2025-26 Topps Basketball Release

[BucksInSix]

Haven’t seen much discussion around the change in license and the announcement of 2025/26 Topps Flagship.

I always enjoyed the Topps releases but felt that their offerings weren’t the best towards the end of their run in 09. Bowman Draft Picks and Stars, Topps, Topps Chrome were always releases I looked forward to, but stuff like Treasury, Letterman, Hardwood, and Co-Signers missed the mark. Topps didn’t really understand or didn’t care to break into mid to high-end set development, and I understand that wasn’t the easiest thing to do when you don’t have 2 of the biggest names in the sport signing for you.

Panini has their flaws, but they did one thing really well in my opinion. They brought interest back to the insert card. For the longest time inserts were secondary to the base set. And even though Panini overproduced some of their short print inserts in recent years, they did a great job marketing them and now a good portion of them have a bigger draw than base parallels and even high end release rookies.

I hope Topps sees this and building on it with cool designs and concepts. Inserts in baseball have never really gotten the same draw, but basketball has a rich history of insert sets that have stood the test of time.

I’m looking forward to the release later this month. Yes it will be overpriced, and I am sure the checklist won’t be perfect, but it will be nice to have Topps back in basketball. I’ll probably grab a jumbo box just for curiosity sake.

[FrankAZHP]

As someone who made a stand against buying Panini when they took over an exclusive license until I caved in for Optic singles a few years ago, I feel cautiously optimistic and bittersweet.

My "main" reason for boycotting was exclusivity, and now that I get my Topps Chrome back after waiting all these years it's still with no competition. I miss the 90s, and the creativity competition brought to the market. Same old song from the old head here I guess. Nothing that hasn't already been said a million times.

At least there's no more Panini points, Dick's Sporting Goods napkins, MUCH better QC, and we get new players in classic designs.

I love the 1980-81 Autograph design, and I don't mind the base card in flagship (and soon to be Chrome). Some complain about the same design being used across all sports, but let's be real here Topps did that for many years, and Panini did it for most of their years too. As someone who likes simplicity and minimalism, the basic Topps designs do it for me.

I still won't buy packs or boxes aside from a few retail boxes, so I'm not really supporting Fanatics directly. Maybe that's cope? I did the same on Panini with Optic lol. I bought like a total of 4 Optic blasters in their entire run of NBA cards all off the secondary market.

Topps has been owned by many companies over the years. I'm sure Fanatics won't be the last one either. Eventually somewhere down the road, 5 years, 10 years, 20 years, 50 years, Topps will be sold to someone else, and they'll be making Topps cards. There's name recognition and history there. We'll always have that.

[vintagepacers]

I'm pretty excited for Topps doing NBA stuff again. They have such a long history of products and designs to pull from and the historical cache to really make it feel special this time around. I'm being cautiously optimistic.

[Deadshot]

I won't be ripping any save for maybe a blaster or two, but I'm looking forward to the return of flagship Topps!

[FrankAZHP]

I went over the checklist spreadsheet provided via Topps and found pretty much all the cards I'd be personally interested in. I'm sure many of them (and their parallels) may be beyond my budget, but these cards is what I'll try to pick up.

This doesn't include any base cards or the base card parallels, but I'm sure I'll add some of them too.

I'm not sold on Wemby yet even though he's on there. I like him, I like his game, I like the fact he spoke out against Karl Malone, I like the fact he worked with Hakeem the Dream in the offseason, but I'm still just worried about longevity and injury due to his height. So it's tough for me to put much of my funds into him right now.

[FrankAZHP]

My first pickup of the product

1980-81 Chrome that comes from a Silver Pack inserted in hobby boxes

[FrankAZHP]

I will say I'm disappointed in the back design as I would have liked to see a fully recreated back from 1980-81. They did the bare minimum here.

When Topps does retro designs some years they'll recreate the back design and sometimes they don't. Doesn't matter whether it's flagship, Chrome, Heritage, or Archives.

[dengbang]

I'm new to this "Foilfractor" design. Looks like cubic Superfractor. Anyone seen these in person?

[FrankAZHP]

I'm new to this "Foilfractor" design. Looks like cubic Superfractor. Anyone seen these in person?

I probably have even if I can't recall off the top of my head. But I think I'll be doing Topps product design reviews soon on YT though, which means I'll pick up 1 of each type of card/parallel in the set (with the exception of the crazy overpriced case hits and superfractors) and go over them on video. It would be a good way to see what things look like, and gives me a reason to criticize what I do and don't like about Topps releases.

[Deadshot]

I ripped a couple blasters Thursday night at a release party and got to see some of this stuff in hand. Some rapidfire thoughts:

1. It was nice to see a licensed Topps basketball set again. It feels totally different this time around because there's more carryover from baseball than anything else.
2. The photography in this set is not good (with a few exceptions like OG). How on earth is LeBron a dribbling pose? His old base Topps/Topps Chrome/Bowman stuff was always awesome.
3. Every card having a photo variation is pretty cool though. But there's no reason why they couldn't use 2 good photos instead of 1.
4. The parallels are a lot to take in, but like every set, you pick the ones you want to chase and leave the others behind. There are a few numbered versions I'm excited to pursue (plus the team border variation which I love).
5. The rookie logo still stinks, but I love being able to get these rookies early on...like it should be! This is how I always learned the rookie class.
6. Card backs are way too minimal. This is information that could likely be automated. There's no reason to not have a photo or additional years of stats.
7. This product is very accessible and I love that. It should be printed to the moon and it was.

That probably sounded mostly negative...but I'm happy to have the product back. I'd just like to see a few simple changes moving forward!

[BucksInSix]

Got my first jumbo in today and had a fun time opening it. I have one more coming plus a few Fanatics Exclusive Blasters that I will open and then I will pivot to singles.

I got very excited when I opened the silver packs and saw a bit a red popping out. Not the best player on the checklist but definitely not the worst. Auto of the number 4 pick who has looked solid through 3 games was nice. And I will never be mad about hitting a gold of a 26 year old 6 time all-star. Lastly, the team borders are underrated. The sales are surprisingly low for what I think is the best non-traditional parallel (Black, Red, Gold, Blue).

[FrankAZHP]

Still haven't picked anything up except for the Amen yet because prices are high due to the initial crazy rush and hype, but thought I'd show a few things I was interested in, or at least curious to see how much they'd go for.

I think the Tatum Gold /50 and the Bird Black /68 went for wayyyy too much.

The Peja Chrome Throwback /50 Auto went for $30 higher than I'd pay, and the KG Chrome Gold /50 Auto price seems about right, but KG's auto was awful in comparison to other autos I've seen him sign.

I feel I missed out on the Brandon Miller at that price, and would have paid $20 shipped for it because I like Brandon Miller, but could have been a bit high..

Dunno anyone else have thoughts on what they've seen on some sales?

[SacKingsCards]

Thanks for sharing your thoughts on the sales, Frank. I do think a lot of these prices will come down as more Topps cards are released (but man, that KG certainly seems affordable!). I can't tell, are those autos on card?

I like the design of the mojo pack cards way more than the base.

[FrankAZHP]

Thanks for sharing your thoughts on the sales, Frank. I do think a lot of these prices will come down as more Topps cards are released (but man, that KG certainly seems affordable!).

They'll come down for sure, though it's interesting to see how things look right off the bat, and see the sales history for some of the bigger stuff (what I'd consider bigger stuff at least I'm budget af)

I can't tell, are those autos on card?

From what I've seen is some are on card, and some are stickers and it's dependent on the player. (see another set of sold listings in the photo below and you'll see the Tracy McGrady gold mojo auto that is on card auto) The KG was a sticker. There's another KG Gold Mojo /50 Auto available BIN for $150 with a better looking sig.

I like the design of the mojo pack cards way more than the base.

Same. Parallels give a good color match opportunity too.

Here's some more stuff that ended I had on my watchlist either for personal interest, or for curiosity on where the market is.

The McGrady is dope but high as hell. I'd expect it to be around the $200 range.

I only had the Brooks Barnhizer Gold Mojo /50s to see what low end rookies are going for. The jersey # /50 went for $16 when the irrelevant number went for $30 lol, so these are all over the place. Probably someone with FOMO on the bigger sale dunno

Some other 1980 Gold Mojo /50 (non autos) of various guys with interesting sales results:

$036 - Ja Morant
$027 - Alex Sarr
$062 - Jalen Brunson
$051 - Stephon Castle
$615 - Stephen Curry <---- lol holy shit

Also had some paper on the list to see where that went:

$066 - Shaq Gold Paper /50
$036 - Magic Johnson Orange Paper /25



I'm still waiting out for the right cards at the right prices for me. I'll miss out on a lot of big stuff, but idc I'm a budget collector anyways.

[threepointplay]

As usual, I am late to the party, but I have been pleasantly surprised with the release of 2024-25 Topps Flagship.

As an international based collector, Fanatics/Topps has done an excellent job of getting boxes into the hands of collectors at retail price. I was able to pick up a Hobby box directly from Topps UK when the first pre-order release dropped and it landed on my doorstep on the Saturday after launch. I did not pull anything of note from my box, but I was not worried about that; it was the first basketball hobby box I have opened in close to a decade and being able to do that whilst watching early season games was great fun. Panini's inability to get any other new seasons products in the hand of collectors until January annoyed the hell out of me!!

I have subsequently been picking up some cheaper 'lots' from local sellers on eBay; initially to complete the base set and more recently to build out my binder with some lower end inserts. My views on the release itself:

- I quite like the design of the base set and have no issue with Topps having uniform designs across multiple sports; I did not mind it in the 1990s and certainly do not in 2025!
- The 1980-81 Chrome card, that comes from the silver packs are great looking cards and I have already picked up more than the six I pulled from my box. I suspect I will end up building the full 100 card set!
- I also quite like the 'RC' logo. Personal taste is a funky thing!
- I do agree that the photography is a little one dimensional at times and Topps really could do with adding more 'action' shots. It will be intriguing to see how that plays out with future releases.

I am currently tracking the market in the case hit inserts, rarer parallel and case hit inserts. I agree the prices are a little crazy and will make a call on what I want to add to my collection when things settle down. But, the timing of the release, has also had me paying much closer attention to this year's rookie class than I have in the last few years!

In summary, after the awful mess of the unlicensed Fanatics/Topps releases from the last couple of years, I have (on balance) been pleased with how they have handled the launch of their NBA licensed product. Let's hope things continue in a similar veign over the weeks and months ahead.

[BucksInSix]

Grabbed (3) boxes of the fanatics exclusive blaster for $30 each because of the hit rate value that was broken down on Reddit. I am glad that I did. I got lucky with my pulls, but I will take that every once in a while. Panini hasn’t put out a retail product with this value since the early days of Prizm, and that value wasn’t immediately realized.

[Deadshot]

Wow I feel like you killed it with those 3. The right players, too.

[FrankAZHP]

Grabbed (3) boxes of the fanatics exclusive blaster for $30 each because of the hit rate value that was broken down on Reddit. I am glad that I did. I got lucky with my pulls, but I will take that every once in a while. Panini hasn’t put out a retail product with this value since the early days of Prizm, and that value wasn’t immediately realized.

Damn that's a crazy haul from 3 blasters!!!

I'd be interested in the Russell if the price is right and you're willing to sell.

I picked up my 2nd card from this set at a show last Saturday. It was the Gold Russell /2025. I'll post pic here once I take a photo of my haul.

[threepointplay]

Whilst building out a binder for this release, I added my first autograph card from the new Topps Flagship. I already had a Harden autograph card on my want list - as I am attempting to add at least one on-card autograph card from each member of the NBA 75 Anniversary Team to my PC - so this pick-up from a local seller in the U.K. worked out very well.

They are really great cards in-hand.

[AbraCalabro]

Wow that card looks great

[FrankAZHP]

Whilst building out a binder for this release, I added my first autograph card from the new Topps Flagship. I already had a Harden autograph card on my want list - as I am attempting to add at least one on-card autograph card from each member of the NBA 75 Anniversary Team to my PC - so this pick-up from a local seller in the U.K. worked out very well.

They are really great cards in-hand.

2025-26 Topps - 1980-81 Topps Chrome Basketball Veteran Autographs Gold Mojo Refractor - James Harden 01 Front.jpg

BEAUTIFUL! This is fire and is exactly the type of stuff from Topps I want in my PC.

I saw a number of these go recently I was watching too just to see what they'd go for.
I'm gonna stay budget for now and pick up what I can low end. Initial hype is still big right now.

[FrankAZHP]

Picked up a Bill Russell Gold /2025 for $5 at a card show last weekend

[FrankAZHP]

More sold listings I was watching for either the PC or because I was curious.

I hope prices start going down soon. Maybe will once more Topps releases are out.

[Hornso]

Thoughts on the release information of Topps Chrome?

[BucksInSix]

Thoughts on the release information of Topps Chrome?

Expensive but about what I expected. When you consider 2023/24 Prizm was about $1000 out the gate and only guaranteed 2 autos, it seems like Topps may have left some money on the table.

I will be sticking to singles for this release, however. I should be able to grab some awesome cards for the price of a jumbo. The MVP buyback program will be fun, as well. This season is off to a great start with multiple players looking like they will make a strong push. That will help people breaking, there should be significant speculation around Luka, Jokic, SGA, so their base and refractors will have a nice bump.