With the 2020-21 NBA season set to tip off in a few short weeks, the basketball card market is primed to match (or even surpass) the huge year that it had during the 2019-2020 season. Basketball is the #1 sport in card sales, and this year will likely create even more separation at the top of those rankings.
Typically, rookies had an opportunity to shine during “March Madness” and create a lot of hype in the market, shooting the value of their cards up before they even step foot inside of an NBA arena. However, with the college basketball season cut short in 2020, there is an interesting opportunity for buyers looking to find the next top rookie who may currently be flying under the radar!
While base rookie cards, silver parallels and variations are typically the cards that collectors are looking to pull out of packs, all sets contain “insert cards”, which can also be valuable if you are lucky enough to pull the right one. This list of 12 cards will highlight some of the most popular inserts from many of the most collectible sets of the modern era, and give you an idea of how much they have been selling for recently on eBay.
In the Panini Spectra 2019-20 basketball set, “Color Blasts” were only found in 1 out of every 3 cases. With 8 boxes in a case, and 4 packs in a box, that means you have a 1/96 chance of pulling any one “Color Blast” out of a pack. There were 25 players featured on a “Color Blast” in this set, putting your odds of pulling a LeBron James one at 1/2400 packs.
There were only 22 of each player produced, to give you an idea of how rare this card is.
Sold For: $13,988
Click here to shop LeBron James inserts
There were 25 players featured in the Kaboom! inserts in the 2018-19 Panini Crown Royale set. This super-rare cartoon-like illustrated insert made it’s first appearance in a set since 2016-17 Panini Excalibur.
Sold For: $7,777
Click here to shop Luka Doncic inserts
This holographic “Dazzle Blue” was only found in “Fat Packs’ of 2018-19 Panini Threads and is numbered to /25.
Sold For: $3500
Click here to shop Luka Doncic inserts
From Downtown! was the “case hit” in the 2016 Panini Studio set and featured beautiful original artwork. There were 16 boxes in a case and 10 packs per box, meaning that one of these rare inserts came in every 160 packs.
Sold For: $1849
Click here to shop Devin Booker inserts
There were 20 players featured on the “My House” insert in the Donruss Optic 2019-20 set, with the gold parallel numbered /10.
Sold for: $1,499
Click here to shop RJ Barrett inserts
The “Stained Glass” insert is a case hit that can only be found inside of hobby boxes in the 2019-20 Panini Mosaic set.
Sold For: $1452
Click here to shop for more Luka Doncic inserts
There were 30 players featured on the “Fireworks” insert in the 2019-20 Panini Prizm set (one on each team). There are also rare low numbered parallels of this series, including Fast Break, Silver, Hyper, Mojo #/25, Gold #/10 and a Black 1/1.
Sold For: $777
Click here to shop Zion Williamson inserts
There are 20 players featured on the Mystique inserts in the 2019-20 Panini Illusions set with the gold parallels numbered /10. Other rare parallels of this card were Emerald, Orange, Pink, Sapphire, Green #/5 and a Purple 1/1.
Sold For: $660
Click here to shop Steph Curry inserts
There are 25 players featured on this Overdrive insert in the 2019 Panini Mosaic set. No parallels were made of this insert.
Sold For: $156.50
Click here to shop Trae Young inserts