The Return Of Topps Basketball + My 25 Favorite Topps Cards

I’ve been buying Cooper Flagg stock since we first started filming the 1st pick of the 2025 NBA Draft during his freshman year of high school. That crazy year was 2021, when players wore masks during games and collectors spent millions on modern cards during the insane sports trading card boom.

The boom was so insane that a 2018 Panini National Treasures Luka Doncic rookie card sold for $4.6 million!

It was so insane that virtual cards sold for hundreds of thousands of dollars via NBA Top Shot (which I still consider a scam that Adam Silver proudly promoted).

Even though the pandemic and sports card boom were just a few years ago, it feels like a lifetime ago, actually, more like an alternative lifetime ago.

High school players are no longer required to wear masks, NBA players are no longer competing for a championship in a bubble, and Panini is no longer the exclusive licensee to produce the most boring NBA cards (wow, a red-tiger-stripe-prizm rookie) in the history of trading cards. They no longer have this license because Topps is back!

The company behind the famous Magic Johnson and Larry Bird rookie card with Dr. J in the middle is here to save Wal-Mart and Target customers from seeing a wall full of basketball boxes that nobody wants.

Same company behind the 1992 Topps Stadium Club Beam Team cards, which I spent all of my childhood allowance money on, is here to give me a reason to spend my adult paycheck money.

The company is also here to make me..

FEEL OLD AS $HIT!

Cooper Flagg tries to recognize players from the 2006 NBA… pic.twitter.com/t9av3RdaPd

— Topps (@Topps) October 2, 2025

Topps released  this video of cover athlete Flagg opening a pack of 2006 basketball cards, which is the year he was born. As he went through the pack, he mentioned which players he’s heard of.

• Hedo Turkoglu (2008 MIP) – No
• Juwan Howard – Yes
• Michael Finley (Beer Thief & Mavs assistant GM) – Yes
• Eric Snow – No
• Zydrunas Ilgauskas (2x All Star) – No
• Rasual Butler – Maybe
• Antoine Walker – Yes
• Antoine Wright – No
• Rashad McCants (first hooper to date Khloe Kardashian) – No

If he’s on social media, I’m certain he’s heard of or seen BIG3 legend Rashad McCants share his hot takes on Gilbert Arenas’ podcast, but he might not have realized it’s the same McCants. Or, the Duke in him refused to acknowledge a player from North Carolina.

McCant’s response on Twitter: “Yall know I’m on Live all season long!!!!! It’s BALL UP TOP!!! Cooper better play very well”

In honor of Topps becoming the official licensed NBA trading card provider and making me feel old as $hit, I’m going to list 20 of my FAVORITE Topps cards. To be clear, this is not the 20 most expensive, historic, essential, or influential Topps cards, but 20 cards that I personally love for one reason or another.

1992 TOPPS STADIUM CLUB SHAQUILLE O’NEAL

What will it cost you in 2025? $200 (Ungraded), $500 (Members Only), $20,000 (PSA 10)

Thanks to Shaq’s exclusive deal with a young Ken Goldin at CLASSIC, none of the major NBA card companies (Fleer, Hoops/Skybox, Topps, Upper Deck) were allowed to release a Shaq rookie until 1993. The workaround to encourage more people to buy their Shaq-less Series One products was to insert redemption cards. The chase for Shaq rookies and trade-in cards was the catalyst for a historic year in the trading card world.

The most sought-after and expensive (other than the overvalued promo cards given out at conventions) of these Shaq cards was the Stadium Club Beam Team insert from Topps, which was making its return after a 10-year hiatus. I still remember attending countless card shows and seeing this holy grail with a $300 price tag, thinking, ‘I can’t believe a new card could cost $300.’ Nowadays, a Gelo Ball autographed card will cost you $300 (I picked this example because I actually sold two of them).

It was also at one of these card shows that I traded a 1987 Michael Jordan Fleer card for a $100 Classic LP Shaq card. That 87 MJ card   goes for $300 today while that Shaq card can be bought for $10.

2003 Topps TJ Ford Rookies

What will it cost you in 2025?  $5-10

Ford is a personal friend of mine, so I’ll keep the jokes to a minimum. I’m sure you have seen photos of the 5’10” Texas legend wearing shorts that Shaquille O’Neal should be wearing. Topps used a few hilarious pictures from that infamous photoshoot for all of his rookie cards. The funniest one has to be his Pristine, which shows him doing his best Air Jordan impersonation. It also has the following quote on the back: “You’ve got to like someone who is always searching and looking for ways to get better.” I agree. And too bad nobody was able to search and find fitting shorts, so he didn’t have to wear ones that even the Professor, during his And1 days, would say are too long.

TJ Ford explains why his shorts in the Rookie shoot were so long. pic.twitter.com/JLMraCitwg

— Ballislife.com (@Ballislife) March 24, 2019

1996 STADIUM CLUB SPIKE SAYS: MICHAEL JORDAN

What will it cost you in 2025? $13

This is the type of stuff I loved in the 90s. Nowadays, we know every opinion about everything from everybody. Back then, it was rare to come across celebrity opinions on random things. Thankfully, in 1995, Topps asked the great filmmaker and Knicks superfan Spike Lee to write about a few players for an insert set called SPIKE SAYS. The MJ one was my favorite. It starts with him saying, “My main man Money ‘Brookyln Born’ is the KNICK CRUSHER.” He then talks about MJ dropping 55 on the Knicks and then giving his autographed shoes to Spike’s daughter.

A few other great quotes from the set.

• Scottie Pippen – He has rabbit ears and thinks he has never committed a foul in MSG, especially against Hubert Davis.
• John Starks – The only Knick who gets more boos than me in Chicago
• Reggie Miller – He only rips his mouth when his shot is dropping. Yet he still asked me to write the foreword to his book.

Kobe to Spike Lee: “Reggie Miller, your fault! MJ 55, your fault! 61, your fault!” 😂

pic.twitter.com/TP9HB6ltI2 https://t.co/y7EEDNrYMx

— Ballislife.com (@Ballislife) May 7, 2025

1997 TOM GUGLIOTTA ROCK STARS DIE CUT

What will it cost you in 2025? $10, $100 (refractor)

Nothing says late 90s like a barbed wire armband tattoo. Pamela Anderson had one because she was the lead character in a movie (that bombed) called BARB WIRE. Tom “The Bomb” Gugliotta had one because he actually thought it was cool. And that throwback tattoo is on clear display on this beautiful die-cut Rock Stars insert from 1997, when Googs finished 17th in NBA MVP voting.

Did you know the Fun Police member was originally on the 2000 Dream Team and replaced by Vince Carter? That means that if Googs had been healthy, then the greatest dunk of all time would not have happened.

1998 REDEMPTION CARDS NO. 1 & 9

What will it cost you in 2025?   $25 (unredeemed), $120 (redeemed)

Speaking of Vince Carter, his rookie season remains the most exciting rookie season I’ve ever witnessed. And we were robbed of 32 games because of the NBA lockout. It was so exciting that Vince had more fan sites (remember Geocities and Angelfire?) than even Michael Jordan. By far, the best and most popular of those sites was one called GOT VINSANITY? And I’m not just saying that because I created it.

Anyways, I’m saying all of this to say the hobby was crazy for cards of Vince and a couple of other great and exciting rookies, such as White Chocolate and Paul Pierce. That meant you wanted the redemption cards for draft picks 5, 7, and 10. What you didn’t want were the cards for 1, 2, and 3, especially 1.

It’s not often you can say you don’t want a card of the 1st overall pick, but that pick was NBA bust Michael Olowakandi, who somehow made one or fewer field goals in 11 games during his rookie year. The 7-footer even had a game with just two rebounds in 25 minutes, and he was playing for the brick-laying Clippers.

Another amusing story about the redemption cards from this season was No. 9 was probably thrown in a lot of bargain bins in 1998. That redemption card was for some unknown German kid that Bucks traded to the Mavs Tractor Traylor. The Bucks also sent 19th pick Pat Garrity, who was then traded to the Suns for Steve Nash. 

2005/06 Topps Chrome Jay-Z JEANS

What will it cost you in 2025?  $75, $500 (Refractor /99)

The first amusing thing about this set was Raymond Felton was on the pack. It’s funny now, but back then, people were genuinely debating the rankings of point guard rookies Chris Paul, Deron Williams, and Raymond Felton. Besides these rookies, Topps inserted cards of “hottie celebs” Shannon Elizabeth, Carmen Electra, Chrstine Brinkley, Jenny McCarthy…and JAY-Z?!?

Yes, the minority owner of the Nets was in this set. And if you were lucky, you pulled a card with a piece of his “celebrity-worn jeans.”

Does anyone remember when Kanye was mad at Kris Humphries for dating Kim Kardashian and rapped, “Lucky I didn’t have Jay drop him from the team”? FYI: Jay owned .067 percent of the Nets, which meant he had absolutely no say in the roster.

2009/10 JAMES HARDEN ROOKIE

What will it cost you in 2025?  The price of a dance at  Harden’s favorite club

Does anyone remember when The Beard didn’t have a beard? If you don’t, then check out James Harden’s rookie card that features a young, beard-less Harden on the front. The back is all about how he wasn’t that athletic in high school, but if you happen to come across his senior yearbook, you will see an even more clean-shaven Harden being voted “Most Athletic.”

A funny thing is, we filmed Harden in high school, and he looked more athletic back then than he ever did in the NBA.

1972/73 JOHN BRISKER

What will it cost you in 2025?  $2

Harden was the first draft pick ever by the OKC Thunder franchise, which was my beloved Seattle Supersonics a year earlier. A lot of my favorite players wore the Sonics green. This list includes Shawn Kemp, Gary Payton and John Brisker. You might not be familiar with Brisker, and if I told you about him, you would probably think I’m lying.

Before I list a few random bullets about the player who allegedly always carried a gun with him, I must mention a conversation I had with George Gervin. I started to tell the legend, “I’ve heard a lot of wild stories about John Brisker” and before I could finish my sentence, the Iceman says, “They are all true.”

• Sent two police officers to the hospital over a cab
• Broke the jaw and knocked out the teeth of a teammate in practice
• Slapped another teammate in practice for blocking his shot
• An ABA coach once offered a $500 check to any player willing to “take Brisker out tonight”
• Rumored to be running from the mob
• Declared legally dead in 1985 after disappearing in Uganda, where he was rumored to be a mercenary

I bet you weren’t expecting it to get that wild.

He also averaged 29.3 points in the ABA while averaging a league-high 1.1 threes a game.  

1994/95 ORLANDO MAGIC SUPERTEAM

What will it cost you in 2025?  $5

Besides the Sonics, my other favorite team ever was the mid-’90s Orlando Magic, featuring Shaq, Penny, and the knuckleheads. You might think of Darius Miles, Q-Rich, and the 2000 Clippers as the knuckleheads, but Shaq’s magic teammates were the originals. The best photo of them doing the knuckles to the head was on the front of the 1994 Orlando Magic Superteam card (shout-out to Anthony Bowie and Litterial Green).

The way Superteam cards worked was if the team won the Division Title, Conference Championship, or NBA Championship, you could redeem the card for special prizes, which included a gold foil version of the set. This team won the division and conference but got swept in the NBA Finals.

It was the biggest heartbreak of my sports life. I even told Robert Horry when I met him that he and Nick Anderson were the two people I hated the most in the world in 1995. A few months later, Horry and I were business partners.

2008 OBAMA DEMOCRAT 

What will it cost you in 2025?  $100-500

The business I had with Horry in the late 2000s was a marketing one that focused on social media. One of the biggest inspirations for our services was Barack Obama and his effective use of social media during the 2008 election.

Another cool thing that Obama did during his campaign was appear in a Democrat set found in Topps baseball and basketball packs. The basketball short print showed the future President taking a jump shot with a big smile on his face.

Obama’s runs were legendary and he once hosted one of the most interesting pick-up games in the history of pick-up games.

If I could play in any pickup game, it would be this one. pic.twitter.com/VpTmAdiJoh

— David Astramskas (@redapples) May 6, 2021

Here are 15more of my favorite Topps cards

1993 RICK FOX FINEST STRATACHROME 3D PROTOTYPE

What will it cost you in 2025?  $300

I love this technology and wish they had actually released a set.  I’m sure a kid who grew up on James Cameron’s 3D in AVATAR films would laugh at these.

1997/98 PENNY INSIDE STUFF TOP 10

What will it cost you in 2025?  $5

If you grew up in the 90s, then you probably loved NBA on NBC, NBA INSIDE STUFF, and Penny Hardaway. This card has it all, including disturbing evidence that Googs wasn’t the only NBA player with a  barbed wire arm tattoo.

2002 YAO MING  ROOKIE GIVEAWAY

What will it cost you in 2025?  $2,000

Can NBA teams please start giving away more cards and fewer bobbleheads? And Yao made that shot over Shaq  and blocked the MDE’s first three shots in this game.

1994/95 EMBOSSED NICK VAN EXEL

What will it cost you in 2025?  $1, $2 (Gold)

I love cards with texture, and before the internet, we relied on cards like these to tell us information, such as “Nick Van Exel’s full name is Nickey Maxwell Van Exel, and he idolized Reggie Theus.”

1998 KEVIN JOHNSON MILK /SI FOR KIDS CARDS

What will it cost you in 2025?  $229,999 less than the former Mayor’s settlement agreement with a young lady in 1997

I also love uncut sheets and these were included with SI FOR KIDS magazine.

1996/97 STICKY FINGERS GARY PAYTON

What will it cost you in 2025?  $4

My favorite card of one of the greatest trash talkers and defenders in NBA history. He’s also been one of my favorite people to interview over the years.

“If I knew something about a person’s mother, I knew something about his sister. If he had just got a drunk driving charge, I would go at the situation. It might be cruel to some people, but I would go at it.”

1997 CREATE YOUR OWN CARD/REUSABLE STICKERS

What will it cost you in 2025?  $12

I was always looking for NBA stickers in the 90s to stick on the sides of TVs, speakers, computers, and pretty much everywhere, but not on the background cards they were supposed to be put on. A cooler idea would have been cards with Patrick Ewing under the rim, and every sticker was a player going up for a dunk.

1993 MICHAEL JORDAN STADIUM SLU

What will it cost you in 2025?  $25,  $60 (with toy)

Do you see what I mean? Every photo of a player trying to dunk on Patrick Ewing looks great. And this Michael Jordan card was included with his 1993 Starting Lineup toy.

2004/05 BAZOOKA ADVENTURES TIM DUNCAN

What will it cost you in 2025?  $20

My favorite card of Mr. Fundamental comes from this fun Bazooka set. I was really hoping someone would make a Duncan  card that had a piece of his game-worn jorts that he wore while holding his MVP trophy and wearing Birkenstocks next to David Stern.

1996/97 KOBE STADIUM ROOKIE

What will it cost you in 2025?  $20

I remember pulling this card and thinking how odd it looked and why would Kobe have his left arm behind his back. A decade later I found out that he was wearing a cast in the photoshoot . He broke his wrist trying to dunk at Venice Beach after the Lakers told him not to play there.  Kobe even hid his cast on the famous “Ready of Not” cover of SLAM MAGAZINE.

1993/94 SCOTTIE PIPPEN STADIUM FREQUENT FLYER UPGRADE

What will it cost you in 2025?  $2

I love mail-in cards. The way the frequent flyer cards worked is you collected  the point cards until you had 50, sent them to Topps, and they mailed you a chrome version of that player’s card. The Pippen one was my favorite because it featured his dunk on Oliver Miller. A funny thing about this set is that most of the photos used were not dunk ones.

1992/93 ARCHIVE CHARLES BARKLEY

What will it cost you in 2025?  $1

One of my favorite sets of the early 90s was the 1993 Topps Archive one. The product featured “rookie cards” of players who made their NBA debut during the time Topps didn’t have a license. Since Topps had an MLB license during these years, they used those designs for the NBA players. My favorite player from those years was the Round Mound Of Rebound, who had some of the most impressive rebounding games ever while being just 6’6″ at the most.

Here is one of my Barkley mixtapes

Young Charles Barkley – Welcome To The Terrordome

Chuck x @MrChuckD pic.twitter.com/dT0SeIDCtK

— David Astramskas (@redapples) February 20, 2023

 

2023 CHROME JUJU WATKINS “HEY DAD”

What will it cost you in 2025?  $2,000+

I wasn’t planning on including any Topps cards from the Panini era but as a father of two daughters and a fan of JuJu Watkins, I had to include this awesome autographed  McDonalds All-American card that says “Hey Dad.”

We were also in attendance when JuJu dropped 60 points and 21 rebounds on senior night.

2006 MCDONALD’S ALL-AMERICAN KEVIN DURANT

What will it cost you in 2025?  $20, $30 (Box set)

Speaking of the McDonald’s game, High school All-American games used to really mean something. And we are trying our best to make them mean something again. These great cards were given out during  the 2006 McDonald’s one in San Diego.

We may be giving out Topps cards at the next Ballislife All-American Game.