LeBron James is now officially the G.O.A.T. in the trading card world ... an insanely rare piece from the King's rookie season just fetched $1.8 MILLION -- making it the most expensive card EVER!
According to officials at Goldin Auctions, which smashed the gavel on final bidding over the weekend, the LeBron card topped the previous leader -- a Mike Trout rookie piece -- by nearly $900,000.
The James card is pretty amazing ... coming out of the 2003-2004 Upper Deck Exquisite collection, it's only one of 23 ever produced.
It features a piece of a jersey cut from a Cleveland Cavaliers uniform he wore during a photo shoot during his rookie season ... and it also has LBJ's autograph clear-as-day in blue ink on the front.
It has a grading of 9.5, meaning the card is in near-perfect shape too ... which is why bidding soared from a $150k start to a $1.8 million finish in just a few weeks.
Pretty cool for LeBron ... but even cooler? The Lakers superstar said on social media he has "a couple of those exact" cards still laying around his house too!!!
COULD YOU IMAGINE BEING SO RICH THAT YOU HAVE A COUPLE MULTI-MILLION DOLLAR CARDS JUST LAYING AROUND?!
Amazing.
By the way, the winning bidder was reportedly Leore Avidar -- a super-rich guy who co-founded Lob.com.
Congrats!!!