Ten weeks into the season, players around the league were already heaping praise on the NBA’s newest young star in the making.
“He’s a really, really, really good player. Not just for a rookie.” -Damian Lillard
“That dude’s gonna be a problem. He’s already a problem.” – Draymond Green
Luka Doncic rookie cards have become some of the hottest current issues on eBay. Card shops and online retailers are moving tons of basketball product thanks to his seemingly easy transition from international play to the best league in the world.
The Doncic File
The native of Slovenia signed to play with Real Madrid at age 13, playing his first professional game at age 16. Drafted at age 19 by the Atlanta Hawks, then immediately flipped to the Dallas Mavericks for Trae Young and a future first rounder, Doncic’s impact has been immediate.
There isn’t much he can’t do: score inside, shoot the three, rebound, pass, defend. His first full two months resulted in per game averages of 19.5 points, 6.6 rebounds and five assists. His basketball IQ is not that of an ordinary 19-year-old player and coaches around the league have praised his maturity.
Luka Doncic Rookie Cards
The market for Doncic rookie cards exploded after it became clear he was the heavy favorite for NBA Rookie of the Year and perhaps a generational player. In December alone, at least 14 Doncic rookie cards sold on eBay for $4,000 or more, topped by the $12,000 sale of a 2018-19 Prizm Fast Break Black parallel.
In today’s market, even though only a handful of NBA products have been issued to date, the large number of parallel versions means there are plenty of Doncic rookies for just about every budget. It’s those low-numbered parallels from popular issues that sell for the big bucks.
Prizm and Contenders were the two hottest products during the early stages of Doncic’s NBA career. Prizm’s online exclusive “First Off the Line” versions produced some of the hottest early sellers with a Blue Shimmer parallel numbered to Doncic’s jersey number 7 bringing $5,400 while another numbered 4 and graded 9.5 by BGS went for $4,000.
Signed Doncic cards from the early fall release of Contenders Draft Picks and the standard NBA Contenders version have been popular as well. Prices for standard Rookie Ticket autographs still aren’t too far out of reach with the Contenders Up and Coming subset version being the cheapest. Three different Cracked Ice parallel autographs–among 23 issued–sold for $4,000-$5,000 in December. Contenders NBA was the first release to carrying autographs on cards featuring him in his NBA uniform.
Other releases from the first weeks of his NBA career included Donruss and Hoops, each with massive numbers of parallels and some relatively inexpensive base cards; Certified, Revolution and Absolute Memorabilia. High-end releases like Flawless and Immaculate will likely see some of the most valuable Doncic rookie cards once they arrive later in 2019.
Unfortunately, the quality of Doncic’s autograph falls in line with most other current athletes. While fairly legible, it’s just his first name.
Pre-Rookie Cards
One intriguing product to keep an eye on is the 2016-17 EuroLeague cards produced by Upper Deck. While essentially an e-Pack product, only the base cards are digital. There are hard copies of Doncic’s Rainbow and Patterned Rainbow that were part of the release. The Patterned Rainbow could be obtained by collecting 10 digital base cards from the ePack release.
Prices on the two cards are fairly low, despite somewhat limited quantities. Of course, they aren’t NBA-licensed but they do represent Doncic’s earliest cards produced in North America through a major manufacturer and could be interesting to watch over the long haul should Doncic become a perennial All-Star.
You can check out all of Doncic’s cards on eBay here and see an up-to-the-minute list of the 77 hottest Luka Doncic cards at auction below.
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Notes: Rogers-Related Suit; Big Price for Doncic Jersey; Tribute to Late Dealer
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