Sport cards have become quite the hot commodity in recent years. In just the last four years, all of the top-five highest-selling cards have been sold.
On Tuesday, a Prizm Black 1/1 Victor Wembanyama rookie card sent shockwaves across the card market, after selling north of $5 million. Despite only three seasons in the NBA thus far, Wembanyama’s name is already up there with some of the sport’s greatest players in card price.
Along with the NBA, Wembanyama’s card is within the top-15 most expensive sports cards ever.
Here’s the staggering amount that a rookie card of San Antonio’s star just sold for.
NBA PLAYOFFS HQ: Live NBA scores | NBA playoff schedule | NBA playoff bracket
How much did the Victor Wembanyama card sell for?
On Tuesday, news was released that a Prizm Black 1/1 (meaning only one card of this type was made for Wembanyama) rookie card had sold for a whopping $5.1 million, first reported by Larry Holder of The Athletic. The sale became the fourth-highest publicly known card sale among NBA players, and the 11th across sports, according to The Athletic.
BREAKING NEWS: Victor Wembanyama’s Prizm Black 1/1 Rookie Card just sold for $5.11 MILLION 🤯
The previous public record for a Wemby card was $860K.
The sale is now the fourth-highest publicly known NBA card sale ever.
It comes with the Spurs currently tied 2-2 in the Western… pic.twitter.com/yoOG7k0iT0
— The Collectibles Guru (@gurucollects) May 26, 2026
This comes at the time that Wembanyama has led the Spurs to the franchise’s first Western Conference Finals since 2017, and the team is just two games away from their first NBA Finals appearance in 12 years.
The 7-foot-4 22-year-old is already one of the brightest talents in the league, and an argument can be made that he is in the LeBron James category of exciting prospects ever. The Frenchman is already one of the league’s best defenders, and he seems to do things that someone above the height of seven feet has never done, almost every game.
SN NBA AWARDS: POY (Victor Wembanyama) | ROY (Kon Knueppel) | COY (Joe Mazzulla)
Most expensive basketball cards in history
As previously stated, Wembanyama’s exclusive 1/1 Prizm black rookie card went for the fourth-highest price tag in NBA card history. Which cards sit atop that chart?
Here are the top-five card sales across NBA history, according to The Athletic and HoopsHype:
| Rank | Player(s) | Price | Card type |
| 1. | Michael Jordan/Kobe Bryant | $12.9 million | 2007-08 Upper Deck Exquisite dual NBA Logoman patch autograph 1/1, PSA 6 card/10 auto grade |
| 2. | Michael Jordan/LeBron James | $10 million | 2006-07 Upper Deck Exquisite dual NBA Logoman patch autograph 1/1, ungraded |
| 3. | LeBron James | $5.2 million | 2003-04 Upper Deck Exquisite rookie patch autograph numbered 7/23, Beckett 9 card/10 auto grade |
| 4. | Victor Wembanyama | $5.1 million | 2023-24 Panini Prizm Black parallel 1/1, PSA 10 grade |
| 5. | Luka Doncic | $4.6 million | 2018 Panini National Treasures 1/1 Logoman Autograph |
Most expensive sports trading card sales in history
According to The Athletic, Wembanyama’s Black Prizm rookie card sits No. 11 across the most expensive sports card sales of all-time. While the Michael Jordan/Kobe Bryant $12.9-million card does still sit atop this chart as well, MLB cards own three of the top-five spots across sports.
Here are the rankings across the sporting world:
| Rank | Player(s) | Price | Card type |
| 1. | Michael Jordan/Kobe Bryant | $12.9 million | 2007-08 Upper Deck Exquisite dual NBA Logoman patch autograph 1/1, PSA 6 card/10 auto grade |
| 2. | Mickey Mantle | $12.6 million | 1952 Topps, SGC 9.5 grade |
| 3. | Michael Jordan/LeBron James | $10 million | 2006-07 Upper Deck Exquisite dual NBA Logoman patch autograph 1/1, ungraded |
| 4. | Honus Wagner | $7.25 million | 1909 Sweet Caporal T-206, SGC 2 grade |
| 5. | Babe Ruth | $7.2 million | 1914 Baltimore News, SGC 3 grade |