What’s New
The much-anticipated 2025-26 Topps Chrome Basketball set is scheduled to drop on Thursday, December 18, following the October 23 debut of the Topps flagship Basketball series. This is Topps' first foray into licensed NBA basketball cards since 2009. The flagship release was met with high demand for cases, boxes, hangers, packs, and singles, with added buzz around the Topps Chrome First Day Issue boxes that launched on December 15. The upcoming Chrome release is expected to sustain this excitement, particularly for the base rookie cards.
Configuration at a Glance
- Product: 2025-26 Topps Chrome Basketball
- Release Date: December 18
- Format: Hobby boxes, retail boxes, hangers, packs, singles
- Key Hits: Base rookie cards, Chrome parallels
- Notable: First licensed Topps NBA product since 2009
- Popular: Base rookie cards and their Chrome parallels
Key Inserts & Parallels
- Flagship parallels and Chrome parallels are eagerly awaited
- Prominent inserts in the flagship collection include Comic Court, Sonic Boom, All Kings, and 8-Bit Ballers (these are not part of the base rookie card list below)
Autographs & Relics
- The article did not specify details on autographs and memorabilia cards
Bonus Rookie Cards to Watch
- Jeremiah Fears - New Orleans Pelicans (2025-26 Topps #207 RC)
- Card values (EX to Mint): $0.75 to $5
- Cedric Coward - Memphis Grizzlies (2025-26 Topps #211 RC)
- Card values (EX to Mint): $0.75 to $5
- Derik Queen - New Orleans Pelicans (2025-26 Topps #213 RC)
- Card values (EX to Mint): $0.75 to $5
Top 10 Most Valuable 2025-26 Topps Rookie Basketball Cards
- Tre Johnson - Washington Wizards (2025-26 Topps #206 Tre Johnson III RC)
- Position: Shooting Guard
- Season stats: 11.2 points per game, 39.8 percent 3-point shooting, started 4 of 17 games
- Ace Bailey - Utah Jazz (2025-26 Topps #205 Ace Bailey RC)
- Position: Small Forward
- Drafted: 5th overall in 2025
- Season stats: 10.0 points per game, started 16 of 25 games
- Card values (EX to Mint): $1 to $5
- Dylan Harper - San Antonio Spurs
- Position: Shooting Guard
- Drafted: 2nd overall
- Season stats: 13.1 points per game, 21.9 minutes per game, no starts yet
- Card values (EX to Mint): $1 to $6
- RC and Holiday RC rank seventh and eighth on OPG list
- Kon Knueppel - Charlotte Hornets
- Position: Small Forward
- Drafted: 4th overall
- College: Duke
- Season stats: 19.0 points per game, 40.5 percent from three
- Recent games: 33 points vs. Chicago, 29 points vs. Cleveland
- Card values (EX to Mint): $1.50 to $10
- VJ Edgecombe - Philadelphia 76ers
- Position: Shooting Guard
- Season stats: 15.2 points per game, started all 22 games
- Card values (EX to Mint): $1.50 to $10
- Topps Holiday #H163 Edgecombe also highly valued
- Cooper Flagg - Dallas Mavericks (2025-26 Topps #201 RC)
- Position: Small Forward
- Drafted: 1st overall (Duke)
- Season stats: 18.4 points, 6.3 rebounds, 3.5 assists per game
- First career 40-point game: 42 points vs. Utah Jazz on December 12
- Card values (EX to Mint): $2 to $12
- Holiday variations valued similarly
Collector Notes
- The 2025-26 Topps Basketball series heralds the return of Topps to licensed NBA cards after a 16-year break
- Base rookie cards are the main attraction for collectors, with high interest in both flagship and Chrome editions
- Card values reflect the current secondary market as of the release date
- Holiday variations are available for select rookies and are priced similarly to their standard RCs
- Details about design elements and print runs were not provided in the article
- Parallels and insert cards like Comic Court, Sonic Boom, All Kings, and 8-Bit Ballers form part of the flagship set but are not included in the base rookie card value list
- No specific odds, short prints, or super short prints were mentioned
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