Heading into the New Year (2019) it’s hard to argue that the hype around Luka Doncic is absolutely insane. And guess what…we are 2+ months into the season and all of the craziness is completely warranted! I haven’t been this impressed with a rookie in a long long time and it’s easy to see what collectors, fans, and spectators are jumping on the Doncic bandwagon.
One of the new features we are adding in 2019 is a quick and relatively fluid summary of our favorite rookie cards to collect for various players across top sports. The exciting part about doing some of these in the middle of a season is that this list will change every month. 🙂
To make this fun we are breaking this into multiple categories to shed some light on the diverse possibilities…and to help meet the variety of collectors. Here are the categories across every rookie.
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The Currency — The non-auto rookie card we believe will be traded, graded, and liquid enough to be the foundational rookie card.
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The Framed — The rookie card we believe is absolutely stunning and would likely end up on your collectors shelf.
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The Dream — The card that isn’t a 1/1, but is a SSP and is the top of our list of dream cards.
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The Cut — This our favorite base autographed card. No strings attached.
- The Upside — The card we believe is flying under the radar and holds the most upside value.
Here is what folks ranks as the most valuable RC so far:
🚨 ROOKIE RADAR 🚨 || LUKA DONCIC
—– Our Top 5 Current Rookie Cards——Which of the 5 Doncic cards on our list would you spend YOUR money on TODAY?#NBA #NBARooks #mavericks #Prizm #TheHobby
— BreakerCulture.com (@BreakerCulture) January 1, 2019
We realize there are going to be 50+ cards to dig through when the releases are all said and done…. And we expect plenty of differing opinions…. But hey, that’s why these are fun!
LUKA DONCIC || Jan 2019
The Currency: 2018-19 Panini Prizm Silver
Approximate Print Run: ~5,000
Current Market Value: $300
Range: $250-$550
Long-Term Raw Expectation: $500
BGS 9.5 Goal: $800
BGS 10 Goal: $2,500
Find one on eBay RIGHT HERE
Quick thought: Until the rest of the world disagreed, the Silver Prizm will continue to be the currency of NBA rookie cards. The only product that has even the slightest chance of challenging this ranking will Optic…which releases in late January.
Here are few ending right now:
The Framed: 2018-19 Panini Contenders Cracked Ice Auto
Approximate Print Run: 25
Current Market Value: $5,000
Long-Term Raw Expectation: $7,500
Find one on eBay RIGHT HERE
Quick thought: It’s crazy how quickly the Contenders Cracked Ice has become so relevant in basketball. This is a highly sought after card that backs it up with unbelievable eye-appeal. It’s simply a beautiful card this year…and has been for many years prior.
Here are few ending right now:
The Dream: 2018-19 Panini Revolution Galactic
Approximate Print Run: 5
Expected Current Market Value: $3,000
Long-Term Raw Expectation: $5,000
Find one on eBay RIGHT HERE
Quick thought: There is going to come a time when folks REALLY start dig in and search endlessly for the Galactic parallels. It has a sneak good cult following but it’s not quite understood for what it truly is… a gold-miners dream. This card is beautiful but also incredibly fun to chase.
Here are few available right now:
The Cut: 2018-19 Panini Contenders Rookie Ticket Auto
Approximate Print Run: 250
Current Market Value: $750
Long-Term Raw Expectation: $1,000
BGS 9.5 Goal: $1,250
BGS 10 Goal: $3,000
Find one on eBay RIGHT HERE
Quick thought: There just isn’t an auto that can compete with the simplicity and completeness of the Rookie Ticket… this will be challenge 10+ times in the next 2-months, but this on-card auto is our favorite at the end of 2018.
Here are few available right now:
The Upside: 2018-19 Panini Prizm Cracked Ice Parallel (Pink + Red)
Approximate Print Run: 250 of each
Expected Current Market Value: $125
Long-Term Raw Expectation: $225
Find one on eBay RIGHT HERE
Quick thought: As we look through cards with upside it’s easy to point to many cards for Doncic. But the card that I kept going back to was the retail (Target / Wal-Mart) exclusive Ice parallels. These only come in the Mega Boxes and will dry up by end of the month. The cards look great and have a deceivingly low print-run.
Here are few available right now: