Nonsense Newsletter No. 33: The 2022 NBA Draft is history, Prizm football comparison and baseball cards in bags of potato chips.
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Over the past seven days, much has happened, hasn’t it? The NHL’s Stanley Cup Finals are in full gear (and yes, there are some of us out there who care about such things), the NBA Draft is over and done (and yes, it was exciting and unpredictable, and basketball nerds, like myself, all over the globe had a blast tuning in), and John Dudley breaks down 2022 vs. 2021 Prizm football! Seriously, what more can you ask for this week? And, join the Card Shop Live tonight for an awesome 50-spot multi-sport auction!
Contributor: John McTaggart
Let’s begin by being totally honest with one another here about the 2022 NBA Draft — there wasn’t any one player that jumped off the page in terms of sure-fire superstar, a no-brainer No. 1, in this year’s installment.
Although you could argue the draft was loaded with good depth and solid players, there were very few who held fast to the belief that any one of these players stood out above all the others.
It’s been a while, in fact, since we’ve had a draft that resembled what the 2022 class presented.
Last year, it was Cade Cunningham.
Before that, Anthony Edwards.
Before that, Zion Williamson.
Now, not all of these no-brainer top pick players over the years wound up living up to the hype (I'm looking at you, Anthony Bennett and Markelle Fultz), both in the hobby or on the court, but on draft night, there was little doubt or drama as to who would be the top guy selected.
So, as last night’s event unfolded, and Orlando selected Pablo Banchero with the first pick, Chet Holmgren went second to OKC, and Jabari Smith (the guy who most thought would go No. 1 overall heading into the draft) wound up at No. 3 to Houston, — and even more surprising in my mind was Perdue’s Jaden Ivey sliding past the Kings and landing at No. 5 to my beloved Pistons, despite the fact he was widely regarded as the fourth-best prospect on the board.
Contributor: John Dudley
2022 Panini Prizm Football is dominating the hobby landscape currently. Now that retail Prizm products have been on the market for a couple of weeks, it is time to look at how the 2021 rookie class is performing. With both retail and hobby on the market, the period of volatility typical upon with any big product release should be over with for cards with a decent print run. Is it time to hop on the Prizm train? How are cards selling compared to last year’s set? Let’s find out.
Where to Look and They Sell for What?!?
Prizm has a lot of parallels. No. Prizm is chock full of parallels. Better, but still not there. Prizm has parallels bursting out of packs like the “chestburster” from Alien. That’s got it. Despite the panoply of parallels, it is still possible to get a clear read on the market by focusing on popular, but heavily traded, cards. In this case, base Prizm cards and Prizm Silvers are great to use, because they are the cards most collectors are familiar with, and they compare well to last year’s set. It should be noted that it looks like Panini printed a lot of Silver Variations and those are selling for far less than the base Silver Prizms. This article is not including Silver Variations.
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Quick Hits
NFT News- NFTs might be fairly new, but collectible digital cards have been around for a good while. One of the more popular digital markets is for Topps Star Wars offerings. Here’s a great interview from Gizmodo all about the trendy market.
Pop Culture News- BREAKING NEWS FOR JESSE! Beckett has the checklist for 2022 Leaf Pop Century. They’ve upped the game with the auto checklist which reads like a “who’s who” of Blockbuster Video. New this year is the inclusion of cards with authentic event tickets embedded. Expect this to carry over to sports cards very soon.
Grading Card News- A couple of BGS cards brought in some big bucks in a recent auction. A BGS 1.5 1916 Babe Ruth Blank Back sold for almost $250,000. A Tom Brady Contenders RC Auto in BGS 7 grade with a 10 auto went for slightly over $500,000. Read more about the big sales here.
Vintage- It seems like every week I’m writing something about vintage baseball cards and food! Well, this week is no exception. Apparently, if you were enjoying any Bell Brands snack foods (potato chips, in particular) between 1959-1962, there’s a good chance you opened up the bag of chips and found a Los Angeles Dodgers baseball card inside — and now those cards are worth quite a few chips. Read more about it here.
More Nonsense
Hockey card fans such as myself are getting frustrated and flat-out puzzled by the performance of top pick Alexis Lafreniere both on the ice and in the hobby. This article takes a deep dive into the deep dive the former can’t-miss player has taken in the hobby. Click here to read more.
If you’re a big fan of Topps 206 baseball, or, for that matter, if you have no idea what Topps 206 baseball is — click here to learn more. It’s a cool product.
The Sports Card Nonsense newsletters reflect the opinions of only the authors and contributors. They are for informational purposes only and are not a recommendation for purchases or of an investment strategy or to buy or sell any assets.