Ill post cards a bit later. But gotta say; how awesome is it for Joe Ingles to play in Kobes farewell game at Staples! That'd be incredible. Id love the challenge of trying to shut him down in a game you know he's gonna try drop 40+.
I bet, even though his stats will show a high shot volume, Kobe will say after the game 'nah, I wasnt thinking about that at all, I was just trying to get the W' haha.
Helluva player and what a career. I used to hate him and Shaq when the Spurs couldn't get past them for a while there. But I've got nothing but appreciation these days.
Mainly an autograph collector......I tried my best to select eight cards to make it look like his "career progression" from pre-NBA to 2009-10 season (his last title run).
I don't have many of his cards starting from 2010-11, unfortunately.
One of his "rookie" autograph cards, from the non-NBA licensed company Press Pass (which sadly folded not too long ago). It's too bad that Fleer/SkyBox couldn't get him to sign for its inaugural Autographics program (though the company did catch him for its "Diamond Ink" program next season).
There is also a Score Board one which showcases his autograph much better, but with the authenticity issue during the final years of the company existence, I am a bit afraid to pick up one for now.
For some reason, I particularly like this card. This is one of his early (and non-expensive) NBA-licensed, pack-pulled/certified single autograph cards (not coupled with other players), from 1998-99 Topps Series 1 (AG2). I saw a collector pull this card in front of my own eyes back in Hong Kong, when the product was first released, and ever since then I had wanted to acquire one. There is another one available from Series 2 (AG9).
Besides Topps base brand, Kobe single autograph cards were also available in Bowman's Best from the same season (regular/refractor/atomic refractor versions). I feel that these cards feature him nicely in his early career, before the championship runs and autograph exclusive deals (Upper Deck and later Panini) start coming in for him.
Upper Deck era - too many to list and of course I don't have all, so I chose some of the best that I have.
Notice that he started signing "Kobe 8", then "Kobe", then switched back to his full autograph.
Panini era - despite constant critism, the company did make some of Kobe's "modern" nice cards.