This is influence! James' 76ers merchandise sold out, jersey sales break Shohei Ohtani's record.

On July 30, Beijing time, the Inquirer reported that after the 76ers officially announced James' two-year, $8 million contract, his 76ers merchandise was immediately sold out.

James' decision to join the 76ers instead of the Cavaliers or Heat shocked the entire sports world. Data from sports merchandise giant Fanatics shows:The jersey sales of this future Hall of Famer's new team set a record for all sports player transfers, surpassing the sales when Shohei Ohtani joined the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2023.

Fanatics also stated that within the first 24 hours of the news breaking, James' 76ers merchandise sales had already surpassed the total sales of the first week after he announced joining the Lakers in 2018. This achievement is not surprising: about two hours after the official announcement, all first batch of No. 23 jerseys on the Fanatics website were sold out. The platform is also selling James signed trading cards produced by Topps and plans to launch more derivative products.

Mitchell & Ness, which is part of the Fanatics group, has not yet released precise sales data for James merchandise.

Mitchell & Ness cultural marketing and partnership manager Dexter Childs said: "Excluding recent major local events in Philadelphia, the launch of the LeBron Witness Series T-shirts and all 76ers-themed merchandise has achieved one of our best single-day retail performances. Compared to marketing for major events like the 250th anniversary of the city's founding, FIFA events, and the MLB All-Star Game, this sales volume exceeded internal expectations."

Since last Friday, among the top ten best-selling items across all sports categories on all Fanatics-owned websites (including the NBA official store, the 76ers official store, and the main Fanatics site), James merchandise has occupied eight spots.

One has to marvel that James, who is about to turn 42, still possesses absolute influence. After the free agent market opened, the entire league was waiting for his decision, and after he made his decision, his influence was felt in every aspect.