LeBron James Hints at Fanatics Deal In Instagram Post

LeBron James may finally be a Fanatics athlete after years with Upper Deck.

Upper Deck’s exclusive deal with LeBron James may finally be over.

In a photo posted to Instagram on Monday, James hinted at a deal with Fanatics, potentially ending a 20-year run with Upper Deck.

James can be seen holding what appears to be a script with the Fanatics logo on the back. He captioned the photo "Greatness awaits" while tagging accounts for Fanatics and Topps.

James signed his first exclusive deal with Upper Deck in 2003 — before he was even drafted by the Cleveland Cavaliers with the No. 1 overall pick.

Speculation that a change was incoming picked up traction in 2023 after a leaked image of a dual autograph featuring LeBron James and his son Bronny James surfaced. Part of the Bowman University lineup, the autograph would mean a change in Upper Deck’s exclusivity.

Collectors also noticed that James was removed from a lineup of exclusive athletes on Upper Deck’s website.

Upper Deck

Fanatics shocked the trading card hobby in 2021 when it secured exclusive rights to make trading cards for the NBA, NFL and MLB. It followed those deals up with an acquisition of Topps for $500 million in 2022 to jumpstart its production of baseball cards.

Originally expected to take over the NBA and NFL deals in 2025 and 2026 from Panini America, dueling lawsuits between the companies has put that timeline in question.

Under the current NBA deals, Panini has been able to make cards with game-used memorabilia from James but not autographs.