Sixers’ LeBron James passes Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani for most jersey sales after switching teams
LeBron James Sixers merchandise has accounted for eight of the top 10 selling products across all sports throughout Fanatics network of sites.
LeBron James’ 76ers merch was selling out almost as soon as the 22-time NBA All-Star decided to sign a two-year, $8 million contract with the team.
After James shocked the sports world, choosing the Sixers over Cleveland and Miami, the future Hall of Famer’s jersey has been the highest-selling of a player joining a new team across all sports — surpassing Shohei Ohtani’s move to the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2023, according to Fanatics.
The sports merchandise giant also said that within the first 24 hours after news broke, more James Sixers merchandise was sold than the first week after his announcement that he was joining the Los Angeles Lakers in 2018. This should come as no surprise, since roughly two hours after his decision, all first editions of the No. 23 jersey were sold out on the Fanatics website. The company also is selling a signed James trading card by Topps (which it acquired in 2022) and plans to release other items.
Mitchell & Ness, which is another part of Fanatics’ portfolio, declined to give hard sales numbers on James merch.
“However, outside of recent marquee events in our Philly market, the launch of the LeBron Witness T-shirt and all Sixers gear was one of our strongest single-day retail performances, exceeding internal expectations compared to event-driven activations like the 250th celebration, FIFA, and MLB All-Star,” said Dexter Childs, Mitchell & Ness’ manager for cultural marketing and partnerships.
Fanatics is owned by Michael Rubin, a Lafayette Hill native who previously was part-owner of the Sixers.
Purchase a front page reprint of The Philadelphia Inquirer from Saturday, July 25, 2026, featuring LeBron James following the news that he was joining the 76ers. Buy it here.
Since Friday, James merchandise has accounted for eight of the top 10 selling products across all sports throughout the Fanatics network of sites, which includes NBAStore.com, SixersShop.com, and Fanatics.com.
Inquirer staff writer Emily Bloch contributed to this article.
