The Most Insanely Expensive Rings In NBA History..

**SPEAKER_1** (0:00)
An NBA championship ring is priceless, at least you think it is, but some NBA players actually decided to put their rings up for auction, whether it be for charity or because they blew through their NBA earnings and really need the money. With some of these rings being worth six figures, you won't believe which NBA player made millions auctioning off his rings. With the Raptors producing the most expensive ring the NBA has ever seen, when it comes to the material that it was produced with, Kyle Lowry, believe it or not, actually helped design it. What makes last year's championship ring so special is that typically sports rings are hidden away from his players until after the big win. But Toronto point guard Kyle Lowry had quite a bit of say of how the ring was going to be made, with the blessing of team ownership. And it's very apparent that Canada wanted to go all out for its first NBA ring. The ring is a 1.25 carat golf ball of a diamond plastered on the face of the ring, the biggest diamond on any championship ring. And if that wasn't enough, the ring also has the most individual diamonds, sporting 650 individual smaller diamonds, also the most of any championship ring. Of those 650 diamonds, 74 are seen on the face of the ring to represent all the team's wins throughout the season and playoffs. The indentation on the side of the ring gives space for all 16 players jersey numbers to be displayed. And next to each number is a ruby that represents Canada. And while most of the sports championships rings have the team logo on the face, Kyle won the country's first ring to represent the city. So instead of the Raptor logo, we see the Toronto skyline. It's pretty impressive just how much attention to details on the ring. Every small design has a meaning behind it, and that's all thanks to Kyle Lowry. Kyle even talked about his creations saying, This is not a ring that you wear every day. This is a statement piece. You don't wear it every day. You put it up, you wear it once in a while. So I wanted the size to be as big as every other ring out there, just because we wanted to show off the detail. It's a very spectacular ring. It's something that you earn. It took a long time to get, unless you're Patrick McCaw. He has three now, so we just wanted that ring to be better than his other two. Now, a fan looking to get his hand on a specially fit ring can expect to spend around $10,000, although you can get a significantly less blinged out one for around 400 bucks. With Antoine Walker winning a ring with the Heat back in 2006, unfortunate events led to Antoine selling his ring to be able to live. Antoine Walker is a forgotten Celtic star. Back in his heyday at TD Garden, Walker was averaging 20 points and nine rebounds per game for the better part of his eight season career with Boston. By his final three seasons, Antoine was traded to the Miami Heat in the 2005-2006 season, adding to the already beefed Heat roster that had Shaq, Wade, and Gary Payton. Following his success, Antoine fell into a long string of legal trouble starting in 2009 with a DUI in South Beach. And later that same year, Antoine was charged with three felony counts of writing bad checks to try to pay off over $800,000 worth of gambling debt. And by 2010, Antoine filed for bankruptcy after being $12.7 million in debt with only $4 million in his bank account. This would prompt an auction for his memorabilia that included his only championship ring with the Miami Heat. And the ring ended up selling for $21,500.
Fellow teammate Dwayne Wade was disappointed after hearing the ring was sold. He had this to say, I think it's worth more than that. Personally, I know how hard we work for that ring and how much it means to all of us. It's very unfortunate. But Walker has to do what he has to do for his family. I know how much that ring means to him and I know I already work for that. It's really unfortunate that he's in that situation. But at the same time, you got to do what you got to do to get back to where you can. Hopefully everything he's doing, he's able to recoup and get his way back. The only positive is that Antoine's story could hopefully be a wake up call for future and current NBA players. And I'm sure they won't fall into the same hole that he did. With the 1962 Celtics ring being one of the most prized rings in NBA history due to who owned it, it was sold for a huge amount a few years back. Back during the Celtics dynasty days, when the team's reign over the league was a borderline monopoly, there was one coach that easily had just as much of an impact as their team's biggest star. That was NBA legend Red Arbok. The legend earned nine NBA championship rings as a coach of the Celtics from 1950 to 1966, and is widely considered the greatest coach the league has ever seen. With that being said, after Arbok's passing in 2006, much of his valuable memorabilia from his 56-year career at the Celtics was put on auction. And one of the valuables that were put on auction was his 1962 championship ring with the Celtics that he had specifically tailored for his wife Dorothy, and scribed on the inside of the ring is A.R.Bach. The ring itself holds very little value with, you know, what's produced today. However, its history, along with who wore the ring, is what gives it its value. The ring is made up of 10 karat gold, along with the diamond that is precisely placed in the center of his face. And on his sides is the Celtic symbolic shamrock, accompanied with the year the championship was won in 1962 And despite being won for decades, the ring had very little wear, and it was eventually sold in 2011 for $78,000. When Meta World Peace being involved in a lot of controversy during his younger years in the NBA, he actually had a change of heart, and he sold his championship rings to donate the proceeds. Following his championship run with the Lakers in 2010, Ron was looking to reinvent himself and make an attempt to separate himself from the loose cannon image that he'd been known for in the past. And he did so with much success after meeting a therapist. His meetings and therapy were so helpful, in fact, that after his championship win, Ron shouted out his therapist, thanking her for helping him manage his emotions. Just a few months after his big win, Ron surprisingly announced that he'd be selling his ring and donating the proceeds to give kids better access to mental health facilities, saying, But I think it would be more important to give back to something I believe in, which is providing kids with someone to talk to, because it's so expensive. I pay for the parent counseling, marriage counseling, and anger management, and it's very expensive. A suite for children of all demographics, rich or poor. Preferably the rich could pay for their own psychologist, but it'll be a great way to help kids who don't know where they're going in life at this point. And Ron had mentioned early on that he'd already been approached by various investors and celebrities who offered anywhere from $50,000 to $100,000. But in an effort to allow his fans to have a chance at the ring, Ron made it the raffle auction with tickets ranging from $1 to $3.