Too Many Wembys, Not Enough Terriers

And just like that, the NBA is back! 

The season officially kicks off tonight, with an intriguing matchup between the defending champs, the Boston Celtics, and the new-look New York Knickerbockers. 

The Knicks enter the season with a ton of hype, but the collector in me can’t help but wonder if the bolstered roster, headlined by the addition of Karl-Anthony Towns, will have an adverse affect on the team’s card market.

Is there enough to “go around” to where you can say for certain that one player will stand out above the others and emerge as the guy to collect?

You would assume it would be Jalen Brunson, given what he accomplished last season, but is there a world in which the noise shifts in KAT’s favor? What if the Knicks win it all? Does the narrative become that it took a big trade to bring in a former top pick to get them over the hump?

Or what if Mikal Bridges emerges as the best player of the bunch? Remember, it was Bridges who was traded for Hall of Famer Kevin Durant only two years ago. 

Just don’t get me started with OG Anunoby - seriously, don’t, it won’t be him. 

Anyway, we will be tracking the Knicks this season not only to see if they can make a historic run at a title but to see if one of the “big 4” emerges and sees his card market explode.

At least we know one NY basketball team can win it all, with the Liberty taking the championship on Sunday night. But despite the season ending, for WNBA collectors, things are just getting started.

Outside any of the Panini Instant cards (base, short prints and autos) we’ve yet to even get into the thick of WNBA card-collecting season. So far we’ve seen WNBA Origins launch and Panini Select WNBA FOTL is just starting to hit the market. 

The biggest card, however, is already off the board, with the Caitlin Clark 1/1 Gold Vinyl Rookie Auto getting pulled in a break just yesterday. And you wouldn’t believe who hit it. Or, would you?

The gents over at Backyard Breaks once again defied the odds and on their “4th box” in what is likely to be many, many cases, hit the 1/1 Caitlin Clark. This, arguably, being the biggest Caitlin Clark card on the market to-date. 

Now, I know what you’re thinking: “of course it was Backyard Breaks and of course it’s a conspiracy - those guys get loaded boxes!!!” 

Maybe? 

But, probably not. The average collector is opening one or two boxes, at most. Backyard is opening case after case after case, all while filming every single pack ripped.  Of course the odds are forever in their favor. That’s not to say they don’t have plenty of luck going for them, but think of it this way, too: there are SIX 1/1’s in this product (Premiere, Concourse and Courtside each have two 1/1’s) and each tier has a FOTL /3, a /5 and three /10’s (which means there are nine /10’s for those keeping score at home). 

Those would ALL be considered “bangers.”

That’s not to mention the Tiger and Zebra Prizms, which are highly regarded. Meaning, there’s plenty of potential chases to pull just from this product alone.

Sure, it’s easy to make noise and feed into the loud, albeit fun, cries of “juiced boxes” and conspiracies, but I don’t think that’s the case. And might I add this nugget of a thought: with the amount of surround sound and amplification Backyard makes when they hit these monster pulls, I assume it helps make our numbered or parallel Caitlin Clark rookies get a fine bump in potential value. 

As the saying goes, “the rising tide raises all comps.” 

Speaking of massive 1/1 hits, one of Mantel’s “day ones” pulled an Angel Reese 1/1 rookie auto out of Origins this past week. Pretty awesome to see the little guy get a hit and not big boy breakers, right? 

We reached out to the lucky collector (@TomLorenzo on Mantel) to ask him how he felt about hitting such a big 1/1 card. He wrote back, “Feels pretty cool.” 

Well said, Mr. Lorenzo. 

By the way, are there too many Wemby cards? If everyone has a Victor Wembanyama Prizm PSA 10 then who will buy our Victor Wembanyama Prizm PSA 10? WHO?! And what of our Select Retail Blue PSA 10’s? Or our Mosaic base 10’s? Our City Edition’s? 

There might, maybe, be too many. 

Which leads to this: I have a feeling that this year’s Panini NBA product is going to flop. There, I said it! With no sure-fire rookies in this year’s class, and a potential post-Wemby pull back, I won’t be surprised if card shops and breakers struggle to move Panini’s last flagship set before Fanatics takes over the NBA license next season.

Do you agree?

There might be too many Wembys circulating, but we can all agree there aren’t nearly enough Airedale Terrier cards on the market.

So congratulations to the team at Topps for finally barking up the right tree, after announcing this week that they have officially entered a partnership with The Westminster Kennel Club for the up coming Allen & Ginter release. 

The cards will include, yes, dogs and authentic “best in show” ribbon relics as well as their own 1/1’s. To that we say to our friends at Topps, “Good boys.” 

Before I let you go: Why hasn’t Leaf released a Rachael “Raygun” Green auto? That’s all. Just wondering. It would print money for them. And yes, I know the Olympics ended more than two months ago…