Kobe Bryant has an entire collection of some of the greatest individual performances in NBA history.
Among these performances was a 60-point outburst in the final game of his 20-year career, willing the Lakers to a win against the Utah Jazz.
In that game, Bryant put up 50 shots in 42 minutes en route to the greatest career finale of all time. Sadly, the Lakers had a franchise-worst 17-65 that season, but it was all worth it for Bryant’s career finale. Perhaps one of the most memorable moments from that night was the post-game speech delivered by Bryant at center court of Staples Center.
After that speech, Bryant walked off the court with a towel draped over his shoulders in what would be one of his last times on the Lakers home floor. That towel — as well as tickets from that final night — have now sold at an auction for $30,000, according to Amanda Jackson of CNN:
The towel that basketball legend Kobe Bryant draped over his shoulders during his farewell speech in 2016, along with tickets to Bryant’s final game, sold at a virtual auction on Sunday for more than $30,000.
An Arizona-based auction company purchased the items last month and were able to sell them for an absurd total on March 29:
Last month, the new towel owner contacted Iconic Auctions, an Arizona-based company that specializes in authentic autographs and memorabilia, to resell it. On Sunday, the towel, along with two tickets from Bryant’s farewell game, sold for a total of $33,077.16, according to Jeff Woolf, president of Iconic Auctions.
Following Bryant’s tragic death in January, companies like Nike took down all his merchandise as to not profit off his death.
However, Bryant memorabilia is in high demand, seeing as he is one of the world’s most influential figures of all time. So it was only a matter of time before items like this began circulating again.
A $30,000 price tag certainly seems high but during difficult and uncertain times like this, people need heroes like Bryant to fall back on.