Goldin lands multiyear Lakers memorabilia partnership

Goldin adds the Lakers to its growing collectibles footprint

Goldin has reached a multiyear agreement with the Los Angeles Lakers that makes the auction house the team’s official Auction House Sponsor. The partnership gives Goldin access to Lakers memorabilia that includes game-worn jerseys, game-used basketballs and historic items from the team vault.

The deal places one of the hobby’s most active auction platforms alongside one of the NBA’s most recognizable franchises. Goldin founder and CEO Ken Goldin said the Lakers stood out because of their long history and cultural reach, pointing to eras and players that helped define the team’s place in basketball and pop culture.

“The Lakers are probably the most recognizable sports team in North America. If you exclude soccer, the most recognizable in the world,” Goldin said. “I am a lifelong Sixers fan and I certainly respect our rivalry versus the Celtics, the Knicks have great history, but I don’t think anyone can argue that the LA Lakers have the deepest history, the most culturally significant history in the NBA. From Kareem and Magic to Shaq and, of course, Kobe and LeBron and everyone else in between. I remember as a kid watching Jack Nicholson in the front row and Showtime, so I just think it's part of culture.”

What the partnership includes

Under the agreement, Goldin Auctions will be able to offer Lakers memorabilia from the team’s archive and vault. The source material specifically mentions game-worn jerseys, game-used basketballs and historic pieces, along with access to memorabilia tied to current and former Lakers stars.

Goldin said the arrangement is designed to move notable items into the hands of collectors rather than leaving them stored away and unseen. He described the value of making historic pieces available to the public instead of keeping them in a warehouse or out of circulation.

“The Lakers have some specific vintage inventory, a variety of things that we are going to help them maximize the value and let the public get an opportunity to own some of that as opposed to sitting in a cold warehouse, not on display and not seen by the public,” Goldin said. “What’s the good of having something like that? If you go to the museum, great. Otherwise, let’s get it into the hands of people who are going to enjoy it.”

eBay Live events will feature Lakers collectibles

Goldin also plans to host eBay Live streaming events featuring Lakers memorabilia from its archive of historic collectibles. The company said the format will allow it to react quickly to moments involving the team and present related items in a live selling environment.

Goldin said the company wants to use its scale to create timely activations tied to the Lakers, including live events that can follow developments from a game the same day. He said the goal is not to flood the market with a large batch of similar items, but to present curated offerings in a more dynamic way.

“To me that was the team that I wanted to go get because we are not a company that is going to take a bunch of inventory and dump it on a website, which has been done previously, and have people click a link and see 18 or 40 different items by the same person,” Goldin told SCD at The National. “The fact that we are a big company lets us to do things like … you can be at a game on a Saturday afternoon and have something happen in that game and that night we will be on eBay Live with an exclusive Lakers collectible hour and we will be selling items that just happened and everybody in the stadium is going to have an activation where they can download the eBay app and get pushed to Goldin.com.”

Current and historic Lakers names could be part of the mix

The partnership gives Goldin access to memorabilia connected to some of the biggest names associated with the Lakers. The source specifically references Luka Doncic and LeBron James, as well as possible historic Kobe Bryant memorabilia.

Goldin said the company sees value in helping the team maximize the reach of those items while giving collectors a chance to own pieces of Lakers history. The agreement could also include other vintage inventory from the franchise’s past, though the source does not provide a checklist or specific item list.

“The Lakers are probably the most recognizable sports team in North America. If you exclude soccer, the most recognizable in the world,” Goldin said. “I am a lifelong Sixers fan and I certainly respect our rivalry versus the Celtics, the Knicks have great history, but I don’t think anyone can argue that the LA Lakers have the deepest history, the most culturally significant history in the NBA. From Kareem and Magic to Shaq and, of course, Kobe and LeBron and everyone else in between. I remember as a kid watching Jack Nicholson in the front row and Showtime, so I just think it's part of culture.”

Why the deal matters for the hobby

Goldin said the partnership could help shape how teams and auction houses work together going forward. He believes the arrangement can create a stronger model for team memorabilia sales while giving fans clearer access to authenticated pieces with a direct connection to the franchise.

“We are really looking to elevate the entire sports team business to a higher level where we can make the teams significantly more money,” he said, “and we can give fans access to items that were previously sold … most people don’t know where the hell this stuff goes, right? They don’t know how this person ended up with it. Now they will know.”

For collectors, the partnership adds another major source of Lakers-related material to watch through Goldin’s auctions and live sales. For the team, it creates a new channel for moving memorabilia from storage into the hobby market, where game-used and historic items tied to the Lakers continue to draw strong interest.

The agreement also reinforces the Lakers’ standing as one of the most sought-after brands in sports collectibles, with a history that spans multiple championship eras and some of the most recognizable names in NBA history.