San Antonio Spurs center Victor Wembanyama’s Rookie of the Year card set a record as the highest Topps Now print run, the company announced.
The Wembanyama card sold 113,777 copies in 72 hours, Topps said on X (formerly Twitter). A Shohei Ohtani card held the previous record, having sold 107,541 copies.
𝗕𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗞𝗜𝗡𝗚: The Victor Wembanyama Rookie of the Year card has set an ALL-TIME record for highest Topps Now Print Run.
In 72 hours, customers purchased a total of 113,777 copies.
In the 9-year history of Topps Now, there have been over 10,000 unique cards produced…and… pic.twitter.com/aNZxx32bcV
— Topps (@Topps) May 10, 2024
French sensation Wembanyama was the unanimous NBA Rookie of the Year and averaged 21.4 points, 10.6 rebounds and 3.9 assists in 71 games this season. He was the first unanimous ROTY selection since Minnesota’s Karl Anthony-Towns in 2015-16. Wembanyama also averaged 3.6 blocks per game and finished second to Utah’s Rudy Gobert for Defensive Player of The Year.
Fanatics, which acquired Topps in January 2022 for $500 million, declined to comment on the record being set.
The Topps Now program began in 2016 and differs from various other trading card programs. Topps Now cards are only available for a short time and come out quickly after an important moment—like Wembanyama winning ROTY—happens.
On eBay, the most expensive Wembanyama card is available for $1.1 million. The most expensive that includes an authenticity guarantee is available for $200,000. That card was graded a 10 by Professional Sports Authenticators (PSA), the highest rating available.
Over 107,000 Wembanyama cards were graded by PSA during the 2023-24 NBA season, which is second-most behind Michael Jordan, according to PSA data.
eBay acquired Goldin Auctions from Collectors Holdings, which owns PSA, for an undisclosed amount back in April. This was part of a series of transactions between eBay and Collectors Holdings which saw PSA buy the eBay vault.
Later in April, counterfeit “NBA branded rookie cards” were seized by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) at an entry port in Rochester, N.Y., and multiple reports said Wembanyama’s Panini Prizm cards were discovered. It’s unknown how many cards were found.
