A Victor Wembanyama rookie card that was previously the subject of some controversy sold in a private deal for $5.11 million, making it the most expensive known sale of a non-autographed NBA card.
The sale of the San Antonio Spurs center’s 2023-24 Panini Prizm one-of-one Black parallel rookie card, which has a Gem-Mint PSA 10 grade, was brokered by Fanatics Collect. It’s the fourth highest publicly known sale of an NBA card, according to online card sales database Card Ladder.
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The buyer, who spoke to The Athletic on the condition of anonymity due to personal security concerns stemming from the high value of the card, said he paid as much as he did because he believes this is and will remain Wembanyama’s best card. This sale is more than five times higher than the previous record for a Wembanyama card, the $860,100 paid for his 2023-24 Panini Prizm Nebula Choice one-of-one card with a PSA 9 grade in a February 2025 auction through Goldin. That sale came shortly after Wembanyama sustained a blood clot in his right shoulder that cut his second NBA season short.
Wembanyama has no officially licensed autographed rookie cards because he is under exclusive contract with Fanatics and rival cardmaker Panini held the exclusive NBA trading card license during his rookie season.
“There’s a sort of obvious ceiling for him, just as an athlete, that I think is higher than most people that are like the ordained superstars, like the next guy that we anticipate them being pantheon people,” the buyer of the $5.11 million Wembanyama card said. “Like Cooper Flagg, for example. Or (someone who) didn’t pan out from a few years ago like when Zion Williamson came in and there was a lot of talk about him. If you take all these players and you say, ‘What’s their ceiling?’ I think Victor Wembanyama’s (ceiling) is substantially higher.”
The buyer said that the booming Shohei Ohtani card market also played a role in being assertive in pursuing and purchasing this Wembanyama card.
“I went after what I think most people would say is Shohei’s best card and the price just kept going up,” the buyer said. “I just went in soft at the beginning thinking it was enough. So I learned my lesson. I would argue that I don’t think I overpaid for this, but I just knew I had to be aggressive before everybody else figured it out who has the card, where it is, how to contact them.”
This is the third known sports card sale over $5 million this year alone.
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An Aaron Judge 2013 Bowman Chrome Superfractor autographed one-of-one card with a Beckett 9.5 card/10 autograph grade sold for $5.2 million in March in a private sale also brokered by Fanatics Collect. And in February, a Honus Wagner 1909 T206 Sweet Caporal card with a PSA 1 grade went for $5.12 million in an auction via Goldin.
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The now $5.11 million Wembanyama card was previously the subject of some controversy within the sports card world. Pulled by card shop NorCal Sports Cards during a live break, the owner of the card at the time had the shop submit it to PSA for grading. Immediately after the card secured its PSA 10 grade, NorCal Sports Cards owner Thomas Lindenthal gave a shout-out to a company that makes products that clean and restore trading cards in a video filmed inside PSA’s California office. “Your product is phenomenal,” he said, leading some viewers to believe he was implying that the company’s products had been used on the Wembanyama card to help it secure its Gem-Mint grade.
PSA does not grade cards it finds to be altered, a practice that is widely frowned upon in the trading card community.
The new owner of the card said he hadn’t heard about this before making the purchase, but it wouldn’t have affected his decision had he known.
There’s been an uptick in million-dollar sports card sales recently as wealthy investors, like Kevin O’Leary of “Shark Tank” fame, take a newfound interest in the space. The buyer of the $5.11 million Wembanyama card says he sees sports cards as an attractive alternative to investing in major sports franchises.
“The cost to buy a franchise of any kind really, like MLS to NFL, it’s so cost prohibitive,” he said.
“So what this (high-end sports card market) has become, in my opinion, is the next best thing to that. And it might be better. Owning a professional sports team comes with an enormous amount of s—. You have to tie up an incredible amount of capital after the asset purchase for payroll and everything else. There’s social responsibility. Obviously, you’re playing in the biggest league and it’s a great asset to own and all that stuff. But if you don’t own the majority of the team — I was looking into team ownership for a lower state and a basketball team. I was told, ‘Look man, if you’re not gonna be the governor, the main guy, the main owner, just buy season tickets on the wood because they’ll treat you better.
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“You have no voting rights. Even socially, if you wanted to … brag about that you own 10 percent of, say, the Lakers. People will be like, ‘You don’t own the Lakers.’ I tied up millions of dollars of cash for this and that’s it?
“So what is card ownership, then? If you’re going after these grail cards, like the true, true, ‘f— you’ cards. Like I have the Shohei (Ohtani)/Aaron Judge dual Logoman auto that sold. I paid $2.16 million for that. … I have people I answer to financially when I make investments or decisions. They’re like, ‘You could buy a f—ing house.’ … I say the difference is the one or two percent of billionaires in the world don’t really, really, really want my house. But they f—ing want that card, though. Somebody who made stupid, stupid, stupid money that just for whatever reason loves Wembanyama, they’re not gonna pay 3X for a piece of real estate.”
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Top known sports card sales of all time
1. $12.9 million: Michael Jordan/Kobe Bryant 2007-08 Upper Deck Exquisite dual NBA Logoman patch autograph one-of-one, PSA 6 card/10 auto grade (Aug. 23, 2025, Heritage auction)
2. $12.6 million: Mickey Mantle 1952 Topps, SGC 9.5 grade (Aug. 28, 2022, Heritage auction)
3. $10 million: Michael Jordan/LeBron James 2006-07 Upper Deck Exquisite dual NBA Logoman patch autograph one-of-one, ungraded (Sept. 26, 2025, private sale)
4. $7.25 million: Honus Wagner 1909 Sweet Caporal T-206, SGC 2 grade (Aug. 4, 2022, private sale)
5. $7.2 million: Babe Ruth 1914 Baltimore News, SGC 3 grade (Dec. 3, 2023, REA auction)
6. $6.6 million: Honus Wagner 1909 Sweet Caporal T-206, SGC 3 grade (Aug. 15, 2021, REA auction)
T7. $5.2 million: Mickey Mantle 1952 Topps, PSA 9 (Jan. 14, 2021, private sale)
T7. $5.2 million: LeBron James 2003-04 Upper Deck Exquisite rookie patch autograph numbered to 23, Beckett 9 card/10 auto grade (April 26, 2021, private sale)
T7. $5.2 million: Aaron Judge 2013 Bowman Chrome Draft Pick Superfractor autograph one-of-one, Beckett 9.5 card/10 auto grade (March 12, 2026, private sale via Fanatics Collect)
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10. $5.12 million: Honus Wagner 1909 Sweet Caporal T-206, PSA 1 grade (Feb. 21, 2026, Goldin auction)
11. $5.11 million: Victor Wembanyama 2023-24 Panini Prizm Black parallel one-of-one, PSA 10 grade (May 2026, private sale via Fanatics Collect)
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