LeBron James’ Card Market Trends Up During Scoring Record Chase

A rough start for the Los Angeles Lakers had LeBron James’ key cards dipping earlier this season, but things have changed as he closes in on Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s all-time NBA scoring record.

Read about James and other trending cards and players in this week’s NBA Market Movers update.

Cards listed below are PSA 10s with a minimum average of $30 and 10 sales over the last 30 days.

PRICE GROWTH PERCENTAGE RISERS

1. Luka Doncic 2018 Prizm Freshman Phenoms PSA 10 📈 145%

2. Lauri Markkanen 2017 Optic Base PSA 10 📈 138%

3. Josh Giddey 2021 Optic Base PSA 10 📈 136%

4. Luka Doncic 2018 Prizm Emergent PSA 10 📈 94%

5. Ja Morant 2019 Chronicles Marquee PSA 10 📈 90%

GIDDEY APPEARS: Second-year players haven’t popped up in this space often this NBA season, so it’s interesting to see Josh Giddey land here. While many collectors would have Giddey near the top of their list of guys that could appear in this space, odd release timings and few graded cards have kept much of the 2022 NBA Draft class limited in the hobby.

A regular threat for a triple-double, Giddey has emerged as one of the hobby’s favorites from that class, and is currently averaging 15-8-6 on 47% shooting from the field. The emergence of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander into superstardom may have impacted Giddey some with the focus elsewhere in Oklahoma City, but overall his PSA 10s tracked by Market Movers have trended up 5% collectively over the last 30 days.

Giddey’s selection of key rookies from Donruss, Optic and Select are all up while his Prizm has trended down some, though it’s important to remember that such low graded populations — on cards that aren’t short-printed — can result in somewhat volatile prices shortly after release.

PRICE GROWTH PERCENTAGE DECLINERS

1. Anthony Davis 2012 Panini Base PSA 10 📉 60%

2. Damian Lillard 2012 Panini Base PSA 10 📉 55%

3. Klay Thompson 2012 Panini Base PSA 10 📉 50%

4. David Robinson 1989 Hoops Base PSA 10 📉 44%

5. Bol Bol 2019 Prizm Silver PSA 10 📉 43%

DOLLAR GROWTH RISERS

1. LeBron James 2003 Topps Chrome Base PSA 10 📈 $710

2. Kevin Durant 2007 Topps Chrome Base PSA 10 📈 $292

3. Luka Doncic 2018 Prizm Red White Blue PSA 10 📈 $213

4. Luka Doncic 2018 Prizm Silver PSA 10 📈 $190

5. LeBron James 2003 Topps Base PSA 10 📈 $185

LEBRON RECOVERS: While LeBron James might be putting together the greatest season ever for an athlete at 38, the Lakers haven’t benefited much, and James’ market took a dip to start the season. Things have trended back up recently, however, as James closes in on the NBA’s all-time scoring record.

James’ PSA 10s tracked by Market Movers are up 7% collectively over the last 30 days, and his key 2003 Topps Base PSA 10 and 2003 Topps Chrome Base PSA 10 have been major drivers. It’s worth noting that a single sale has done much of the heavy lifting on the price growth for that 2003 Topps Chrome, but the 2003 Topps Base has several sales going in the right direction.

One thing to consider while looking at James’ market as a whole is the massive number of non-rookie PSA 10s — your personal perception of this relative to his overall market is important, and can be drastically different based on the collector.

Narrowing the scope of James’ PSA 10s over the last 30 days to only rookies shows even more positive growth, however, with a 9% bump over that same period.

DOLLAR GROWTH DECLINERS

1. Zion Williamson 2019 Optic Holo PSA 10 📉 $196

2. Zion Williamson 2019 Prizm Silver PSA 10 📉 $121

3. Kobe Bryant 1996 Topps Base PSA 10 📉 $97

4. Zion Williamson 2019 Prizm Orange Ice PSA 10 📉 $75

5. Anthony Edwards 2020 Prizm Silver PSA 10 📉 $75

WILLIAMSON PRICES DIP: Zion Williamson is in the middle of a fantastic season — the Pelicans are 3rd in the West, too — but his card prices have taken a sharp turn. His PSA 10s tracked by Market Movers are down 11% over the last 30 days, and his 2019 Prizm Base PSA 10 and 2019 Prizm Silver PSA 10 are among the biggest decliners over that same period.

Williamson’s 2019 Prizm Base PSA 10 is still one of the highest-selling cards in terms of volume, but the decline in price growth likely tells us hobby perception has cooled quite a bit. Why the drop has occurred isn’t exactly clear, though some speculation could be that Ja Morant has taken the leap as the clear top player from that 2019 NBA Draft class or that, while still good, Williamson’s on-court play just isn’t matching his card prices and the market has corrected.

SALES VOLUME LEADERS

1. Zion Williamson 2019 Prizm Base PSA 10 📈 220 sales

2. Zion Williamson 2019 Mosaic Base PSA 10 📈 161 sales

3. Ja Morant 2019 Prizm Base PSA 10 📈 159 sales

4. Luka Doncic 2018 Prizm Base PSA 10 📈 157 sales

5. Luka Doncic 2018 Donruss Base PSA 10 📈 129 sales

POPULAR SEALED WAX (HOBBY BOXES WITH MIN. 10 SALES OVER LAST 30 DAYS)

1. 2021 Contenders Optic Basketball 📈 6%

2. 2021 Chronicles Basketball 📈 18%

3. 2022 Chronicles Draft Picks Basketball 📈 24%

4. 2021 Select Basketball 📉 3%

5. 2022 Prizm WNBA Basketball 📉 20%

MARKET PULSE INDEXES OVER LAST 30 DAYS

Basketball 2018-2020: 📉 5%

• KEY RISER: Luka Doncic 2018 Select Concourse Silver PSA 10 📈 50%
• KEY DECLINER: Zion Williamson 2019 Optic Holo PSA 10 📉 40%

Basketball 2010-2017: 📈📉 0%

• KEY RISER: Kyrie Irving 2012 Prizm Base PSA 10 📈 79%
• KEY DECLINER: Damian Lillard 2012 Prizm Base PSA 10 📉 30%

Basketball 2000-2009: 📈 3%

• KEY RISER: LeBron James 2003 Topps Chrome Base PSA 10 📈 12%
• KEY DECLINER: LeBron James 2003 Bowman R/S Base PSA 10 📉 23%

Basketball 1990-1999: 📉 1%

• KEY RISER: Kobe Bryant 1996 Hoops Base PSA 10 📈 59%
• KEY DECLINER: Kobe Bryant 1996 Topps Chrome Base PSA 9 📉 36%

Basketball 1980-1989: 📉 4%

• KEY RISER: Michael Jordan 1986 Fleer Base PSA 8 📈 22%
• KEY DECLINER: Bird/Erving/Johnson 1980 Topps PSA 8 📉 31%

Basketball 1979 & Older: 📈📉 0%

• KEY RISER: Dennis Johnson 1978 Topps Base PSA 9 📈 21%
• KEY DECLINER: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar 1969 Topps Base PSA 7 📉 6%

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