Looking to get into basketball

[Leafsman]

Hi folks.

I am Canadian and I have been a hockey rookie card collector since the late 1980s. A few years ago, I decided to collect a few baseball rookies (mainly cards from the Montreal Expos and Toronto Blue Jays, as well as Canadian-born players).

I'm looking to branch out into all four major sports but I have very little knowledge on basketball or football cards. I am not looking for high-end stuff just yet; mid-range cards is fine. I do not like refractors. What is the most commonly-collected affordable mid-range product available?

I am in the midst of compiling a list of players I want rookies of right now.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!
Tony

[WilyWestbrook0]

I regret to inform you that, based on your collecting preferences, a more ideal time for you would have been a few years ago. Right now, refractors are the big thing, and it's gotten very hard to find mid-end anymore. The basketball market has absolutely exploded -- a good time for us longtime collectors looking to sell, but hard for newer hobbyists with more limited budgets to break in.

There are, however, still some boxes of Panini Threads in the last few years that can be had for about $100 or so. That would be my best suggestion for more recent product. There are no refractors; instead, you can pull some decent autos, inserts, rookies, and numbered cards out of it. Refractors are the staples of Prizm, Optic, and Select.

You can also try Donruss or Hoops from recent years. This year, those products are much more expensive because of the Zion and Ja rookies, but other recent years are more affordable.

[Leafsman]

I regret to inform you that, based on your collecting preferences, a more ideal time for you would have been a few years ago. Right now, refractors are the big thing, and it's gotten very hard to find mid-end anymore. The basketball market has absolutely exploded -- a good time for us longtime collectors looking to sell, but hard for newer hobbyists with more limited budgets to break in.

There are, however, still some boxes of Panini Threads in the last few years that can be had for about $100 or so. That would be my best suggestion for more recent product. There are no refractors; instead, you can pull some decent autos, inserts, rookies, and numbered cards out of it. Refractors are the staples of Prizm, Optic, and Select.

You can also try Donruss or Hoops from recent years. This year, those products are much more expensive because of the Zion and Ja rookies, but other recent years are more affordable.

I'm a singles collector. I collect base rookies only. Nothing else. Refractors, jersey cards, autographed cards...those are wastes of cardboard to me. If it's not a base RC, I'm not interested.

[akaus21]

Your best bet is to just trade or buy for cards you want. Otherwise you are going to end up with quite a few extra cards that you don't want. Let me know when you have a list. Maybe I can help you out with some. Thanks.

[Leafsman]

Your best bet is to just trade or buy for cards you want. Otherwise you are going to end up with quite a few extra cards that you don't want. Let me know when you have a list. Maybe I can help you out with some. Thanks.

I will send you a PM.

[capt55]

I have some rookies of the 2020 HOFers, Garnett, Duncan and Kobe.

[Leafsman]

I have some rookies of the 2020 HOFers, Garnett, Duncan and Kobe.

Let me know what you have.