LeBron 2016 Finals Patch /2 BGS 8.5 Sells for $22K

LeBron James doesn’t have many true, game-tied championship relics on the market. This one checks nearly every box serious modern collectors look for.

On December 27, 2025, Goldin sold a 2024-25 Panini Silhouette NBA Finals Memorabilia Special Team Patch #FTP-LBJ LeBron James patch card, serial-numbered 1/2, for $22,265. The card is graded BGS NM-MT+ 8.5 and is a population 1 (“pop 1”) in that grade. The patch is specifically documented as game-worn/used in Game 2 of the 2016 NBA Finals.

Below, we’ll break down what this card is, why this particular sale matters, and how it fits into the broader LeBron and modern high-end patch market.

Card overview

Card details

• Player: LeBron James
• Team: Cleveland Cavaliers
• Year/Set: 2024-25 Panini Silhouette – NBA Finals Memorabilia, Special Team Patch subset
• Card number: #FTP-LBJ
• Serial number: 1/2 (only two copies produced)
• Patch type: Special Team Patch, game-worn/used in 2016 NBA Finals Game 2
• Grading company: Beckett Grading Services (BGS)
• Grade: NM-MT+ 8.5
• Population: Pop 1 in BGS 8.5

This is not a rookie card. Instead, it is a high-end, ultra-modern championship relic that ties directly to one of the defining playoff runs of LeBron’s career: the 2016 NBA Finals against the Golden State Warriors.

The “Silhouette” naming is typically associated with Panini’s premium patch designs—large, visually centered swatches with strong player imagery. Add in a Finals-specific game-used jersey piece and an ultra-low print run /2, and you get a card positioned at the top of the modern memorabilia hierarchy.

Why the 2016 NBA Finals connection matters

The 2016 Finals remain one of the most heavily discussed series in modern NBA history:

• Cavaliers came back from a 3–1 deficit against a 73-win Warriors team.
• LeBron led both teams in points, rebounds, assists, steals, and blocks over the series.
• It cemented LeBron’s legacy in Cleveland and in the broader GOAT conversation.

Game 2 itself was a Warriors win, but in the hobby, the exact game number is often secondary to the fact that the piece is:

• Documented Finals-used (not just “game-worn” in a generic sense).
• Directly tied to the most important championship of LeBron’s career.

For collectors who focus on “story cards”—pieces that can be linked to a specific, historically important moment—this type of Finals-used relic has a different appeal than standard regular-season game-worn cards.

Grading, population, and scarcity

“Pop report” or “population report” refers to how many copies a grading company has graded at each grade level. For this card:

• BGS grade: 8.5 (NM-MT+)
• Population: 1 in this grade (and overall, there are only 2 raw copies possible in the entire print run).

For ultra-low serial cards like this, the pop report mainly confirms how little of the supply has entered the grading ecosystem. With only two copies in existence, any graded example becomes notable.

How does an 8.5 affect value?

For modern high-end patches, collectors generally prioritize:

1. Player and moment (LeBron + 2016 Finals is about as strong as it gets).
2. Serial number (/2, with this being 1/2).
3. Patch quality and visual appeal.
4. Autograph vs. non-autograph.
5. Grade.

On modern chromium or paper base cards, grade is often the primary value driver. For Finals memorabilia and patch cards of star players, especially where supply is extremely limited, the grade still matters—but it usually takes a back seat to scarcity and story. An 8.5 is comfortably in the “collector grade” range for a thick patch.

Market context and recent sales

For this piece, there are important constraints:

• The card is serial-numbered /2, so direct comps (short for “comparables,” meaning recent sales of the exact same card or extremely similar items) are naturally limited.
• Ultra-modern Finals memorabilia subsets like this don’t yet have the decades-long sales history that, say, 2003–04 LeBron Exquisite or Topps Chrome refractors do.

Based on available auction and marketplace data around similar items:

• Direct identical comps for this exact 2024-25 Silhouette NBA Finals Memorabilia Special Team Patch #FTP-LBJ /2 are not broadly visible, which is expected for a /2 card that only recently hit the market.
• Closest relevant comparables tend to be:
  • Other premium, low-serial LeBron Finals-used or Finals-patched cards from Panini.
  • LeBron game-used patch cards explicitly tied to the 2016 Finals from other high-end releases.
  • Non-rookie, ultra-premium LeBron memorabilia cards (e.g., Exquisite, Immaculate, Flawless) featuring multi-color patches or championship storylines.

The $22,265 sale price on December 27, 2025 at Goldin places this card in a range that:

• Sits well below the six-figure territory of LeBron’s best rookie autos and Exquisite RPAs.
• Fits with the emerging tier of championship-linked memorabilia, where collectors pay a premium for narrative and hard-capped scarcity even if the card is not a rookie.

Because of the lack of repeated sales for this exact issue and print run, this result feels more like an establishing benchmark than a typical market average. When the second copy surfaces—or if this one resells—it will provide a sharper picture of how the market values this specific card type.

How this card fits into the LeBron market

The LeBron market tends to have three main pillars:

1. Rookies and rookie autos (Topps Chrome, Exquisite, SPx, etc.).
2. Key parallels and inserts from flagship brands.
3. High-end game-used and Finals-linked memorabilia.

This card clearly lives in the third bucket. That lane attracts collectors who:

• Already have exposure to LeBron rookies and want something with a different story.
• Care about physical ties to specific playoff moments and championships.
• Value unique or ultra-low-serial pieces over widely recognized base brands.

As LeBron continues to climb all-time statistical and longevity leaderboards—and as his post-playing legacy comes into sharper focus—items that connect directly to his defining titles are likely to be tracked closely by advanced collectors, even if they’re not as liquid as more standardized flagships.

Modern, ultra-modern, and what that means here

This is an ultra-modern card (produced in 2024-25), but it references a moment from nearly a decade earlier (the 2016 Finals). A few takeaways for collectors:

• Design and technology: Ultra-modern sets like this use more elaborate patch windows, foil, and print tech than older issues, which tends to appeal to collectors who like visually bold cards.
• Controlled scarcity: Rather than older organic scarcity (fewer people saved cards in earlier eras), modern high-end sets use very short print runs (/10, /5, /2, /1) to create scarcity by design.
• Player selection bias: Panini reserves this kind of Finals-specific memorabilia for the top names—LeBron, Curry, etc.—which concentrates demand.

So while this is not a vintage or even early-career LeBron, it functions as a targeted, narrative-driven chase card within a modern checklist.

Factors that may influence interest

Without projecting or making predictions, a few ongoing threads in late 2025 help frame how collectors might be thinking:

• Career milestones: As LeBron continues to add to his scoring and longevity records, some collectors increasingly focus on his championship-related pieces rather than only rookie issues.
• Cleveland legacy: The 2016 title remains the emotional center of his career for many fans. Any Finals-used material from that run benefits from that sentiment.
• Hobby appetite for game-used patches: There has been renewed attention to clearly documented game-used items (as opposed to “player-worn” or “event-worn” labels). Cards that explicitly state Finals usage may be especially appealing to detail-oriented buyers.

Takeaways for different types of collectors

For newer collectors:
This card illustrates how value in modern basketball cards isn’t just about rookies. Story, scarcity, and documented game use are powerful drivers. When you encounter terms like “pop 1,” “/2,” or “Finals memorabilia,” they are signals that you’re looking at something aimed at the high end of the market.

For returning collectors:
If you left the hobby in the 2000s, the idea of ultra-modern, Finals-specific LeBron patches might feel new compared to the simpler jersey cards of that era. This sale shows how the hobby has evolved: fewer copies, more specific provenance, and more emphasis on narrative.

For small sellers and breakers:
Sales like this help frame expectations when marketing modern high-end products. Not every box will contain a Finals patch /2 of a top-3 all-time player—but knowing that such cards exist, and how they’ve sold, helps you contextualize the big hits, talk about “chase cards,” and explain why some relics command a significant premium over others.

Final thoughts

The 2024-25 Panini Silhouette NBA Finals Memorabilia Special Team Patch #FTP-LBJ LeBron James card, serial-numbered 1/2 and graded BGS 8.5, selling for $22,265 at Goldin on December 27, 2025, is a concise snapshot of where modern high-end basketball collecting is headed:

• Story-driven (tied directly to the 2016 NBA Finals).
• Extremely scarce by design (only two copies).
• Graded and tracked in pop reports, but with narrative and memorabilia taking center stage.

For collectors who see cards as a way to hold a tangible piece of basketball history, this is the kind of item that represents more than cardboard and a patch—it’s a compact, graded artifact from one of the most important Finals runs of LeBron James’s career.