Transcript

$5K LeBron Pull… Then a Jordan Rookie Walked Into the Shop

From Collector Nation · Episode page · Watch on YouTube

· 21 min · 3,871 words · 61 timestamped sections

This is the full, timestamped transcript of "$5K LeBron Pull… Then a Jordan Rookie Walked Into the Shop", an episode of Collector Nation published February 6, 2026 (21 min, about 3,871 words). It mentions 10 people, works and ideas, including Collector Nation, Michael Jordan, LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, Cẩm Thành Chung.

What this episode is about

The narrative focuses on the excitement of collecting sports cards, highlighting the recent acquisition of a valuable LeBron James refractor card and the consideration of trading it for Jordan or Kobe cards. It emphasizes the appeal of card rarity and investment potential, while also sharing a personal story about obtaining a complete 1986 Fleer set, showcasing the community and thrill within the hobby.

Key takeaways

  • Investing in sports cards is a rollercoaster: just ask the guy who 10x'd a LeBron James refractor.
  • Jordan's cards age like fine wine—rarity and nostalgia drive their value up while LeBron’s are still making waves.
  • Full sets from the '86 Fleer era are like time capsules; rare finds tell stories that collectors crave.
  • Snowa-geddon shuts down cities, but for card collectors, no weather can halt the pursuit of that holy grail!
  • Embrace the chaos: sports card trading is as unpredictable as a blizzard, filled with unexpected surprises and market shifts.

Who speaks in this episode?

What is discussed, and when

  1. – 5:00: LeBron James, Collector Nation, Michael Jordan, Cẩm Thành Chung
  2. – 10:00: Michael Jordan, LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, Hey Shop
  3. – 15:00: PSA, Michael Jordan, Facebook Marketplace
  4. – 20:00: L U D X
  5. – 21:28: Collector Nation, L U D X

Notable quotes from "$5K LeBron Pull… Then a Jordan Rookie Walked Into the Shop"

  • So, I pull a 2003 pristine LeBron James refractor PSA 10 last comp 5100.
    about LeBron James · at
  • Welcome to the Collector Nation podcast here on the Collector Nation Network.
    about Collector Nation · at
  • Oh, speaking of ripping packs, so this week a Duke Chung, a friend of mine started a company called Hey Shop, and it's a digital instant pack. digital, you get the physical if you want. Everyone knows it.
    about Cẩm Thành Chung · at
  • Kobe has different things that prop him up in fandom and all that. He's a different player. but similar time periods as far as card overlap. So I think that becomes a tomato.
    about Kobe Bryant · at
  • That's awesome. Hey guys, L Ude D X. Go to the app store, download Lux. Let me just tell you, collection management, values, linkage with eBay. You want to sell? Look, we all like to collect, but.
    about L U D X · at

Who and what is mentioned in this episode?

People

  • Michael Jordan — Person · Referenced athlete / value benchmark in card market debate · 7 mentions · first at
    Used as the primary comparison point for long-term upside and fandom-driven demand in basketball cards (e.g., swapping a LeBron pull for an equivalent-value Jordan card; discussion of 1986 Fleer Jordan rookie).
    Would you sell that card for an equivalent $5,000 Jordan card or a $5,000 Kobe card? What card do you think has the most upside?
  • LeBron James — Person · Referenced athlete / subject of pulled card and trade decision · 5 mentions · first at
    Central to the episode’s opening story: a high-value 2003 LeBron refractor PSA 10 pull sparks a discussion about whether to hold, sell, or trade into Jordan/Kobe for better upside.
  • Kobe Bryant — Person · Referenced athlete / comparison point for scarcity and fandom · 2 mentions · first at
    Discussed as an alternative to Jordan/LeBron in a $5,000-equivalent trade; hosts argue Kobe’s market has unique scarcity dynamics (e.g., no new autographs) and strong nostalgia.
  • Cẩm Thành Chung — Person · Referenced founder / friend enabling the pack-rip story · 2 mentions · first at
    Introduced as the founder of “Hey Shop,” the digital instant-pack platform where the host rips packs and hits the high-value LeBron card that drives the episode’s opening discussion.

Companies & orgs

  • Collector Nation — Company · Business focus · 4 mentions · first at
    The podcast is hosted by Collector Nation, focusing on sports card collecting and related topics.
  • PSA — Company · Referenced expert · 3 mentions · first at
    Mentioned in the context of grading sports cards, indicating its authority in the field.
    So, I pull a 2003 pristine LeBron James refractor PSA 10 last comp 5100.
  • Collector Nation Network — Company · Part of · 1 mention · first at
    The network hosting the Collector Nation podcast, indicating a broader media presence.
    Welcome to the Collector Nation podcast here on the Collector Nation Network.

Products & tech

  • Hey Shop — Product · Case study · 2 mentions · first at
    A digital instant pack product mentioned in the context of a personal experience with sports card collecting.
    Oh, speaking of ripping packs, so this week a Duke Chung, a friend of mine started a company called Hey Shop, and it's a digital instant pack. digital, you get the physical if you want. Everyone knows it.

Concepts & topics

  • Facebook Marketplace — Concept · Strategy · 2 mentions · first at
    Mentioned as a platform for trading and collecting sports cards, highlighting a personal success story.
    Two, as an investor, Jordan, because cards are older, a little more rare, and all that stuff's going up. If you're trading and collecting, we all hit Facebook Marketplace occasionally.

Sponsors

  • L U D X — Product · Sponsor · 2 mentions · first at
    Promoted as a collection management app for sports cards and Pokemon, linked with eBay for selling.

Full transcript with timestamps

So, I pull a 2003 pristine LeBron James refractor PSA 10 last comp 5100. Wow. This is how you become a degenerate right here. This is the path because let me tell you that is ridiculous.

Would you sell that card for an equivalent $5,000 Jordan card or a $5,000 Kobe card? What card do you think has the most upside?

One is fandom it would be Jordan. Number two, as an investor, uh, Jordan, because cards are older, a little more rare, and all that stuff's going up. If you're trading and collecting, we all hit Facebook Marketplace occasionally. Basically saw it. Full 86 Fleer set with stickers with Jordans. Looking for offers. Made the guy an offer and yours truly has a full set of 86 Fleer. Wow.

86 Jordan rookie and the star. That's what makes this industry so awesome. There's stories all the time, everywhere. And so I love that story.

Welcome to the Collector Nation podcast here on the Collector Nation Network. Whether you're chasing Grails or calling Bluffs, we take you inside the hobby. Here are your hosts, Ryan Alford and Brian Lutton. What's up, guys? Welcome to Collector Nation, your top five sports show on Apple Podcast. We appreciate you for the velocity. That's what it's about. Velocity of growth. Hey, that's what we're doing. That's what Linux is always doing. It's about about the growth of everything. What's up, Brian?

What's up, my man? How you doing? I'm good, man. I was I was a little concerned with you uh if you would make it through Snowageddon down there. I thought I was going to get a phone call of you like in a closet curled up.

You know, I was one of the few people uh you know, we do we have a Range Rover and those things can go underwater. It handled it. So, I could I actually went to work. My wife thought I was crazy. Uh but let me just tell you, the only thing you don't handle is all the craziness of people that don't know how to drive that take all the things off the shelf because they think it's going to, you know, we create scarcity around here. It It's not real scarcity. We created because everybody thinks they're going to be locked in for two weeks and uh we did have backto-back storms, but it was I don't know. It's it's annoying. I'll just say that.

Well, you you made it. We made it. The kids had fun. Kids did been out of school like five days, you know. And I was thinking I think about you. I was like Chicago can't shut down. Like for what we had like imagine Chicago shutting down and the mailman not delivering like cuz I had a lot of stuff. I mean the shop opening. I got cards coming every other day, boxes and stuff. It just stops. Just stops. They don't deliver. They don't nothing comes. No. No. Nothing. And I'm like, in a big city, does the world just stop if two inches of snow comes?

No. It It takes honestly like a foot of snow in Chicago. Yeah. Well, we didn't have that. We did. We probably had four or five inches, but you know.

Yeah. It's a lot. It wasn't a foot. It's a lot for here. We don't have those uh salt trucks or anything else, but we made it through. Oh, speaking of ripping packs, so this week a um Duke Chung, a friend of mine started a company called Hey Shop, and it's a digital uh instant pack. Um digital, you get the physical if you want. Everyone knows it. It's arena club, courtyard, whatever.

But his is a kind of a cool it's kind of a cool vibe. So he's he asked me to get on there.

Is it H E Y? Hy. H E Y shop. Hey Shopop. Okay. Hey Shopop. Yep. Yep. And so I get on there and I think one's like I think I did the $450. Uh

you went all in on that one. 450. I lost that change for a guy like you. I lost I lost on that one. It was I got like a $300 card and I think I sold it back to him for 250.

Okay. So that means I'm in for 200. And I do it again. So I'm in for 450 and 200. I'm in for 650. I pull a 2003 pristine LeBron James refractor, I believe, PSA 10. And the last

350. Last comp 5100. Wow. Hey guys, we are This is how you become a degenerate right here. This is where this is the path. Uh because let me tell you that is ridiculous. So you 10xed that in that uh essentially because you had 500 in

and 10xed it with a $5,000 LeBron James PSA 103. Is that a rookie year? Yeah. What was it? Oh yeah.

Yeah. And you're if you're watching and you should be if you're listening, we appreciate you. We love our listeners. But you should be watching this on YouTube. You we'll have the card up. I have it in view while Brian's talking. And uh nice card. Uh Hey Shop is the is the link. We'll give them some free pub. Uh you know, they'll have to pay for it afterwards, Brian, but we'll give them free pub for right now. The uh because that's a everybody's going, "It took you two hits to get that." H They're on their keyboard's tapping.

That's it. So, I have a question for you because I'm not a big LeBron fan and I don't know why. It's just he's not not my guy. So, yeah.

Would you would you sell that card for an equivalent $5,000 Jordan card or a $5,000 Kobe card? What card do you think has the most upside?

Jordan. I I And number one, look, we've we've been if you've been paying attention, listening, I grew up with South Carolina boy grew up Chicago boy my whole room littered with Chicago. So one as a fandom it would be Jordan and number two as an investor uh Jordan because cards are older a little more rare and all that stuff's going up and and so I do think it putting to aside what I'm going to say which is actually going to agree with where you started on this. I'm not a LeBron guy. So I would do it anyway because I'm not a LeBron guy.

even if it was like comparable. But if I'm giving investment advice, I think the Jordan's the way to go because they're just more it's older cars, fewer printed. You can make the argument that, you know, some of LeBron's stuff came up in a decent time when they learned, you know, what they learn had to learn in the 90s, which is the overprinting and no rare cards and no one ones or, you know, like refractors and things like that. So, I do think he's got some great cards that benefited from the technology and printing and, you know, some of the things that make things more scarce now.

So, you could make that argument, but I just think Jordan as long-term vintage in the near 5 to 10 years, all bets are off 30 years from now, but like five to 10, I think Jordan stuff. And Kobe Kobe's kind of the same as Bryant. I I think Kobe and LeBron are comparable probably tradeouts. Kobe has different things that that prop him up in fandom and all that. He's a different player. Uh but similar time periods as far as card overlap. So I think that becomes a tomato tomato discussion. Like I think you'd have a hard time like falling on an argument that makes complete sense on one of those or the other. But Jordan for me for both desire and investment. But that'd be my take.

I want I'm curious to see what the audience uh says, but the one thing I if I rank them, it would be Jordan, Kobe, LeBron, cuz I don't um Kobe's not signing any more cards. So,

it's uh you know, RIP, you know. Yeah, he was a guy. So, I mean, there's that nostalgic part of him where LeBron could be signing cards for the next 30 years. Um but but I but I think a lot of people would whether it's just memory or not put LeBron above Kobe pro longevity like as far as a player as the player goes. I'm not saying I do necessarily. I'm just saying. But I think I would bet he's like what? It's like Jordan and him fighting out the top and then you get into that Kobe and and others and Magic Bird like I don't know like like I don't know Chamberlain like I don't know uh Russell like we get a lot of different things. I think it seems like Jordan and co and LeBron are kind of the I don't think there should be a debate but maybe debate of all time. Great. Yeah, I see that. Well, I I'd like to see in the um in the messages. What is that called? Uh message DM.

Yeah, DMs. DM us or drop comments on let us know what you think. We that I'd love to get some feedback on that

and make me an offer. If you have a Jordan card or card that's equivalent, I'm um I'm all

airs, dude. Here we go. Like, we already had people. We appreciate you. Look, when you listen and you comment and you pay attention, you you win. We gave away some LEX. We're giving away some LEDx VIP passes to the national already from people that commented. So, we put our money where our mouths are. If you pay attention and you comment, we want your engagement. And look, make Brian an offer that he can't refuse. Yeah. At least uh don't

You might have you might have something that I like. Yeah. It's funny that we're talking about Jordans. Um, I didn't, you know, we were a day from even getting the store open. And I I did, you know, a lot of people probably could relate to this story. If you're trading and collecting, we all hit Facebook Marketplace occasionally, right? That's where all all good deeds happen, right? It's f Facebook Marketplace. Uh, and you know what I'm talking about. Um, so basically, he had a post. He said, "Full 86 fleer set with stickers with Jordans.

Looking for offers." Well, yours truly is always looking for that card and those that set now that I have a shop especially, but even before that. And I took the bait. Hey, I'm not going to be get scammed. I ain't sending any money down to China. I'm not like PayPaling you. I'm not Venmoing you. I'm not cash apping you before I say something. So, you can't scam me with just if I waste 5 seconds sending a message, no big deal. I send a message and I say what I always say to people. Cash buyer, no drama. Uh, here's my cell phone number. If you asked me to bet on that, like the chances that I was going to get any response from that whatsoever, I would have put it at 2%. Sure enough, about 30 minutes later, I get a text. It's a North Carolina number. I'm in South Carolina. North Carolina number. And says, "This is exame. I won't mention his name. I'm I got the Jordan and the 86 fleets." He's like, "Give me a call."

And I go, "Hm." The plot thickens. So I call him, sounds like a normal person. But you know, AI's gotten pretty good, Brian. The voice correctors and all that stuff. I'm still on the edge of this is this has gone to 10% chance of even materializing to like a legitimate meeting where I even look at a card, you know? I mean, 90% chance is still [ __ ] And coordinated whatever. And we threw around some numbers. He shared some details. I have pictures, but don't seem physical. you know, I'm not guaranteeing anything, but we kind of did a little bit of a gentleman's agreement of where we would be at. And he's about an hour up the road, and he says he would come to me. And I'm at the shop. And sure enough, after about seven delays and enough things to make me think it was never going to happen, he walked into my card shop at about 8:15 p.m., him and a buddy, and laid it all out in the crappiest Pokemon box I'd

ever seen. and he had 86 fle I'm just telling you you can't make this stuff up. I was like when he pulled the Pokemon box out it's like a like a ETB box or something. I'm like it's it's either been kicked down the road. I'm like what what are we doing? What is this? What is in this box? Is it gun? Is he going to shoot me? No. Proceeds to pull out exactly what he said he had. A pretty damn good condition full set of 86 fleer. All stickers. all Jordans and an 84 star Jordan on top of that. Uh, graded by a crappy grading company and but clear enough to know that it wasn't counterfeit and hadn't been cut and went through it all and the Jordan was I I my good friend Mike Baker I actually sent him some pictures and texts. He's a lead grader. Mike Baker authenticated good guy. Goes give him some love. Mike's gonna be coming on the show pretty regularly actually talk about the landscape. But Mike sent Mike detailed

pictures and look if the lead grader PSA can't tell me something then you know and he told me

yeah Mike's the man. So he told me what he thought like best case worst case made the guy an offer. He went outside, smoked seven cigarettes, and came back in and uh yours truly has a full set of 86 player.

Wow. 86 Jordan rookie and the star. And I would say anywhere from the whole set. I would say four to four to nine range. Yeah. Worst. No crease cards, no like bubble gum stuck to the front. No like nothing that you'd go like complete mismanagement. That's what makes this industry so, you know, it's awesome. There's stories all the time everywhere. And uh and then people want to tell them people about it. And so I love that story.

The what we got this what else we got here? We got Super Bowl. Yes, Super Bowl. It is. Is it a weird Super Bowl? Is it because I just don't root for either one of these teams and like that it's weird or is it just weird because media is weird that's either on your radar or off of your radar?

I mean I even like I mean I guess I'm rooting for Seattle but like give me a freaking break. I mean the Patriots are like they're rebuilding you know and like I'm so sick of them but one of my best

It's hard for them to be the underdog, right? It's like, yeah, it's hard to believe them like, oh, you know, the Patriots are the underdog. They've had too many super like this is too fast.

I always I like when I want to hate a team, I think about one of my good buddies or someone I I care about that is a fan of that team and then I can be like, well, I'm happy for Carlton.

Yeah, exactly. Exactly. But I don't have any friends that are big Patriots fans actually.

Do you have any traditions for look here? You know what my honest traditions are? Eating a lot of food, drinking some beer, and watching the commercials like everyone else does. But I'll say this, I'm an ad guy. I've been in marketing all day. It's kind of like the Super Bowl of ads. So, I get a kick out of watching them and dissecting them from a strategy side of going, "Wow, they over spent or that was a stupid like I don't know." So, I kind of geek out on the ads more than like Yeah, they entertain, but I kind of geek out on the ads. That's lame.

Well, yeah, that's what you do though. That's great. Yeah. I My tradition is I go to bed before the halftime show

cuz my team's never in it. I hate that it's on a Sunday. It should be on a Saturday.

Yeah. I mean, and um and those games are like five hours long. I got [ __ ] I got [ __ ] to do, man.

I know you're a CEO. I mean, it's like what's um talk to me about the Lennux card shop and what's coming up. Uh I know that you guys are close here. You you're moving along. What What's on the radar? So, I I decided with my partner that we're going to open the shop February 20th and 21st for a sneak peek. So, just like we kind of run that VIP party at the national, we're going to have like open from 12 to 7. Uh 4 to 7 is the RIP night and then after 7 it'll be invite only, DJ, food, drink, all that. Um, and then close. Then we're like closing for, you know, a couple weeks and then

What's the date of that? That's uh the February 21st is the Oh, yeah. That's you're going on a couple's retreat. God, I might I can't feed to

I'd rather I'd rather I'd rather go on a couple's retreat. All right. Touche hot tub hando mount.

That's awesome. Yeah. Yeah. Salford, you know. Just saying. Yeah. So, we'll have some people there, I think.

Well, we'll have a fanatics and Beckett and V friends. Uh just little companies you never heard of.

Just a little companies helping us out. Yeah. But uh yeah, we we just don't it's like it's probably going to be like 75% kind of done, but good enough to have a party.

Yeah, I'm looking forward to that. But hey, you got to catch up, man. I mean, Collector Station is is open for business officially. We sold our first uh stuff yesterday. Like I'm going to I'm going to exaggerate a little bit, but it's close enough. I mean, we we almost did like a thousand bucks first like three hours.

Wow. like a little shot of four or five customers and then um that was kind of it. But we haven't really but I

we haven't marketed I'm a marketing guy but I haven't market I just turned our website on on yesterday. I I didn't want people coming in while we were in the middle of remodeling and doing getting I wanted the store to be ready like at least for the soft opening. Still working out the tech stuff. I got some cool little add-on apps I've done just for the store that are uh show showing on all our monitors and stuff. Yeah, I'm real [ __ ] dangerous right now, Brian. I knowing tech and marketing and the store like getting to like

Bella, hold him down to earth, man. He's gonna get he's gonna be floating up there.

It's really hard. Got to humble him sometimes. I'm just saying like what I get to play with like for because you know having your own retail space I always did this for other people you know like

the actual selling of things you know and and was pretty good at it. So now like bringing it to life and being able to like visualize it within your own retail space is it's fun. It's less about uh bragging that I'm going to sell $1 billion or something. It's more like, you know, dangerous with how many toys I get to like implement.

I would say or how much how much how dangerous my with my own budget. That's probably more what I bet.

It's the old don't drug dealers don't do your own drugs. Get high. You might get a million dollar in sales, but 900,000 are you?

Yes. On the app I built to uh you know, like open a pack for me. That's awesome. Hey guys, L Ude D X. Go to the app store, download Lux. Let me just tell you, collection management, values, linkage with eBay. You want to sell? Look, we all like to collect, but let's be honest, no one has, you know, more in depth than me in this hobby, like the last couple years with my kids. Way to make it back is to push those cars eBay. You know how you don't lose your mind and your time? It's l Ude. You got to link it there. Sell those cards you don't want so you can buy some more and rip them like I do. Believe me, you'll trust me. You will thank me later. It is the best scanning card app.

And if you're a Pokemon person, let me just tell you, there's no better. It scans one and done every time. L U D X Brian, I love you, brother. Appreciate you.

Love you, my man. Always appreciate it, brother. Hey guys, thecollectornation.com full highlight clips, all the episodes and go to the iOS store. Didn't talk about this because but I'm going to go ahead and leak it out right now. Search for the collector nation. We're working out the kinks. I'm going to keep it on the deal. I'm not going to tell you how great it is and wonderful it is, but it's it's going to be you want to go take a peek under the hood. You'll see everything there and a lot more coming. The Collector Nation in the App Store.

We appreciate you. We'll see you next time on Collector Nation. Thanks for tuning in to the show. Be sure to follow us on your Goto podcast platform and catch the full video episode over on YouTube. Visit us at collectornation.com and follow Ryan on Instagram at Ryan Alford. Now get out there and collect yours.

Questions about this episode

Who speaks in "$5K LeBron Pull… Then a Jordan Rookie Walked Into the Shop"?

Ryan Alford (Host), Brian Lutton (Host), Duke Chung (Guest), Mike Baker (Guest).

What is "$5K LeBron Pull… Then a Jordan Rookie Walked Into the Shop" about?

The narrative focuses on the excitement of collecting sports cards, highlighting the recent acquisition of a valuable LeBron James refractor card and the consideration of trading it for Jordan or Kobe cards. It emphasizes the appeal of card rarity and investment potential, while also sharing a personal story about obtaining a complete 1986 Fleer set, showcasing the community and thrill within…

What is mentioned in this Collector Nation episode?

10 people, works and ideas are mentioned, including Collector Nation, Michael Jordan, LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, Cẩm Thành Chung, Hey Shop. Each one on this page links to its own page with every episode that mentions it.

How long is "$5K LeBron Pull… Then a Jordan Rookie Walked Into the Shop"?

The episode runs 21 min; the transcript is about 3,871 words in 61 timestamped sections.

More from Collector Nation

About this transcript: the episode's spoken words as captioned on YouTube, split into timestamped sections. Reclip.Me locates every person, work and idea in the text, keeps the time it is first named, and quotes the words around it verbatim. Last updated February 7, 2026.