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

Summary

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Collector Nation Podcast

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

Date: February 6, 2026

Hosts: Ryan Alford & Brian Lut

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Episode Overview

In this engaging episode, Ryan and Brian dive deep into the thrilling highs and surprises of the card collecting world by recounting two major stories: an epic “pristine” LeBron James refractor pull valued at over $5,000 and the old-school thrill of acquiring a coveted 1986 Fleer Michael Jordan rookie set via a classic Facebook Marketplace deal. The hosts swap strategies and memories, debate which icon holds the most card value, and offer timely updates on their personal shops. They foster community engagement, encourage offers and trades, and serve up candid humor on everything from pack-ripping risks to Super Bowl ad traditions.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The $5,100 LeBron James Pull (00:00–05:24)

• Ryan details a big digital pack gamble:
  • Tried the new “Hey Shop” platform ($450 a pack).
  • First rip netted a $300 pull (“lost, sold it back for $250” [03:58]), did another pack and landed a 2003 Pristine LeBron James refractor PSA 10.
  • “Last comp $5,100.” [04:26]
• ROI & Hobby Risks:
  • Brian jokes: “This is how you become a degenerate right here. This is where. This is the path. Because, look, let me tell you, that is ridiculous.” [04:29]

2. Icon Debate: LeBron vs. Jordan vs. Kobe (06:10–10:32)

• Ryan’s Dilemma:
  • Not a big LeBron fan; asks if the card should be traded for a comparable Jordan or Kobe card (“What card do you think has the most upside?” [06:10]).
• Brian’s Take:
  • Jordan is both the fan-favorite and investor’s pick:
    “As an investor, Jordan. Because cards are older, a little more rare and all that stuff’s going up.” [06:31]
  • Kobe vs. LeBron: “Kobe has different things that, that prop him up and fandom and all that. He's a different player, but similar time periods...becomes a tomato tomato discussion.” [07:53]
  • Short-term (5-10 years), Jordan wins for both nostalgia and scarcity.
• Audience Engagement:
  • Ryan: “If I rank them, it would be Jordan, Kobe, LeBron. Because I don't...Kobe's not signing any more cards.” [08:31]
  • Encouragement for listeners to DM or comment (09:49).
  • “Make me an offer if you have a Jordan card or a Kobe card that's equivalent. I'm all ears, dude.” – Ryan [09:55]

3. The Facebook Marketplace Jordan Rookie Story (10:34–14:41)

• Behind the Scenes of a Major Private Buy:
  • Brian details hunting a full 1986 Fleer set including Jordan rookie via Facebook Marketplace.
  • Shares the suspense of verifying legitimacy (“I'm not going to get scammed...here's my cell phone number.” [10:51]).
  • Memorable moment: The seller showing up with the set in a “crappiest Pokemon box I'd ever seen.” [13:06]
  • Authenticity verified by renowned grader Mike Baker.
  • “Yours truly has a full set of 86 FLIR, 86 Jordan, rookie and the star.” [14:19]
  • “Anywhere from...the whole set, I would say four to nine [thousand].” [14:21]
• Love of Hobby & Serendipity:
  • Ryan: “That's what makes this industry so, you know, it's awesome. There's stories all the time everywhere, and people want to tell people about it, and so I love that story.” [14:30]

4. Super Bowl Banter & Traditions (14:44–16:45)

• Super Bowl Hype:
  • Ryan and Brian note this year’s Super Bowl feels “weird” with neither being invested in the teams.
• Traditions:
  • Brian: “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 kind of geek out on the ads more than like, yeah, they entertain, but I kind of geek out on the ads.” [15:50]
  • Ryan jokes: “My tradition is I go to bed before the halftime show because my team's never in it. I hate that it's on a Sunday. It should be on a Saturday.” [16:23]

5. Card Shop Updates & Future Events (16:45–19:26)

• Shop Sneak Peek:
  • Ryan’s Ludox Card Shop hosting a “sneak peek” on Feb 20-21. “4 to 7 is the rip night. And then after 7, it'll be invite only. DJ, food, drink, all that.” [17:00]
  • Partnering with Fanatics, Beckett, VeeFriends: “Just little companies you've never heard of.” [18:13]
• Brian’s Shop, Collector Station, now open:
  • “We almost did like a thousand bucks first, like, three hours... And I just turned our website on yesterday.” [18:44]
  • Playing with tech innovations and in-store experiences.

6. Advice & Hobby Philosophy (19:26–21:15)

• Temptation of Being Your Own Best Customer:
  • Brian jokes about tech, marketing, and the dangers of having new “toys” to play with: “Dangerous with my own budget.” [19:31]
  • Ryan: “Still...don’t do your own drugs. You might get a million dollar in sales but 900,000 are you.” [20:11]
• Tips for Collectors:
  • “Collection management values linkage with ebay. Sell those cards you don't want so you can buy some more and rip them like I do.” [20:31]
  • Ludx App and Collector Nation App Store plugs (20:31, 21:18).

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Hobby Addiction:
  “This is how you become a degenerate right here. This is the path. Because let me tell you, that is ridiculous.”
  — Brian [04:29]

• On Jordan’s Enduring Value:
  “As an investor, Jordan. Because cards are older, a little more rare and all that stuff's going up.”
  — Brian [06:31]

• Classic Deal Suspense:
  “He walked into my card shop at about 8:15pm, him and a buddy, and laid it all out in the crappiest Pokemon box I'd ever seen...Proceeds to pull out exactly what he said. He had a pretty damn good condition full set of 86 FLIR, all stickers, all Jordan, and an 84 star Jordan on top of that.”
  — Brian [13:06]

• On Collecting Culture:
  “That's what makes this industry so...awesome. There's stories all the time everywhere, and...people want to tell people about it, and so I love that story.”
  — Ryan [14:30]

• On Shop Ownership:
  “What I get to play with...having your own retail space. I always did this for other people...So now, like, bringing it to life and being able to like visualize it within your own retail space. It’s fun.”
  — Brian [19:31]

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• LeBron James Pull & Digital Pack Talk: 00:00–05:24
• LeBron vs. Jordan vs. Kobe Debate: 06:10–10:32
• Facebook Marketplace Jordan Set Story: 10:34–14:41
• Super Bowl Traditions & Ad Critique: 14:44–16:45
• Ludox/Collector Station Shop Updates: 16:45–19:26
• Closing Hobby Advice & App Recommendations: 19:26–21:18

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Tone & Style

Candid, energetic, and packed with hobbyist camaraderie. The episode blends sharp investment insight, classic “shop talk,” and playful banter, inviting listeners to participate and share their opinions, trades, and collecting stories.

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For more stories, highlights, and to engage with the Collector Nation community, check out collectornation.com or find the Collector Nation App in the App Store.

Transcript

[A]

So I pull a 2003 pristine LeBron James refractor, PSA 10 last comp 5100.

[B]

Wow. This is how you become a degenerate right here. This is the path. Because let me tell you, that is ridiculous.

[A]

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?

[B]

One is fandom. It would be Jordan. And number 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. Basically saw it full 86 flir set with stickers with Jordans looking for offers, made the guy an offer. And yours truly has a full set of 86 FLIR, 86 Jordan, rookie and the star.

[A]

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

[B]

Welcome to the Collector Nation podcast here. 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 Lut. What's up, guys? Welcome to Collector Nation, your top five sports show on Apple podcasts. 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?

[A]

What's up, my man? How you doing?

[B]

I'm good, man.

[A]

How was. I was a little concerned with you if you would make it through Snowmageddon down there. I thought I was going to get a phone call of you like in a closet, curled up.

[B]

You know, I was one of the few people, 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. 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, you know, we create scarcity around here. It's not real scarcity. We create it because everybody thinks they're going to be locked in for two weeks. And we did have back to back storms, but it was, I don't know, it's, it's annoying. I'll just say that.

[A]

Well, you, you made it.

[B]

We made it. The kids had fun. Kids had 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, I imagine Chicago shutting down and the mailman not delivering. Like, because I had a lot of stuff. 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. Nothing. No, nothing. And I'm like, in a big city, does the world just stop if 2 inches of snow comes?

[A]

No, it takes, honestly, like, a foot of snow in Chicago.

[B]

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's a lot for here. We don't have those salt trucks or anything else, but we made it through all.

[A]

Speaking of ripping packs. So this week, 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'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.

[B]

Is it H e y. H. Hey. Yeah. H e y, Shop. Hey, Shop. Okay.

[A]

Hey, Shop.

[B]

Yep, Yep.

[A]

And so I get on there, and I think one's like. I think I did the 450.

[B]

You went all in on that gamble. 450.

[A]

I lost that change.

[B]

For a guy like you.

[A]

I lost. I lost on that one.

[B]

It was.

[A]

I got like a 300 card, and I think I sold it back to him for 250.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

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.

[B]

And the last 350.

[A]

Last comp 5100.

[B]

Wow. Hey, guys, we are. This is how you become a degenerate right here. This is where. This is the path. Because, look, me tell you that is ridiculous. So you 10x that in that essentially because you had 500 in and 10x it with a $5,000 LeBron James PSA 10 03. Is that a rookie year?

[A]

Y.

[B]

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 in view while Brian's talking and nice card. Hey, shop is the is the link. We'll give them some free pub. You know they'll have to pay for it afterwards, Brian, but we'll give them free pub for right now because that's a. Everybody's going. Only took you two hits to get that H. They're on their keyboards tapping.

[A]

That's it. So I have a question for you.

[B]

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[A]

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?

[B]

Jordan? I I. Number one, look, we've, we've been, if you've been paying attention, listening, I grew up South Carolina boy, grew up Chicago boy, had my whole room littered with Chicago. So one is fandom. It would be Jordan. And number two, as an investor, 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 cards, 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 learned, had to learn in the 90s, which is the overprinting and no rare cards and no one on 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 5 to 10. I think Jordan stuff and Kobe. Kobe's kind of the same as Brian. I think Kobe and LeBron are comparable, probably tradeouts. Kobe has different things that, that prop him up and fandom and all that. He's a different player, but similar time periods. As far as card overlaps, 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.

[A]

I want. I'm curious to see what the audience well says. But the one thing I, if I rank them, it would be Jordan, Kobe, LeBron. Because I don't. Kobe's not signing any more cards. So it's, you know, rip, you know.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

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.

[B]

Yeah, but, but that's. But I think a lot of people would, whether it's just memory or not, put LeBron above Kobe 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 others and Magic Bird. Like I don't know like, like I don't know Chamberlain. I don't know Russell. Like we get a lot of different things. I think. I. 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.

[A]

Yeah, I see that. Well, I, I'd like to see in.

[B]

The.

[A]

In the messages. What is that called? Message dm.

[B]

Yeah. Yeah. Dms. Dms or drop comments on. Let us know what you think. That's. I'd love to get some feedback on.

[A]

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

[B]

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

[A]

You might have something that I like.

[B]

Yeah. It's funny that we're talking about Jordans. 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 Facebook marketplace. You know what I'm talking about. So basically he had it posted. He said full 86 flir 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 debate, hey, I'm not going to be get scammed. I ain't sending any money down to China. I'm not like PayPal ing 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. Here's my cell phone number. If you asked me to bet on that, like, the chances that I was gonna get any response from that whatsoever, I would have put it at 2%. Sure enough, about 30 minutes later, I get a text. If it's a North Carolina number, I'm in South Carolina, North Carolina number. And says, this is X name. I won't mention his name. I got the Jordan in the 86 clear sets. It's like, give me a call. And I go. 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, 90% chance is still bullshit and coordinated, whatever. And we threw around some numbers. He shared some details. I have pictures, but don't see them 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 8.15pm, him and a buddy, and laid it all out in the crappiest Pokemon box I'd ever seen. He had 86 fleet. I'm just telling you, you can't make this stuff up. I was like, when he pulled the Pokemon box out, it was like a. It was 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 gonna shoot me? No. Proceeds to pull out exactly what he said. He had a pretty damn good condition. Full set of 86 FLIR, all stickers, all Jordan, and an 84 star Jordan on top of that. Graded by a crappy grading company, but clear enough to know that it wasn't counterfeit and hadn't been cut and went through it all. And the Jordan was my good friend Mike Baker actually sent him some pictures and texts. He was 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. He, like, best case, worst case, made the guy an offer. He went outside, smoked seven cigarettes, and came back in. And yours truly has a full set of 86 FLIR, 86 Jordan, rookie and the star. And I would say anywhere from the whole set, I would say four to nine. Four to nine range.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Worst. No creased cards. No like, bubble gum stuck to the front. No, like, nothing that you'd go, like, complete mismanagement.

[A]

That's what makes this industry so, you know, it's awesome. There's stories all the time everywhere, and. And then people want to tell people about it, and so I love that story.

[B]

The what we got this. What else we got here.

[A]

We got Super Bowl.

[B]

Yes, Super Bowl. It. It's. 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? It's either on your radar or off of your radar.

[A]

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, rebuilding, you know, and, like, I'm so sick of them. But one of my best for them.

[B]

To be the underdog. Right? It's like, yeah, it's hard to believe. Oh, you know, the Patriots are the underdog. They had too many. Like, this is too fast, too.

[A]

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

[B]

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

[A]

Do you have any traditions for.

[B]

Look here. You know, 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. 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 overspent. 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.

[A]

Yeah. That's what you do, though. That's great. Yeah, I. My tradition is I go to bed before the halftime show because my team's never in it. I hate that it's on a Sunday. It should be on a Saturday.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

I mean, and. And those games are, like, five hours long. I got. I got to do.

[B]

Man, I know. You're a CEO. I mean, it's like, what's. Talk to me about the Ludox card shop and what's coming up. I know that you guys are close here. You're moving along. What. What's on the radar?

[A]

So I just. I decided with my partner that we're gonna 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 gonna have, like, open from 12 to 7. 4 to 7 is the rip night. And then after 7, it'll be invite only. DJ, food, drink, all that. And then close. Then we're, like, closing for, you know, a couple weeks. And then.

[B]

What's the date of that?

[A]

That's the. February 21st is the.

[B]

Oh, yeah. Going on a couple's retreat. God, I might. I can't feed. I'd rather.

[A]

I'd rather. I'D rather go on a couple's retreat.

[B]

All right. Hot tub handle mount.

[A]

That's awesome.

[B]

You know.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

So offered you know just saying.

[A]

Yeah. So we'll have some people there I think. Well we'll have a fanatics and Beckett and V friends.

[B]

Just little companies you've never heard of.

[A]

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

[B]

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 stuff yesterday. Like I'm gonna. I'm gonna exaggerate a little bit but it's close enough. I mean we. We almost did like a thousand bucks first like three hours.

[A]

Wow.

[B]

Like a little shot of four or five customers and then that was kind of it. But we haven't really. But I have. We haven't marketed. I'm a marketing guy but I haven't marketed. I just turned our website on yesterday. I want people coming in. While we were in the middle of remodeling and doing get 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 showing on our monitors and stuff. Yeah I'm real dangerous right now Brian. I knowing tech and marketing and the store like getting like.

[A]

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

[B]

It's really hard. Gotta humble him sometimes. I'm just saying like what I get to play with like 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. It's fun. It's less about 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 how much of how dangerous my with my own budget.

[A]

That's still don't drug dealers don't do your own drugs. You might get a million dollar in sales but 900,000 are you.

[B]

Yes on the app I built to you know like open a pack for me.

[A]

That's awesome.

[B]

Hey guys. L U D E X go to the app store download ludx 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 cards. EBay. You know how you don't lose your mind and your time. It's L u D E X. 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 E X. Brian, I love you, brother. Appreciate you.

[A]

Love you, my man. Always appreciate it, brother.

[B]

Hey, guys. The CollectorNation.com full highlight clips, all the episodes and go to the iOS store. Didn't talk about this because but I'm gonna go ahead and leak it out right now. Search for the Collector Nation. We're working out the kinks. I'm gonna keep it on the deal. I'm not gonna tell you how great it is. Wonderful it is. But it's good it's gonna 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 go to podcast platform and catch the full video episode over on YouTube. Visit [e-mail] and follow Ryan on Instagram at Ryan Alford. Now get out there and collect yours.