Are my old basketball cards worth anything?
If you still have your old basketball card collection sitting around, you came to the right place! If you're wondering about your old baseball cards, click here instead!
The 1980s and 1990s were an incredible time to be a basketball fan. The former decade featured a reboot of the league's greatest rivalry, the Lakers and Celtics, led by superstars Magic Johnson and Larry Bird respectively. Combined, the two teams would win an unbelievable 8 Larry O'Brien trophies!
As for the 1990s, they can best be summed up by a single name, or even set of initials: MJ. Sure, the Dream Team was a lot of fun, the Rockets had a terrific back-to-back, and Shaq/Kobe put up some highlights, but the decade undoubtedly belonged to Jordan. He not only owned the league but held a near monopoly on footwear and sports drinks too! Who didn't want to be like Mike?
For many of today's "old school" basketball fans, nothing about today's game can match what the Association offered back then. Of course, at Collectibles on SI, our focus is not what was on the court but what was in the pack!
Unlike baseball, where almost nothing you could pull from a pack over the nearly two-decade stretch known as the "junk wax era" is worth much, your old basketball card collection just might send your kids to college. After all, things like this still do happen.
Imagine going to your daughter’s friend’s bday party and his dad mentions he has a bunch of old basketball and baseball cards good/great condition and you come across these! 🤯🤯🤯 pic.twitter.com/gZyfzM1G0i
— ChuckStyles (@ChuckStyless) September 23, 2024
For those whose memories of the decade are foggy, you're looking at the now legendary 1986 Fleer Basketball set and a pair of Michael Jordan rookie cards. Good chance the cards you see in that photo wouldn't just put your kids through college but buy them a nice house as well! After all, unopened boxes routinely sell for more than $100,000, and the Jordan card alone (in gem mint) has sold for more than $800,000!
It's not just Jordan either. There are several other stars from the set whose cards have recently sold for several thousand dollars, though again these are cards in exceptional condition. If you're still hanging onto the James Worthy card you took to school every day in your pocket, it's definitely not time to quit your day job just yet.
Of course, a Kareem-sized reason those 1986 cards are so valuable is that almost nobody was buying hoops cards back then. Baseball was king, and basketball was barely even in the conversation. On the off chance a bud had the Jordan back then, they would have gladly let it go for the Donruss Jose Canseco rookie in a heartbeat! (Heck, you might have even pulled off the heist for an Andres Galarraga!)
Ultimately, basketball cards didn't really make a splash until 1989, when both Fleer and upstart NBA Hoops issued card sets. Collectors couldn't buy these packs fast enough, thanks to the league's hottest rookie, Danny Manning! Today those once prized rookie cards can be had for just over a dollar.
As the examples from 1986 and 1989 illustrate, the answer to whether your basketball cards are worth anything comes down to this. If you were buying them when everyone else was buying them, then no, your cards won't fund your retirement. (But they may 'fun" your retirement!) On the other hand, if you were that one hoops junkie buying basketball when everyone else was "investing" in baseball, then it may well be time to transfer your collection from its Air Jordan III shoebox to a safe deposit box! (But definitely, definitely, definitely do NOT throw out that shoe box either...it might be worth even more than the cards!
Jason A. Schwartz is a collectibles expert whose work can be found regularly at SABR Baseball Cards, Hobby News Daily, and 1939Bruins.com. His collection of Hank Aaron baseball cards and memorabilia is currently on exhibit at the Atlanta History Center, and his collectibles-themed artwork is on display at the Honus Wagner Museum and PNC Park.