We are Trace ‘n Chase, a brand new and innovative company created during the quarantine, out of our desire to give the countless fans of basketball and sports in general in Greece and in Europe the opportunity to learn about the “hobby” of card collecting, as well as to acquire unique collectibles that will decorate their office, home or company!
In-depth knowledge is always the key of course and it’s time to find out how easy it is to get into #thehobby, especially for those who watch sports and play fantasy games!
The “Catch”
So let’s just say that you, the average visitor of Eurohoops is watching basketball and is playing fantasy sports, you really don’t need to do anything at all except to choose which category of player you can “invest” in and from which league (EuroLeague, NBA, etc), building your portfolio accordingly.
First things first though, one of the main axioms in the hobby world is that rookie cards always have the most value.
Now let’s look specifically at some indicative categories, based on which someone who is just starting to become a collector, can gradually build a portfolio with various categories of players, investing the corresponding amount of money.
Time to also clarify something equally important! There are different ways to collect individual cards -something that has traditionally has happened by buying and opening boxes- as the evolution of #thehobby has allowed collectors alternative ways to acquire the items they want, and they can now specifically target individual player cards on marketplaces like eBay or to go into the process of hunting players from a specific team through Live Breaks, the hottest experience in the world of trading cards.
Rookies
For those who play in dynasty or keeper fantasy leagues, rookies each season are their bread and butter, as the excitement and anticipation for a player they’ll get on their team (and make them the absolute favorite) is enormous…just think about the Wemby madness this past season.
The reality of course is completely different as rookies, no matter how good they are, traditionally struggle in their first year in the NBA, with plenty of turnovers and bad percentages. On the other hand, the market value of rookies soars before they even set foot on the court and matches or exceeds the excitement generated by rookie cards every NBA season. That is of course as long as the first-time player proves on the basketball floor that he can justify the hype that accompanied him before entering the league…
The rookie card collection has a lot of competition and usually costs a lot of money for the first-class names (Luka Doncic, Victor Wembanyama, Zion Williamson, Ja Morant), but every year there are players who are relatively unknown and do not have much hype but manage with their game to raise their stock market value. A very good example is Tyrese Maxey, who was a late 1st round draft pick in 2020 by the 76ers, playing around 15 minutes per game in his rookie year, but he has how taken off, winning the award for the Most Improved Player and making the All-Star team this past season!
The Wild Cards
For diehards of the game, the wild card category is traditionally the one with the greatest interest, because in the event that the manager is actually right, his validation actually gives him indisputable “bragging rights”. It is the type of fantasy manager that will select a usually young, inexperienced and unproven player, believing that he has the potential to exceed his ceiling.
A prime example is that of Shai-Gilgeous-Alexander who was a relatively unknown prospect drafted by the LA Clippers in 2019 and showing some flashes of his talent in his rookie season. His development and leap in year 2 after he was traded to the Oklahoma City Thunder was extremely impressive to say the least, while this season he exploded for a career year becoming an MVP candidate and leading his team to the second round of the playoffs! Not surprisingly, the market value of his cards has also taken off as he is now one of the faces of the new era of global basketball!
The Veterans
An equally profitable “investment” can also be made with current NBA veterans, as their value can always go up and down depending on how their career develops. As we have mentioned before, the card value pretty much always corresponds to the success of the player at the professional level! Jayson Tatum is a prime example of a player that ignited the hobby community during the first years of his presence in the league but for the most part he hadn’t win until this year and a lot of his collectors felt disappointed. Tatum of course rose to the occasion this year and he was able to win the title with the Boston Celtics and the future looks bright as his team could become a dynasty! The collector who invested in a player like Jayson Tatum hoped for a future increase in his value, and even though that is something that most of the times requires a leap of faith, it has happened for him with great monetary rewards as JT’s cards have also taken off!
The key takeaway from our initial analysis is how volatile the card market is, similar to the value of fantasy players, and thus how the margin is extremely open and correspondingly to the choices a manager makes in his draft. The call is yours and the hunt for the next star is always there, it’s just a matter of how you manage your portfolio!
That’s it for now and don’t forget our special giveaway for your chance to win a 2021 Panini America Milwaukee Bucks NBA Champions Box together with a Houston Rockets 1994 Hakeem Olajuwon NBA championship replica ring!
Follow Trace ‘n Chase on Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, Linkedin, as well as our YouTube channel and learn all about #thehobby!