Source: FREDERIC J. BROWN / Getty
After a failed finals run in 2020 and 2023 and a drama-filled Jimmy Butler departure, the hits just keep on coming for the Miami Heat.
During a recent appearance on The Dan LeBatard Show, sports analyst Amin Elhassan alleged that the franchise is currently embroiled in a seven-figure sports memorabilia heist.
“Authenticated memorabilia stolen from the Miami Heat. Oh really? And sold for many, many, many, many millions of dollars,” Elhassan said. “Perhaps one of the largest heists of this kind.”
Elhassan explains that the scandal spanned an 18-month period and involved a significant amount of stolen material, far exceeding just a few sweaty jerseys. In fact, it was the pure amount of merch on sale that raised flags in the memorabilia community because one-offs are more common rather than a surplus.
“You never see people with this much stuff. Right? You might get a worn jersey, but to get, like, a game-worn full set—NBA Finals? From multiple players?” he said.
You’d think that swiping that much from the Heat without getting noticed would take a well-oiled network of people, and Elhassan alleges that insiders helped.
“It was described to me, this is one of the largest, if not the largest, memorabilia heists in the history of this country in any sport,” Elhassan said. “Some of the people involved include a Miami police officer and someone with ties to the NBA.”
Cllct, a media company that exclusively covers the memorabilia collecting world, founded by ESPN vet Darren Rovell, confirms that federal authorities are conducting an investigation over the claims. The FBI and U.S. Attorney’s Office are also questioning people who bought goods from a person with access to the Heat’s uniform equipment room inside the Kaseya Center.
Cllct explains that the merch was sold on popular online auction platforms like eBay and WhatNot and ran the gamut from LeBron James’ decade-old jerseys—which went for seven figures— to more recent, less popular players like Gabe Vincent.
Heat staff apparently didn’t know the actual value of the team-issued gear they took and just passed it off to others who were more knowledgeable, who photo-matched it and tied it to specific games.
See social media’s reaction to the sports-related crime below.
