A rookie trading card for Dallas Mavericks forward Cooper Flagg sold for a record $8.04 million at auction on Friday.
It’s the most ever paid for a single-player basketball card and the fifth-highest price for any publicly known sale of a sports card, according to Card Ladder and The Athletic.
The one-of-one 2026 Topps Chrome Updates NBA Debut Patch autographed card was sold through Fanatics Collect’s September Premier Auction.
The auction received 83 bids from Sept. 10 through early Friday morning, with the price ballooning from $3.5 million past $8 million during a bidding war in the final hours.
For perspective, the Flagg card exceeded the $7.25 million paid in 2022 for the T206 Honus Wagner baseball card, considered the “Holy Grail” of trading cards.
The Flagg card was pulled from a pack in August in Rhode Island.
Flagg, 19, was the No. 1 overall pick in the 2025 NBA Draft and earned 2025-26 NBA Rookie of the Year honors after averaging 21.0 points, 6.7 rebounds and 4.5 assists in 70 games for the Mavericks.
–Field Level Media
