Southern California guard Bronny James, left, high-fives his father, Los Angeles Lakers' LeBron James, as he warms up before an NCAA college basketball game against Stanford in Los Angeles, Saturday, Jan. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)
LeBron James and his son, Bronny, will appear together on a unique sports trading card to herald the Los Angeles Lakers superstar’s new multiyear partnership with Fanatics.
The top scorer in NBA history has signed with Fanatics Collectibles, the trading card division of the online sports retailer. Neither side disclosed the terms of the deal announced Wednesday.
James had been partnered with Upper Deck since 2003 in the sports memorabilia sector. He famously earned his first million by signing with Upper Deck two weeks before he graduated from high school and a few more weeks before he was drafted by the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Fanatics Collectibles has signed several prominent athletes across multiple sports in recent years, including No. 1 overall NBA draft pick Victor Wembanyama and quarterbacks C.J. Stroud, Bryce Young and Caleb Williams.
LeBron James and Bronny will appear together on a special card available Jan. 19 in the 2023-24 Bowman University Chrome Basketball set. LeBron will wear his high school uniform from St. Vincent St. Mary’s in Akron, Ohio, while Bronny will be in his current USC Trojans uniform.
The 100-player set also will include All-Americans Caitlin Clark and Paige Bueckers.
James passed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for the NBA scoring record last year before he led the Lakers to the Western Conference finals. The four-time champion and four-time league MVP is currently in his 21st NBA season, his sixth with Los Angeles.
James teased his new deal earlier this week with an Instagram post showing him examining documents with a Fanatics logo.
Bronny James already has multiple endorsement contracts as reportedly one of the most successful athletes in name, image and likeness deals.
A big-screen adaptation of the anime “Chainsaw Man” has topped the North American box office, beating a Springsteen biopic and “Black Phone 2.” The movie earned $17.25 million in the U.S. and Canada this weekend. “Black Phone 2” fell to second place with $13 million. Two new releases, the rom-com “Regretting You” and “Springsteen — Deliver Me From Nowhere,” earned $12.85 million and $9.1 million, respectively. “Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc” is based on the manga series about a demon hunter. It's another win for Sony-owned Crunchyroll, which also released a “Demon Slayer” film last month that debuted to a record $70 million.
The Federal Aviation Administration says flights departing for Los Angeles International Airport were halted briefly due to a staffing shortage at a Southern California air traffic facility. The FAA issued a temporary ground stop at one of the world’s busiest airports on Sunday morning soon after U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy predicted that travelers would see more flights delayed as the nation’s air traffic controllers work without pay during the federal government shutdown. The hold on planes taking off for LAX lasted an hour and 45 minutes and didn't appear to cause continued problems. The FAA said staffing shortages also delayed planes headed to Washington, Chicago and Newark, New Jersey on Sunday.
Boeing workers at three Midwest plants where military aircraft and weapons are developed have voted to reject the company’s latest contract offer and to continue a strike that started almost three months ago. The strike by about 3,200 machinists at the plants in the Missouri cities of St. Louis and St. Charles, and in Mascoutah, Illinois, is smaller in scale than a walkout last year by 33,000 Boeing workers who assemble commercial jetliners. The president of the International Association of Machinists says Sunday's outcome shows Boeing hasn't adequately addressed wages and retirement benefits. Boeing says Sunday's vote was close with 51% of union members opposing the revised offer.
