The Next Rally IPO, revealed.

Our next Public Offering is upon us.
^{Shiny Things 243 - by Rob Petrozzo, for Rally}

First and foremost, happy July 4th, and happy 250th 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸

Over the past year, these emails have become more than just Rally updates. They've turned into a place where I've shared my own perspective on the collectibles market and the trends shaping it, and some of the stories that don’t always make the headlines. Going forward, we're evolving this newsletter to focus more directly on the assets on and around Rally - the research behind them, why we're bringing them to market, and what's coming next.

If you've enjoyed the more op-ed side of these Sunday emails, no worries - it's not going away. I'm moving that into a separate personal newsletter dedicated to the business of collectibles and the direction this industry (and the huge bags of new money piling in) are headed. If you want to get those in your inbox theres zero obligation, but you can sign up here: The Premium to NAV newsletter. First one goes out next week.

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With that said (and fittingly, with the chaotic amount of attention on LeBron James this offseason), the timing couldn't be better to announce what's coming next…

Our next IPO will feature the LeBron James game-worn jersey from the 2025/26 NBA All-Star Game (you can take a look in-app here) - the final All-Star appearance of LeBron's career, at least for now. We'll have much more to share before the offering opens, but today we're giving you an early look at why we believe this is one of the most compelling modern basketball assets on the market.

LeBron, in what will likely go down as the most productive full career in sports history and imo make him the true greatest all-around athlete of all time, has decided he has at least one more year in him - just not with his current team, the Los Angeles Lakers, as he informed the team this past week that he will not be playing with them in the coming 2026/27 season.

Everything feels like the 2010s again, so it’s only right, in theme, we get a LeBron James “The Decision” reboot…

For those who don't remember, LeBron's first departure from Cleveland didn't exactly go as planned. In 2010, he turned his free agency announcement into a prime-time ESPN special with Jim Gray called The Decision, culminating in the now-infamous line: "I'm taking my talents to South Beach." What was intended to feel cinematic instead became one of the most criticized moments of his career, and it definitely took some time to repair the under-the-surface damage it did to his image. Winning cures all though, and he went on to win his first championship in Miami (the first of four) but the announcement itself has remained part of his legacy ever since.

So here we are...

Six months ago, we acquired the rights to the All-Star jersey. There were a few reasons we wanted this one.

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1. It came directly from the NBA

LBJ is King. Provenance is King. As prices continue to rise and new buyers enter the market, they're also being met with an unprecedented amount of supply - but not all supply is created equal. With more mid-tier items flooding the market, we're seeing increasingly creative catalog descriptions at auction houses, acceptance by new buyers of incomplete chain-of-custody information, and authentication standards that don't always match the standards set by long-established leaders in the space.

That's why the shortest possible path from the player's back to the collector has become a requirement for top-tier pieces.

This jersey came directly from the NBA's game-used program, where every item is documented, labeled, witnessed, secured, and vaulted immediately after collection, sometimes off the bench or in the tunnel before it even hits the locker room post-game. That process, combined with the NBA's relationships with teams and its chain-of-custody protocols, creates a level of confidence that can't be recreated when an item spends years changing hands through the secondary market.

Just as importantly, our relationships allow us to acquire pieces like this before the public even knows they exist rather than competing for it after it reached auction and
has been marketed widely.

2. Underestimated rarity

Our goal in assembling The King Collection (our previous LeBron Lakers collection IPO) was to build a portfolio of LeBron James jerseys that captured the defining chapter of his career. Since arriving in Los Angeles, he delivered a championship, returned to No. 23, and accomplished an insane unbreakable list of milestones: becoming the NBA's all-time leading scorer, the all-time leader in minutes played, the first player to win Finals MVP with three different franchises, and most recently the first father-son duo to share an NBA court.

But we also saw an opportunity the market seemed like it was overlooking- LeBron's longevity has created the perception that there's an endless supply of his game-worn memorabilia, when the reality is the opposite. Across nearly 1,700 career games, fewer than 200 photo-matched jerseys have ever surfaced publicly. It’s roughly the same population as Pokémon PSA 10 Shadowless Base Set Charizard cards (assets that now trade for around $500,000).

Today, multi-game-worn Lakers jerseys routinely carry estimates of $60,000–$80,000, while even lower-tier single-game examples often trade in the $30,000–$50,000 range. Only nine All-Star Game jerseys have surfaced publicly, and they almost never change hands. As LeBron's playing career draws to a close, the odds of new examples entering the market only continue to shrink.

We track the entire market in our quarterly King Collection investor updates. You can read the latest Q1 update here.

3. The obvious... the clock is running out.

In acquiring this jersey, we're making three bets, hedged against the current value of the asset:

First: Time is undefeated…

LeBron is entering his age-42 season (his 24th in the NBA) still playing 35 minutes a night at an elite level. But every all-time great eventually reaches a finish line. We saw it with Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, Wayne Gretzky, and Tom Brady. Once a GOAT retires, the market tends to spend the next several years chasing the pieces collectors overlooked while they were still playing. Supply tightens, auction houses compete for the best material, and the market suddenly realizes just how scarce those defining artifacts really are.

Second: The supply of meaningful LeBron jerseys is shrinking fast…

When we acquired this jersey, we weren't necessarily betting that 2025/26 would be LeBron's final season. We were betting that opportunities like this would become increasingly rare. This past year's All-Star Game introduced a new format, allowing us to acquire the jersey worn across two games, while LeBron reportedly kept the jersey from his other appearance. Even if LeBron does in fact play in the 2026/27 All Star game, there is a high likelihood that it will be his last. And with that, comes a high likelihood that he keeps not just that jersey, but many of the milestone and important pieces from this upcoming season, no matter where he lands.

Third: Above all, this is history…

Multiple reports suggest LeBron is planning to document the entire 2026/27what could become his farewell season, turning it into a full-scale media event as he pursues one last championship. LeBron James has little left to prove and even less left to earn financially. If this truly is the final act, every milestone and every nationally televised game and every iconic image will carry more weight than the last. We have every reason to believe that coverage across every platform and all of social media will be a constant reminder of an All-Star career that will never be replicated.

This jersey is the latest addition to a position we began building in 2024: acquiring museum-quality LeBron James artifacts with impeccable provenance and historical context. Our thesis has always been that the market would accelerate as his career entered its final chapter (“The Retirement Bump” - something the market has seen with all of the GOATs throughout sports history). Judging by the conversation across sports media over the last week, that shift already appears to be underway. LeBron cards are already moving…

Where LeBron plays next remains to be seen. But wherever he lands, the expectation is the same: one final run at a fifth championship, with every game carrying more significance than the last. Our goal isn't to predict the destination, but to ensure our community is positioned before the next chapter unfolds and that we’re in the best position to come back to market with those assets via private sale and auction exits when the time comes.

That continues with the 2026 LeBron James multi-game worn All-Star Game jersey.

We'll be sharing additional details soon. If you'd like early access when the offering is announced, simply reply "LEBRON" to this email and we'll make sure you're among the first to know.

Until next week…