Bryant gifted the ring to his father after winning his first NBA title
Kobe Bryant’s 2000 NBA championship ring, which was originally gifted to his father, former NBA player Joe “Jellybean” Bryant, is up for sale at Goldin Auctions. Notably, Goldin specifies that it is not the executive ring given to players themselves upon winning a championship. However, it is the “exact same ring” given to Bryant and his fellow Los Angeles Lakers. Bryant ordered an extra ring upon winning the 2000 championship to gift to his father. Now, that ring is for sale.
This is not the first time that memorabilia initially gifted to Bryant’s parents made their way on the market. In 2013, Bryant settled a lawsuit with Goldin relating to memorabilia that his parents wanted to sell. That settlement allowed for less than 10% of the items initially slated for auction to actually be sold. This ring is the only one Bryant ever gave to his father, and it comes with a letter of authenticity from his mother, Pamela Bryant.
Bryant’s relationship with his parents was strained at times. In 2016, he told ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne that “Our relationship is shit,” citing the attempted sale of those items in 2013 as one source of tension. After Bryant’s death in 2020, Wayne Slappy, a friend of the Bryant family, told The Daily Mail that he had recently seen Kobe and Joe hug at a basketball camp. Both Joe and Pamela Bryant attended Kobe’s funeral.
The ring is 14 karat gold and contains 40 diamonds. Bryant’s last name along with the Lakers’ regular-season record (67-15) and postseason record (15-8) appear on one side. On the other side are the words “bling bling” followed by the year (2000). The auction for the ring is set to conclude on March 31, and the leading bid as of this writing is for $94,000.