Three NBA championship rings belonging to former Los Angeles Lakers forward A.C. Green have been stolen from his Southern California home, law enforcement said.
Green believes the rings were taken by workers he hired to move belongings into storage, Palos Verdes Estates police Sgt. Steve Barber said. The thefts happened between March 11 and 13.
"He had hired several day laborers from a local area to help him with the move and when he returned back home he looked for his championship rings, couldn't find them," Barber said of the former NBA star, who, according to police, has since moved out of the area.
The diamond-encrusted rings with Green's No. 45 on them are worth an estimated $25,000 apiece, but Barber said they're "priceless" to the former player. And he said they would be tough to sell.
"It's going to be very hard for somebody to pawn them or sell them to any collector," Barber told NBC4. "They do have his name and number and now that the public knows about the crime, it's going to be very difficult for them."
The stolen items include a ring Green won in 1987 over the Boston Celtics alongside Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and another won in 2000 over the Indiana Pacers with Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal. The third was given to him by the team after it beat the Orlando Magic in 2009.
Ron Fukushima, a Palos Verdes Estate sports marketer, said rings are issued to players, coaches and their administrative staff whenever a championship is won. Fukushima said it would raise a big red flag if the rings showed up anywhere. But he believed the rings could fetch much more than $25,000 a piece.
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Green also won a title in 1988, but that ring was not reported stolen.
"If it were to be put on the open market, given the fact they're laker rings, history of the lakers and dynasty of the lakers," Fukushima said. "I think it could go for more than that, just the fact of who he is as a player, a well respected player, and its a laker ring."
Green, 49, a power forward who also played for the Phoenix Suns, Dallas Mavericks and Miami Heat, retired in 2001.
No arrests had been made as of Friday afternoon.
"I felt really bad for him because I know how hard he worked to get the rings," Fukushima said. "Players play for championships. Players love the ring."
