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Collectors Continue to Hoop Dream for Top Basketball Grades
The world of sports memorabilia took a big hit as the world eased out of the COVID-19 pandemic. The time at home meant thousands of collectors rediscovered their once-beloved hobby, sending auction listings and prices skyrocketing. However, as people went back to their normal lives, these hobbyists eased off the gas pedal.
Basketball was particularly hard hit by this change. Consider these numbers:
- January 2021 witnessed sales over $18.8 million.
- January 2022 saw that number fall to $10.4 million.
- January 2023 toppled even more to $1.8 million.
Fortunately, the bottom didn’t fall completely out of the old peach basket—January 2024 saw a nice recovery of up to $3.6 million.
What caused this rebound? Renewed interest in longstanding players and all-time great auctions certainly helped, but the emergence of two key stars also played a big part in basketball’s regrowth.
Fresh Faces
The biggest face in basketball comes from a market that is newer for many hoop dreamers but is a fast-growing segment of the sport and the hobby.
Caitlin Clark was a familiar name around her campus and the Iowa Hawkeyes fandom, but as she chased immortality, the hobby world sat up and took notice. As she pursued the NCAA Division 1 record for most career points, people of all genders and all backgrounds took a keen interest in Clark. She filled arenas and watch parties with her unmatched skill. While she fell short of an NCAA championship, her incredible allure and talent brought about an incredible contract from Nike and the first overall selection honors in the WNBA Draft.
Now, a few months into her pro career, Clark is drawing eyes like no other in women’s basketball history. That has translated into a big opportunity for collectors who are grabbing the few basketball cards to Clark’s credit. As of mid-June 2024, only a handful of cards were available to collectors, primarily courtesy of Topps and its Bowman U effort. Her first-ever card, a magazine insert from Sports Illustrated for Kids, is an exceedingly condition-sensitive piece due to its perforation. Like others before (namely a Tiger Woods card from the late 1990s), the SIFK Clark is sure to be endless fodder for high-dollar auctions, especially if any can reach a decent grade.
Still, to this time, hobbyists and investors alike wait for her official rookie card to hit packs of Panini products. The company, set to lose its NBA license in the coming years to Fanatics, made a big splash when it signed Clark to an exclusive card agreement and endorsement deal.
“Caitlin is a generational talent, and it is natural that she should be our first multi-year exclusive female athlete,” Jason Howarth, Panini’s senior vice president of marketing and athlete relations, stated in a March 2024 press release. “We’ll have a range of products and memorabilia featuring Caitlin that we believe fans will love.”
Panini’s promise came to fruition soon after Clark was drafted by the Indiana Fever. The company quickly issued Instant cards of Clark, a program where the company sells DTC cards generated on-demand. According to Cllct, a one-of-a-kind parallel version of the base card that also features Clark’s signature sold for $10,000 in a Dutch auction.
Clark isn’t the only big name in fresh-faced basketball. The other is the latest San Antonio Spurs sensation, Victor Wembanyama. Feeling cut from the same cloth as David Robinson and Tim Duncan, the towering “Wemby” went first overall to the Spurs in the 2023 NBA Draft. Wemby had an incredible rookie season that was capped by a rare unanimous vote for the Wilt Chamberlain Trophy as the league’s rookie of the year.
Like Clark, Wembanyama’s first cards came in Bowman U from Fanatics, but the biggest impact came with Panini. In May 2024, Wemby broke the six-figure barrier when a PSA 10-graded Green Shimmer parallel from 2023–24 Panini Prizm sold for more than $113,000.
His Airness Rules
The emergence of Clark and Wemby will give basketball a big lift in collectibles and likely steal dollars away from its competitors, but the fresh faces won’t do it alone.
Hoops collectors are among the largest big-game chasers in memorabilia. Several cards have surpassed the million-dollar mark in recent years, with the likes of Luka Doncic, Steph Curry, and LeBron James all registering in that upper echelon of auctionable stars. Still, there is only one name that consistently demands attention more than any other: Michael Jordan.
While other sports debate their Mount Rushmore icons, Jordan stands alone in basketball as the definitive greatest all-around player of his or any other generation. Stack Jordan up against Bill Russell, Kobe Bryant, or any other player, and Jordan will come out on top in every argument. His playing career inspired greatness in his teammates and led a generation of athletes to chase their hoop dreams.
From the height of the 1990s boom era, MJ has led the NBA’s memorabilia charge. Any trading card depicting Jordan, from the most common base card to the one-of-a-kind print, Jordan has repeatedly risen to the top of NBA desirables. He probably has signed more autographs than most of us have skin cells, yet his charismatic play and all-around intensity draw countless collectors across all sports to his auctions.
Not to understate any of the aforementioned current players whose greatness continues to drive basketball, but Jordan is beyond compare, even as LeBron puts the final paving stones down in his well-cemented legacy. Others will come and go, but if there’s any Mr. Dependable in sport, period, it’s Michael Jordan.
As stated before, no one athlete can carry a sports card market. There may come a tipping point for Jordan cards where the bottom will fall out on demand, but thankfully, new faces like Caitlin Clark and Victor Wembanyama are along for the ride and ready to help shoulder the load of the graded basketball card market.
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Jon Waldman is a Winnipeg-based writer. He has written for Beckett, Go GTS, Canadian Sports Collector, and several other hobby outlets over his two decades in the hobby. His experience also includes two books on sports cards and memorabilia. Connect with Jon on Twitter at @jonwaldman.
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