did you, ⁓ pick up the second highest card? Cause I looked at it earlier and I was like, man, it's a nice card.

Jason: Dope card. Yeah. Yeah, this card surprised me because I was looking through cards. I was like, I have never seen this card and it's going for quite a bit. it is a 1996 Bowman's best BP 10 picks refractor rookie. Its raw card is going for a thousand fifteen hundred. It's sold in three twenty two twenty twenty six. It's looking it's going up to two hundred sixty two dollars. This man's just an icon, so it keeps going up. PSA 9, uh, 1,800. Uh, PSA 10, 14,000. So yeah, that's a dope card because like it's so colorful. It gives you that 90s feel like that throwback feel has like that bright orange, purple, blue. It's a refractor. So like all those colors shine very well. And it's Kobe Bryant and it's just iconic.

Alex: Yeah. These cards are always gonna go up because with the hobby expanding and more like social media talks about and they come out these cards value or people who ⁓ money and Are interested in buying these cards or they're gonna buy these car high-end cards and keep pushing the price up so much of these cards are gonna be like either ⁓ certain amount of money that's unacceptable or This is the point to the like I can't get this card anymore

Jason: Mm-hmm. Yeah, like these cards, like right now you can find them. It might take you up, but you can find them. But like in the near future, they're not going to be on your eBay listings. They're not going to be on your like, call acts, your different like, websites where you buy cards. They're going to be on auctions. They're going to be cards and like maybe find in the shop some older owner might have it. So these cards are not going to be common in the future. Mostly these high end cards, these lower end cards, they still will go up. in the next couple of years no matter what but like these high end cards are gonna be more rare to find for sure

Alex: Yeah, wind up seeing like a nice card of Kobe in the next 10 years on golden.

Jason: Yeah, and be like, damn, Alex, remember that was a thousand, now it's 1600.

Alex: Remember Jason you bought one and you're good to go now.

Jason: Yeah, it's insane. But yeah, he's like our episode previously this week. talk about cornerstones in the hobby in your collection. Kobe Bryant is one of those cornerstones because his legacy, his mom mentality still lives on. He's just a dope player.

Alex: in peace, Kobe. That's gonna wrap up the Player of Week featuring Kobe Bryant. If you enjoyed this episode, don't forget to follow the show, share with another collector, and stay tapped in with Boomi Sportscards for a new episode every week. ⁓ Thanks watching, guys.

Jason: RIP, Kobe. See ya.