You Can't Comp This: NBA Trading Card Podcast
Hosted by Russell Gibson. Delivering a weekly podcast that discusses current NBA news and how this impacts the sports trading card market Each week we take a deep dive into a timeless, more larger scale hobby related topics.
You Can't Comp This: NBA Trading Card Podcast
Episode 258: Trade Tracker Chaos & Cactus Jack Chrome
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This week’s episode covers two major talking points shaping the NBA card hobby right now: the NBA trade deadline and the Topps Chrome Cactus Jack Basketball release tied to NBA All-Star Weekend.
The show opens with a deep dive into the Topps Chrome Cactus Jack crossover, breaking down why Topps is leaning into scarcity, event-only distribution, and cultural crossovers outside the traditional hobby space. The discussion covers the design choices, checklist highlights, autograph structure, numbered parallels, and the implications of requiring physical attendance at NBA Crossover in Los Angeles to purchase boxes. The barriers to entry, potential resale impact, and unanswered questions around leftover product distribution are all examined.
From there, the focus shifts to the NBA trade deadline, working through deals one by one and analysing both on-court and hobby impact. The episode looks at Chicago’s aggressive reset, Boston’s financial manoeuvring, Oklahoma City’s continued draft-driven strategy, Atlanta’s post-Trae Young direction, and major moves involving teams like Golden State, Dallas, Washington, Indiana, New York, and Cleveland. Player hobby value is discussed throughout, including pop counts, recent sales, market saturation, and short-term versus long-term collectability.
The episode also tackles broader hobby themes: how market size affects card demand, why certain players never become hobby darlings, and where low-end opportunities still exist in a crowded market. The show wraps with a listener-submitted question around international shipping and customs delays, explaining what’s changed, what hasn’t, and how collectors can avoid future issues.
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Welcome everybody to this week's show. I am your host Russell Gibson and this is the You Can't Comp This MBA Trading Card
podcast. I hope life is treating you very well. And on this week's show, we have got a whole bunch to get through,
including and not limited to the NBA trade deadline. But for this week's
show, we're actually going to start off with something that's a little bit different, but actually I think this is
very interesting. We're going to start talking about the Topps Chrome release, which is going to be a crossover between
Cactus Jack and the NBA All-Star weekend.
Uh the reason why I think this is actually, you know, worthwhile to talk about is because
Topps are doing things differently within the hobby. They are absolutely trying to innovate and they're trying to
create releases that have genuine scarcity and I think they've ticked a lot of boxes on this one. I think also
for me why I'm know very interested in something like this.
It's because I don't even know who, you know, to for lack of a better word, you know, who is Cactus Jack? So, I think
that's probably also, you know, somewhere we can start here.
Cactus Jack is
Travis Scott. And that's where we need to start with this hit. So Travis Scott, American rapper,
and basically he's created this record label, but it's more than just a record label. He's also doing merch. He's doing
partnerships. Nike McDonald's, Oakley. Now to add into that list, too. Now we've got Topps Fanatics and Topps
Chrome. You know, I think if we're talking about growing the hobby, where Topps wants to
be in the next couple of years, what they're trying to achieve moving down the line, they're trying to grow the
hobby. And I think using someone like Cactus Jack, who is famous outside of
the hobby, trying to bring in some of those clicks from his circles back into the top circle, I think that's
absolutely ingenious. To top it off from that though, and this is what we really need to start talking about now, is the
All-Star weekend, which is upon us. We pretty well won't be talking about All-Star weekend today just for the fact
of there's just a lot going on at the moment with trade deadline happening. So, we'll get to that next week. What we
should probably start to do though is have a look at some of the cards that's coming through it and then we'll read a
little bit more through how it all breaks down.
and how all this is going to play out because that's also something quite interesting here. All right, so this is the card design of what you'll be
seeing. Obviously, this is one of the hit cards. I like it cuz it's creative. Like for
me, this is almost like a panini insert where they're taking some risks. They're doing something that's a little bit crazy.
One thing that's coming through to me with tops is that they're not particularly looking for streamlined
design. And so what I mean by that is there's a lot going on in these pictures. And that does seem to be a theme in a lot of their cards. You got
the rookie logo, you got the Cactus Jack logo, you got the All-Star logo, you've got the Allstar um neon sign going on
here. And I think what they're trying to do here is that's actually a sticker autograph. Then you got the Mavs logo,
you got Cooper's name, and then you got the Tops Chrome logo, which seems like like there's a fair bit of redundancy
going on there. In saying all of that, I, you know, I don't mind this terribly.
I don't think it's a horrible design. I just think that this is probably not going to appeal to, you know, every
single collector. So, for example, this, I think that's got a lot more sort of classic appeal. And I can see that, you
know, being received quite well. I think tapping into LeBron in a retro sense is also very clever because
while I think we all love LeBron, you know, whether you love him or hate him, you know, probably the LeBron of of
younger years is a lot more appealing at this point in time. Alan Iverson's going to be making an appearance in this. I
would love to see Iverson autos in this, too. I couldn't confirm whether that was going to be happening or not. And then
of course here we've got some other the some of the other big names we've got here. So we got Wii coming in here.
We got Steph Curry coming in here. Very similar to well it's exactly the same design isn't it to the one we saw up
here with the coupe. Back to WBY here. All righty. So
how this is all going to work cuz I think this is really interesting. Dropping exclusively at the All-Star weekend. Topschrome Cactus Jack
Basketball brings Travis Scott's signature edge to the biggest stage in the game. This ultra limited release
fuses Tops Chrome shine with Cactus Jack attitude, spotlighting the stars,
rookies, and moments that define allstar greatness. Collectors can chase a 100 card base set loaded with elite talent.
Now, I don't mind this at all because I think sometimes one of the complaints we have about hobby products or you know
any other product for that for that matter is that you you have product that
is just filled up with with filler. Basically, they're just you know blowing it out. So on this it's the complete
opposite. Cooper flag, Conapple, Dylan Harper, LeBron James, Kevin Durant,
Giannis. Obviously we've seen Iverson in there. We got LeBron in there too. Every
box delivers premium scarcity with parallels starting at 50 and autographs numbered as low as five. Look for the
standout Seiko cards insert capturing the wildest, most unforgettable All-Star game moments through a cap cactus jacket
lens with its limited run and event only availability. And we're going to talk more about this event only availability
in a second because this is a big part of this set and where I think this is going to drive the resale of this
product absolutely through the roof. is built for collectors who want
something rare, loud, and unmistakably different. Fans must purchase a ticket
to NBA Crossover, taking place at Los Angeles Convention Center in order to participate in this release. After
securing a ticket, fans will use the NBA events app to reserve a specific day to pick up their box, making this a fully
planned reservation reservationbased experience tied directly to NBA All-Star
weekend festivities. Each fan is limited to one box per person for the entire event and a reservation is required to
make a purchase. Walkups will not be accepted. Once a reservation is secured, fans will receive a QR code the NBA
events app which must be presented to staff at the Tops booth to unlock the opportunity to purchase their box. All
purchases will be made on site through Square with all ma major credit cards accepted. Cash will not be accepted. So,
I think there's a lot to unpack there in terms of you need to purchase a ticket to NBA Crossover. You need to be in Los
Angeles. You then need to make your reservation time. So, there's a lot of hoops to jump through here. And this is
going to eliminate a significant number of collectors. So, you know, that's all Australians or Canadians or Chinese
people like in all of that. Obviously, without excluding people who are going to be traveling to the event specifically for it. But I think that is
a very limiting thing. But I also think that would increase the scarcity of it because
I find it difficult to believe if you've got parallels starting at 50.
And I would say the wording for that it means that that will go up to say, you know, 125, 150, 199, whatever that's
going to be. There's going to be a fair bit of this stuff printed. And so what's going to happen to the leftover box? Will they be put onto the fanatics live
auction platform? Will they um do some type of du auction to get rid
of it? Will they be given to VIPs to staffers? You know, something along those lines. So, but again, I I still
think these are going to end up on eBay being auctioned at, you know, quite large prices. I also do like the way
they've organized it so you don't have the situation of, you know, people being in Target where you've got fist fights
and all that type of stuff. Do I think this is where the the hobby
is headed? Absolutely. Yes. So, more and more shops are moving away from
delivering product in stores just because of the issues that people are having. When I say people,
managers in shops with staff being abused, staff being hassled by customers
trying to, you know, purchase stuff. In fact, it's even, you know, one step further than that. It's happening for Pokémon
um even in Australian retail. So JB Highfiles is there recently. They've got very large signs up saying Pokémon is
online only. You can still get NBA. Um you can get like some uh Premier
League cards, stuff like that. But you know, obviously they've had issues around that. And I've actually got no problems with it. I think some of the
behavior with, you know, people fighting in car parks and all that type of stuff, you just
don't need that within the hobby. And it, you know, what's the what's the ad here? All righty. Really quick segue.
And we don't need to talk a lot about this, but it fits into this same can of new releases coming out. We've got our
first release of 2526 Panini unlicensed.
I'm very much in two frames of mind of this. I miss Panini dearly. I really loved some of the releases that they did
have, but it's amazing how quickly I have already crossed over to
the TOPS products and how I'm enjoying them so much more now. And I think that,
you know, it's quite interesting for me because I was publicly reluctant to be
coming across to Topps and my my take was that I wanted Topps to, you know, earn my love or prove to me that they're
the right person, you know, to take my attention. And so, I think they've done a pretty good job of that. I think some
of the things they've done has been fantastic. um the issue of the the Topps black hole
recently. I think they handled that really well. And so if you aren't caught up on that,
I'll really quickly just touch on that. They didn't put a blue X fractor into a
product. So to make up for that, what they're going to be doing now is you take your silver X fractor and you send
it in and you get a replacement card for that. Probably this is actually a good time to thread this in, too. There's
been a couple of different reports. So, for example, if you send in a jamarant, you might not get a jamarant back. And I
I think that's really like troubling for collectors because if you're spending $350, which is what the silver xractors
are now trading for in the Coopers, 350 plus, you're spending 350, you send in
your Cooper and you get back a Cedric Coward rookie card. Yeah, it's a rookie
card, but that's not the one you wanted. and you didn't want to spend $350 getting a silver cooper for that.
I I really hope that that report isn't true. Um, segueing back to Panini here,
we got Kabooms again. Is anyone going to want unlicensed Kabooms? I don't really think so. This is where though I think
it gets really interesting and where Panini should put all their effort into. They should make them oncard autographs.
They should make the autographs have fantastic artwork. So Trey Johnson, Cedric Coward, Luca Donic, Jaran,
VJ Edgecomb, and just hold our powder on VJ Edgecomb for two seconds. If I's in
it, Derek Rose, that's fantastic. And so I think what they really need to do here
is do something like what Tyson Beck does. Tyson Beck is unlicensed, but his products are highly coveted. The reason
why they're highly coveted is because they're really, really high quality. So, it's almost like Panini, what they need
to do now here is take a leaf out of someone else's book, and that would be Tyson Becks. Make sure all of their
stuff is on card autograph. Make sure all of their stuff is gameworn or at least event worn. Like, you're not
having napkin patches that are not associated to anything like that. I think that is the direction that they
sort of need to go into because I think if you're competing against a behemoth like Topps in the unlicensed space, you
need to be delivering premium like uber premium stuff that's innovative. And so,
you know, I kind of get the feeling that Panini won't do that just based on track record, but I'd love to see them do
something that actually matters to the hobby as opposed to just pumping out a whole bunch of crap.
We'll have to obviously wait and see where this goes to. And and yeah, I think that's all we can
really say for this one, guys. I think we can move on. Let's go to our first sponsor for this week's show. Thank you
so much to US Sports Cards Australia. Go to usportscards Australia.com.auu
for all of your trading card needs. Click on the three little noodles. There you'll find your sports breaks. Check
out my cards Australia collectible protection singles category, hobby boxes, sports memorabilia, and of course
Rascal's beloved water pistols. Now, of course, we want to talk about Check out My Cards Australia. Rosco is getting
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Rosco will list all of your cards online for you. He will sell them, put the money back into your account. All the
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And thank you so much to US Sports Cards for
your ongoing support.
And welcome back everybody. We're going to kick on today's show and we're going to talk about the trade deadline. I'm
not exactly too sure how I'm going to break all of this down, but I think we just sort of just try and do it one
trade at a time, one comment at a time. It's going to be higgledy piggledy, but it's going to be a whole bunch of fun.
We put up a post on a whole bunch of sites, Sports Cards Addicts Australia, NCM. We've got a few replies back and of
course on our socials too. We'd love you to follow, subscribe, turn on that notification
button of course that helps us out so much. Cam Herson, when will GM stop
answering Sam Prey's call? That is in reference to the trade where the Philadelphia
76ers sent off some draft equity.
for Jared McCain. So, the initial response from Sam Prey
is that he sold high on Jared McCain. And so, in response to Cameron's comment
here, when will they stop answering Sam Prey's calls? I think the answer is Cam, they're not going to. They've got so
much draft equity and when you're trying to win a championship, you need a little bit of talent now and you can give up
first future picks for it. Like this seems like a win-win deal because obviously Morris is happy with what he
got back with the first round pick, but also too, you've got Sam Pressie that's
very happy because you've got someone coming into the fold that can contribute right away. He fits into them with a
very cost-effective contract. And also, I'm going to go out to a limb here and say that they've checked up on his um
chemistry fit with the team cuz we all know that chemistry is a really important part to the Thunder success.
He's started in today's game, today being the 8th of February in Australia.
They're obviously very happy to have this guy come into the fold. I'm probably not convinced that he'll be
playing fourth quarter minutes in the playoffs or in the finals, but I think he's absolutely going to be a rotation piece for them. So, I think that goes
down for an A for both teams. I I don't really see anything there that's, you know, too nefarious for either sides.
Matthew Hull, I feel the most active team for a change was the Bulls. Hornets
taking Kobe White was a big call. Makes LaMelo nervous or happy. I don't know. I still want Sabonis at the Bulls or all
the picks they've been given now to get Giannis last minute. Maybe we'll see.
All righty. So, talking about the Bulls, the Bulls made multiple trades at the trade deadline. I think it's going to be
difficult to get through them all, but I will say this, the Bulls have emptied out their big man rotation. So, I think
there's going to be a lot of opportunity for people on their roster to actually fill out those big minutes. We're going
to go through the hobby value on that in a second. But the other thing they did too is they created an enormous amount
of space because they've basically they're going to have the most cap space in the league coming up to the off
season. So I think you need to take that in mind whereas it's
hard to sort of process if you're a Bulls fan now. You know, you might be really feeling, you know, a bit not too
happy with what's been going on. But at the same time too, I think you need to look longterm as to what the Bulls are
doing here. So, the Bulls have sent out Nicole Vousvich and a second round pick that's going to the Boston Celtics. The
Bulls going to get back Anthony Simons who's on an expiring contract and a second round pick. And so, I think if
you're the Celtics, you're really happy about this. You get rid of Anthony Simons. You've brought him in, you've
checked him out, he's not going to be filling your bucket. I think that's a very uh favorable term at the moment.
And so you get a big, which I think will fit in really nicely to the three-point
shooting that the Celtics like to do. I think Vousvich is going to fit into the Celtic system seamlessly. Not the best
defender, so I think the coaching staff are going to be pulling their hair out a little bit on this one.
Uh, and it also saves the Celtics money. So that's another one in the short term where they actually took back less money
compared to the Simons contract. So that takes them underneath the tax bracket.
The other trade which I think is the really interesting one to talk about is Chicago is going to pick up Rob
Dillingham and Leonard Miller. A whole bunch of draft equity is coming in there and they've given up on AO and Julian
Phillips. I think if you're looking at this again from the long term, Rob Dillingham has got the highest upside
and also the highest ceiling here. My question is is how does he fit into their roster in its entirety? I think
for me that's a really really tricky one to sort of like process and get your head around per se just for the fact
that they're very very guard heavy at the moment. So I think what might be
happening in Chicago the next 12 months or 6 months it's basically just going to be like a try out for next season. I'm
really got a lot of hope still left in Dillingham and it's a bit of a weird one for me why the Wolves gave up on that so
quickly. Aayodumu is going to go into their roster three and D can shoot the
ball can defend which is what they need a little bit more size than what Dillingham's giving them. So I think
that's an interesting one. Mike Connley was also dealt away from the Wolves in the last couple of months reportedly.
He's been waved. He'll go back to the Wolves to help them out there. Another Mike Connley deal here. And this is what
we want to talk about uh in terms of card ladder coming up in two seconds.
Mike Connley goes to Charlotte. He's going to be waved. Kobe White stays. Now, I think what we need to talk about
right now is Kobe White because this is the first hobby intersection that we
have to talk about here. We've been talking about PopCount the last couple of weeks and I think what we need to
really uh acknowledge here, see if I can bring this into the middle
of the screen. Yep, that's beautiful. Kobe White has got a population on this
card of 1,72. It's currently trading at $32. This is the classic thing where there is just
too many cards for the demand on this kid. Also, keeping in mind this was a co
baby rookie and so people were sending this off to PSA, you know, left, right, and center. If you look at the alltime
sales data on this guy, there was some insane sales on him. He was up to $1,084
at his absolute peak, which you know, now that you look back at it, this is the correct trading price for this guy.
If you are a Kobe White fan, I think you try and look for a color match. You can go for the red, you can go for something
even low number just for the fact that you're going to be picking him up for a little bit cheaper. I think probably my
issue for him moving forward for hobby value is now he's going to be behind LaMelo Ball
um Brandon Miller and then Con Canpple which is also currently an absolute hobby darling at the moment and so I
think for me with the population on this guy you know this is an absolute absolute stay away
for me. So yeah, just just stay away from anything that's got to do with Kobe
White. Chicago Bulls roster. This is what we need to talk about here because this is what I'm actually really
interested in. So look at who's going to be playing their center minutes. It's going to be Nick Richards. It's going to be Lachlan, which is, you know,
interesting, but I I don't think he's going to be getting an insane amount of minutes. The two people that I'm really
got my eye on out of this rotation here, obviously Basillus is going to be pay playing an absolute stack of minutes. I
think Josh Giddy is going to be playing more small forward, maybe even some power forward minutes. Pat Williams, I
think, you know, I'm probably a broken record on this guy, but I'm actually still pretty high on this guy. I've
still got hope for him. I really hope he takes some opportunity on this one here. But Jaylen Smith, Jaylen Smith for the
one for me, I really think we have to look at this
guy in terms of low-end hobby action that you can pick this guy up for cheap.
He's going to be coming in and he's going to be getting some minutes, meaningful minutes on on a team. And I
think the other really weird thing about the Chicago Bulls, too, is if we're, you know, looking at things over the, you
know, the long term, the last couple of years, I wouldn't say that they've overperformed, but they've never really underperformed either. So, I think, you
know, this team is still going to be on national TV. It's still going to be in the highlights. All right, so Jaylen
Smith, flawless autograph here, number to 25. PSA 9. There's nothing wrong with
PSA 9 in flawless cards, guys. Thicker cards are so much harder to to grade.
Best offer sold on that 80 bucks. That is an absolute win in this current market and the team that he's on. One of
one rookie jersey patch autograph number to 99. $35. Again, very good. I would
probably put the flawless um prime autograph and prime uh patch on that up
the the chain a little bit more. Uh and then we've got another sale of a one of one. Is that the same numbering on that
card? No, it's a different one that sold for $16. So, again, that is, you know,
really, really good. I think if you're looking for a low-end flyer who's going to a team that's in a very, very large
market, you know, being Chicago Bulls, Lo Los Angeles Lakers, you do have to factor that into hobby, yes. Would I
invest my entire life into Jaylen Smith? Absolutely not. We, you
know, I won't be doing that. U the final bulls trade, we'll just go through really quickly here. The Bulls are going
to get Yabaselli and some cash sending out Dale and Terry. I think Dale and Terry for New York is going to be
absolutely fantastic. Do I think either of these two guys move the hobby needles? Absolutely no. I don't think
that whatsoever. All righty, moving on to our next post.
This was done on NCM. I think it's the mighty Joe Fu which is like tipping in here. Chicago trading Kobe White and Vu
for extra guards and no bigs is a very bold move. What are they thinking? I think they're just thinking about trying
out guards and clearing out cab space. Yuki back on the court makes him happy. That's awesome, man. If you've got any
Yuki cards, guys, put them up online. Tag us in. We'll share them to social media for you guys. No problems at all.
Looking at the Yukon Comp this Facebook page, we got here Timothy Price. I'm a
biased supporter of Boston, but Celtics getting Vousvich and lowering their tax app is a massive win with Tatum possibly
on the horizon. They're now primed for a deep playoff run. I'm not too sure they're primed for a playoff run this
year, but they have absolutely managed their finances in a masterful way, and I think that that will give ownership
more potential to invest into the team maybe next year. I I think this year is a little bit of a write-off, man. But
yeah, I mean, wish Celtics fans all the best on that. Mark Smith, do you think a player's value in the hobby is better if
they stay loyal to one team, even if that's a small market, or force trades and play for numerous bigger market
teams? For example, if Giannis remains with the Bucks versus players like Harden and Durant. Look, I think this is
a really difficult question to answer. However, I'll do my best to do it. I think players like Steph Curry who have
been with one team, Durk Noitzky, Kobe Bryant, I'll say Michael Jordan, even
though he did play for two teams, I think it does matter a lot, but I think what more matters is the success
that they have with that one singular team versus someone being loyal to it. So, for example, I think Harden moving
around teams, you know, doesn't really mean that much because he hasn't been successful with teams. I think either
you're going to like Harden for what he is or you're not. I think that the reason why Harden isn't a hobby,
darling, is more to do with his playing and his lack of success versus the teams
that he's played on. Now, Durant is a really different one altogether because he has moved around, but he's had
success. And I think Durant's going to move into that space where he's actually undervalued for what he is.
And what people need to realize on that one is that
moving around probably isn't as detrimental as what we think. I think there's always going to be purists out there that want people to stay with one
team, but overall, yeah, not a massive deal here. Oven. Looks like the Hawks
nailed it with Landale. I like what the Clippers did. Got a bit younger and
moved on from Harden. So Jock Landale was traded
and then reported immediately to the Hawks. He drove himself in his car 5 hours to make sure he got to the game.
He went out and dropped 26 points, 11 rebounds, and four blocks in an immediate revenge game. So he was traded
away from the Jazz and then um played them the the very same night. I think
that's really fantastic. I think this is f again fantastic for the Hawks because
after getting rid of Trey Young, I think they've got a little bit of roster instability there, but I think still
there's some really good opportunities here for people on the roster. Jaylen Johnson is still not on
card ladder. Let's find him in sales history because
this is the one. Oh, I think we should be looking at Jaylen Johnson, Silver Raw
rookie selling for $27. That's not through the roof, but at the same time, it's not dirt cheap either. Jaylen
Johnson archetype auto 41 out of 49. That's a card from Recon, which in my
mind is quite a low-end card and also quality of product that sold for 50 US.
I would probably rather take two raw silvers at 27 a piece in that recon auto, but I think that says a lot about
the market and where we're at. Jaylen Johnson, I still think is a really good buy at the moment despite
him surging quite a bit. I think in the next 3 years, we're going to see some really good things from Jaylen Johnson.
Back to our comments online here. Toga angry emoji times five Chicago.
Yeah, I get it. If you're a Bulls fan, you're not very happy right now. But at the same time, man, I think we need to come back in 12 months and then talk
about this just a little bit more. Let's have a really quick look on our Instagram page. I don't think we had
anything there. We did not. I think what we should do now is go to our second commercial break
and then we can come back and we will talk more NBA
trades.
Thank you to Neon Trading Cards for your ongoing love and support. Please go to
neontradingcards.com.
You can find all of your breaking sealed product needs. Also, don't forget
Neon Trading cards, a one of the tops fanatics
direct partners. They are also one of the three regulated
breakers in Australia on to whatnot. That is huge in that breaking space.
What what not breaks have been absolutely going crazy for the boys
and they have been breaking neon sorry they've been breaking midnight products
absolutely like crazy some of the hits that we have got here include the Kooper
flag numbered to 50, the SGA numbered to 12.
I don't mind the design on that at all. We got the Larry Legend oncard autograph
number to 20. We got the Dylan Harper 35 there. We got an SGA Midnight Oil Marks
Redemption, a Desmond Bane one of one sticker. They absolutely jumped the ball
on that one. That should have been an oncard autograph. Come on, Tops. Get rid of sticker autographs and one of one.
There's no place in the hobby for that. Number to 35, but on card autograph. This makes no sense at all, but that's
totally fine. Cedric Coward. That's actually quite a nice looking card. And so this is the second time I've
mentioned Tyson Beck in today's show, but that's really tapping into that sort of creative artwork that you get from
someone like Tyson.
It's not a paid segment for Tyson, but that's a nice little shout out. Thanks so much to Neon Trading Cards for your
ongoing love and support.
Righty,
guys. Welcome back. Thanks so much for tuning in. We're going to continue on here with our
NBA trade deadline extravaganza. I think that's the only way that we can
talk about this. Again, continuing on in our ad hoc fashion, we're going to talk about next
the Washington Wizards trade that landed them. Anthony Davis, Jaden Hardy,
D'Angelo Russell, Dante Exom, Charlotte receiving Malachi Brandon, and
Dallas getting Chris Middleton, AJ Johnson, Tus Jones, Marvin Baggley. a
22nd first round pick via Oklahoma, a 2030 first round pick via Golden State,
and three future seconds from the Wizards. And so I think if you're looking at this from Dallas's
perspective, that 2020 2026 pick from Oklahoma is not going to be great. It's
probably going to be 30th or 29th at the absolute worst case scenario. I would suggest the juicy pick
out of all this is the 2030 pick via Golden State. I think if you are a gambling person,
and I'm assuming this is what Dallas is doing here, they're looking at what their team is going to look like in a
couple of years. There's no point building around an injured Anthony Davis, paying him up to $60 million or
even under the new collecting bargaining agreement. It might be 70 or 75, which is an insane thing to say, but that's
also the reality that we're currently living in. You know, AJ Johnson is not the most
fantastic prospect that you're getting back, but I think that pick is worth gambling on and
also just redirecting your team around Cooper. I think Cooper's done more than enough to warrant him getting the keys
to the franchise. So, I've got no problems with this at all. From the wasn't from the Washington Wizards perspective. For me, I'm going to give
them an A+ on this because basically what they've done is they've turned a whole bunch of low-end talent into all
stars. or let's just be generous here and call them all stars past their prime. But I think if you're a Wizards
team that really lacks direction and also to you are
like a team that's just always floating in the middle. They never really seem to nail their draft picks. They they have a
lot of trouble with their free agency signings. I think getting something that's a sure thing, even if you know
what they are, you know Anthony Davis is only going to play half of a season. you know that Trey Young is not the most
fantastic defender, but on the nights that you've got these two guys on the court, like that's a really good product
and I think it's going to cause some teams trouble on some nights. It's going to get people tuning in to make sure
that they are watching the team whether it's going to be on cable, whether it's going to be,
you know, in the stadium. I think, you know, this is a relatively fun team and I've got no problem. The reason I've got
no problem with this is cuz what they paid for it. Let's go through this. Clutch sports on Twitter. Turn Bill's
$250 million contract into Chris Paul. Flip Chris Paul for Jordan P. Jordan
Pool for CJ McCollum. Kyle Kosma for Chris Middleton. McCollum to get Trey Young. And Middleton to get Anthony
Davis. You would do that every single day of the week. In addition to that, Kahan George was added Alex Sar who's
becoming a very good pro. And I think the SAR addition to that team makes a
lot more sense now cuz he's never going to be a number one option, but he's a very good third or maybe fourth option,
which he will be around Anthony Davis and Trey Young. So, I'm totally fine with that. Now, Trey Johnson is the guy
that I want to talk about, and I've been meaning to talk about this guy for multiple weeks, but I just haven't been
able to sort of weave that in. So, let's talk about this. Trey Johnson, one of the best shooters in the league, and I
think more people need to be talking about this guy. The reason they're not talking about this guy is because he's on an absolutely terrible team. I was
going to say dog ship, but let's let's not go down that route. Let's try and
keep this PG and uh friendly. 2024 Panini Prism draft pick sensational
signatures Trey Johnson Mojo $210. I am very wary of these prices, but here
we go. 2526 Topschrome Trey Johnson Pulsar Rookie SP
$5.50. I got to tell you, who on earth is paying $210 for a Prism Draft picks
card?
That is insane. All right, I'm going to give that an F minus. I love this kid. I think he's
fantastic, but do not spend $200 on a Draft picks card. You will get absolutely flushed.
All righty.
Trey Johnson Topps Chrome X Factor 375. I think this guy's a buy. I really think
this guy's a buy. These cards are selling for $1 and $2 each. Rookie silver refractor $5.
The range on this kid is Steph Curry, Clay Thompsonesque.
And again, when you've got people who are going to draw a lot of gravity to the court, I like Anthony Davis and also
Trey Young. And and actually, you know, the funny thing about Trey is that he's a ball hog guy, but actually he gets
dimes. It's not like the kid never passes. I I think there's a lot of action to be had on this guy. I'm going
to put this actually down as a prospecting chance here because what I think you will be seeing out of this kid
is that you you've got a lot a lot of upside. And I also think too the market
has not reacted to him at all. Look, you might say this is a deep cut, but yeah,
I am absolutely into this guy in a very very big way.
Right, Trey Johnson. Range is absolutely limitless. Look at these shots. Literally coming in from the logo here
again all the way back nearly at half court there. This one's off the dribble that we've got coming in here. So, he's
not just a catch and shoot guy. He can catch and shoot, but he's also got a little bit of handles there. I I'm
insanely high on this kid. I think we need to keep watching him. Yeah, that's absolutely a takeaway from all of this.
All right, moving on down the list. The Warriors have finally moved on Jonathan Kaminga. I I feel like this for me is
just a relief. This has been simmering in the background for such a long period of time and I'm kind of glad that it's
over. Like it's really been like just too much, you know, like for
someone who's barely in the rotation whose cards are selling for $244
as a rookie card. We have spoken about Jonathan Kaminga too much. Again, we've
already spoken about the Hawks today with Jaylen Johnson and the hobby opportunity that's going to be going on there. Look, I like this a lot. Okay,
I'm not going to lie to you. I don't think the fit is perfect with Kaminga and also Jaylen Johnson. I think it's
going to put a bit of like rotational maybe pressure on these two guys, but maybe they can, you know, work it out
and just, you know, have something there that's going to work really well. I think shooting is going to be an issue
for those two if they're both on the floor at the forward positions, but like let's give it some time on this. I
really hope he turns up to the Hawks with a great attitude, gives it his best go
and then basically, you know, just tries to make something happen because I would hate to see him go to that team and then
there's just nothing going on, right? I think that would be a terrible, terrible outcome. Chris's Porzingis is being
traded to the Warriors. I think on paper this fits very very well. I think also
too it creates um a lot more definition within their rotation. So what I mean by that is means Draymond doesn't have to
play center anymore. It means Porzingis is always going to be playing the five. I think it gives them Hford coming off
the bench. Maybe Porzingis comes off the bench. I'm not exactly too sure on how that's going to play out. The other
thing you have to mention about Porzingis is that he is chronically injured now and we won't be expecting
him to be playing, you know, more than 60 or 70 games. So, we do need to keep that in mind. But in
saying that, you've got a a good enough big rotation to sort of hold this through. This is somebody that I've been
very high on for a long period of time, and I think it's at it's at the point now where he's never going to recover.
This is the value that he's at. He's currently trading at $56 on his silver PSA 10. The population on this is
absolutely fantastic. It's $164. Alltime high traded at about $1,600.
Yeah, look, I love this guy. I think he was one of the original unicorns. He means a lot to the league. He's, you
know, fantastic on so many different facets. However, his days of being the number one option
are absolutely gone. Is this the best possible outcome for him? Absolutely, this is the best possible outcome, but I
still don't think the needle is going to be moving all that much. So, yeah,
nothing huge there on the hobby standpoint. However, the onc court, that's a that's just such a big win. I
also kind of feel like the buddy heal things a little bit funny because it just seems like they wanted to get rid of him and just move off altogether.
Pistons, sorry, Pacers have acquired Ivaka Zubach and Kobe Brown. They've
given up Benedict Maturan and Isaiah Jackson and three picks are going to LA.
26 first round pick from the Pacers, a 29 first round from the Pacers, and a 28
second round pick. I personally think this is an overpay to get Zubach. However, I will say this, the Indiana
Pacers were in the playoffs in the finals less than 12 months ago. So maybe in their mind they're like
Hallebertton's coming back. We need to retool our rosters with guys who can win right away. The only thing I'm a little
bit interested on is that the way that they're coached in Indiana, they play a very fast up and down game.
They also like their bigs to stretch the floor. So, I'm not entirely sure how that Zubach fits into that. And will
that actually diminish his effectiveness or will he just allow their guards to
run out because he's going to be doing all the dirty work inside? You know, it could be sort of either way or actually it could be both, too. But I'm just
really curious on that cuz for example Isaiah Jackson, yes, he's probably not strong enough and big enough to play the
five. But when he did play 5 minutes, his defensive rotations were fantastic and his stretch shooting really made
them hard to defend. And so, you know, that's like, you know, that's a little bit of an interesting one for me. I
really liked Isaiah Jackson as a rotation piece for the Pacers. Benedict Matan's an interesting one. he can go
off for, you know, big points very, very quickly and he's had 40 points in the playoffs already before. I think the
catch with this guy and probably where he has become expendable is that he's very inconsistent and so you can't rely
on him for 20 points a night. He's very much a five points or 25 points type of guy. I think for the the Clippers
picking up cheap talent who's young and also future picks, they can't say no to this
trade. I really think that was a a trade that they couldn't pass up on this one here. I'm not going to talk about the
Suns trade. You know, there's really nothing to talk about there. We've already done the Hornets trade. Jose
Alvarado going to the Knicks. I think he is going to become a fan favorite almost instantly. And I also think this too is
going to be a little bit of a hobby needle mover because we're talking about big markets. Chicago, Los Angeles, New
York also fits into the big markets here. Let's see what we've got going on with Joseé Alvarado with sales. $2
for a update card from Chronicles. $9.50
for a blue shimmer autograph. This stuff is cheap. This stuff is really cheap. Penman autograph
PSA 10 auto 10 sold for 40 bucks. I mean that barely covers your cost of grading.
Penmanship autograph selling raw for $549. Look, I don't think that you're
ever going to make a million dollars off this guy. Do I think he's got some hobby legs? Yes, I do. I think he's going to
become almost like a cult figure for that team. And I have called out guys to be cult figures before and been very
wrong. But I think someone like Jose who plays very very hard, does that sneaky
thing where he sits behind the baseline and runs up on people, I think the Knicks fans will actually quite enjoy that.
That's kind of an interesting little pickup there. Let's go to our third and final
advertisement for this week. It is going to be the Hobby Hangout. Thank you so much to the Hobby Hangout. Go to tickets
osix.com.au. There you will find your tickets for the hobby hangout. Pre-release is currently
selling at $19.90. General admission for under 12s is free,
but you have to be accompanied by an adult. Doors at 10:30 a.m. Finishes at 5:30. It will be in Melbourne.
Royal Exhibition Building Sunday the 26th of April, 2026. So, it's going to
come up on us very, very soon. 400 plus tables, international and national vendors, sports cards, NBA, NFL, MLB,
AFL, NRL, soccer, and more. Pokémon, of course, there's going to be Pokémon there. Yu-Gi-Oh, One Piece, MTG,
entertainment cards, live breaks, dedicated trading zones. This was very, very wellreceived in other shows. Free
play areas. Bring along your deck so you can play with other people. So, if you're a Pokémon player, One Piece,
Yu-Gi-Oh, bring your stuff along, guys. Play with other fanatics while you're there at the show. Expert panels,
speakers, and international guests. Thank you so much to Hobby Hangout for your ongoing support.
And we're back and we're going to keep talking about the NBA trade deadline and what's been going on around the league.
It has been a very very busy NBA trade deadline
with the Warriors picking up Chris's Porzingis. They needed to free up some minutes in their big man rotation. The
Raptors needed a big man. So again, this is a win-win trade. Golden State
receives a Lakers 2026 second round pick. Not a huge amount of value on that. The real value ad for the Warriors
here. We're saving them some money on their salary. Trace Jackson Davis goes out. He is a very serviceable big. He's
not overly talented, but he's an NBA caliber player. He's going to fit into the Raptors just fine. The Raptors have
fully embraced the positionless uh basketball this year, and they're a fun team to watch. By the way, guys, if you
haven't watched much Raptors this year, absolutely check them out. Scotty Barnes has been having a great year. Brandon
Ingram's been playing really well. I think they do need a little bit more rebounding though and maybe even just a
big body underneath to give away some fouls. I think that's totally fine. The Lakers traded away Gabe Vincent. In
return, they got Luke Canard. Basically, what you're giving away here is some defense, but you're getting back a whole
lot of shooting. Luke Canard is one of the best shooters in the league. Luke Canard was also in the league at a
time. I'm going to guess that he's on card ladder on their actual ladder. Yeah. 2017. There was actually some
hobby love going into this guy. Population on this
is just 88. All right. Here we go. Is this a buy at the moment? Currently
trading at $28 going to the Lakers. How much bump will this guy get? I think
this is going to be really tricky to buy and flip and make money off it. The only thing I would say about Luke Canard is
that he's going to be going to the Lakers. They will be in at least the first round of the playoffs, probably first round and out.
I think this is one if you got Luke Canard in your PC and you want to move them on. This is more of a timing sale
as opposed to a buy and a sell at the moment. So, check out your your rubbish
boxes. If you've got any Luke Canard in there, get them out, start sorting them, comp them up, put them up for maybe five
or 10% less, move them on quickly as you're going to see a little bit of buzz going on with some Lakers fans trying to
pick up some Luke Canard. I I think that's probably the play right now for this guy. There's not too much more happening there. Chris Paul to the
Raptors in three team deal. Toronto gets Chris Paul. Brooklyn gets Oceabaraj.
And then the Clippers get the rights to Vanja Marinov. I hope I've pronounced
that properly. I'm pretty sure that I didn't. Chris Paul has been waved. He will not be reporting to Toronto.
I don't know who's going to pick up Chris Paul at this point. I think that's a really tricky one. I'm really
surprised about the Abaj one though. I think he's a NBA defender. Would I call
him an elite defender? Probably not. But I think to give him up for
what I suppose really it's an addition though, isn't it?
The the Nets have picked him up for basically nothing
and also got a pick back too. So basically they've taken on salary, haven't they really there? I think the
other really interesting one we have to tie into this now is Cam Thomas because Cam Cam Thomas was let go and the plus
minus numbers with Cam Thomas on the court is really really bad. Basically,
I'm not 100% I've actually bookmarked this, but basically the on-off numbers with his defensive uh rating is is
shocking to to the point that you can't play winning basketball with that. And look, that could be a little bit of him
who he is. I I think that is absolutely part of who Cam Thomas is, but also too he was playing for a contract trying to
get his numbers. So, you know, getting rid of Cam Thomas, bringing in a bar, you actually might see the Nets win a
few more games just because of their increased defensive efficiency around that one there. Jock Landale, we've
already spoken about this here, goes to the Hawks. Utah gets Lonzo Ball two future seconds. There's a report out
that Lonzo Ball's going to be waved on that. Charlotte gets David Tieleman and Cash. Boston gets a second round pick.
Again, a cash saving move for that. Not a lot to talk about on that one there. I'm not even going to talk about the Josh Mino trade there. All right, we're
getting down to the deep stuff. Oh, I missed one. I absolutely missed one. James Harden goes to the Cleveland
Cavaliers. Okay, this is actually worth talking about. James Harden again on his
championship merrygoround trying to find a team that
will give him a championship. I think what he really should have said was he's on a partially guaranteed deal for next
year. The Clippers didn't want to pay him the money, so essentially he's demanded a trade.
I I really hate the spin that sometimes comes in on, you know, some of this stuff. Like just just tell us the truth.
You know what I mean? Like you didn't get your bag. You wanted to get paid. You know, I'm demanding a trade. I I
think that he is lucky in the sense that he found a team that is actually contending and they're willing to give
up a young asset to get him and in that sense I think it's a win-win. So basically the Clippers are getting back
Darius Garland and a future second round pick. I reached out to a Cleveland fan. So
shout out to Ryan from Gem Rate. He was actually happy to see Darius Garland go just because of the lack of size in the
back court and the defensive problems that that actually creates and also too because of the injury history that
Garland has got. He's not that robust of a player. I don't particularly think Harden is that robust either. But in
saying that, maybe some of the stuff he set out was more to do with him not getting what he wanted. So when you've
got a motivated Harden in the first two years of the deal, actually you're on to a really good thing.
I'm not too sure how much this moves the needle for the Cavs. Do they win a championship with Harden? Look, I think
it makes them a lot deadlier, but I think the thing that you cannot look past is Harden's previous performances
in the playoff. He has never been an outstanding playoff performer. And so
I'm a little bit reluctant to talk about this in terms of like a true win for
anybody that has um invested heavily into Cleveland in
terms of their gambling odds for the championship. So I think you'd be happy about it, but I don't think it moves the needle that much. Let's talk some hobby
value here. James Harden 2009 Tops Chrome base, which was numbered to 999.
Can you imagine if base cards were now numbered to 999? It's outrageous. PSA 10
is population of just 64. It's currently trading at 1,800. I actually have no problem with the
value of this card. I I think that the card value is representative of somebody that's going to be a first ballot hall
of famer and if he's not first ballot, he will absolutely get in on his second ballot.
You know, I think the real question is, are you buying, holding, or selling this? And for me, that's a really difficult one to answer because at
1,800, I probably think you could buy something else. It's pretty juicy.
You could get half of a Jordan autograph. You could get a LeBron autograph. You could probably get a Kobe
Patch autograph, maybe on the lower end for that. And so, would I be thinking about that? Maybe. But at the same time,
too, the pop on this stuff is very, very low. He might experience a bit more driving forces moving forward. We can't
not talk about this card though. The refractor number to 500
pop on this is just 24. It is trading at 2,900. For me, that's
really interesting because the intersection between these two cards, like why isn't the number to 500 a lot
more expensive than this? So, actually, you might argue that this one's a little bit undervalued in proportion to the
other one. Number to 999. Again, it's just a question is, do you
want to put this much money into somebody who has some hobby popularity, but is absolutely not a hobby, darling?
I think that's the the one there. So, I for me, this is a little bit of a stay away, but I definitely wouldn't, you
know, poo poo anybody that's wants to buy onto this guy. Do we talk about Darius Garland's hobby value? I think we
do. Is Garland on the ladder? He is fantastic. Thank you, Card Ladder. All
righty. Daryus Garland silver PSA 10.
O population on this is 1,652. Does it go up from his $50 mark going to
Los Angeles? Absolutely not. I don't think this is even anything near
something that you would be hoping to achieve um in terms of someone being
traded to a location to improvement. Are they going to win the championship this year? I mean, geez, I think they're such
a dark horse. It's hard to find that much black paint. Look, I think Kawhi Leonard is one of my favorite players of
all time, but there's just a lot of roster. I think instability now with Zubash going, Garlin coming in. I think
that's too many changes. I'm going to watch some Clippers though. I really want to see how this Garlin Quennon
partnership turns out. I think that could be really nice. And I also think too maybe the chemistry is going to be a little bit higher for the Clippers
because I think there was some weird stuff going on with
Harden and Qui Leonard too. You know, you can't really, you know, look past that. We're going to just do one last
story for today's show and then we're going to sign off. So, thank you everybody who has tuned in to this week. This is a story from Cardub Sports Card
Exchange Australia on Facebook. Cow and JM get a day team. Just curious. The other
week I sent two shipments to the US and they cleared customs fine card stock. I then sold a couple more on eBay and
printed the label from Opost. They've been rejected at customs this week. Has something changed between then and now?
So, the answer is no. Nothing's actually changed in that short period of time, but probably what's happened to you've
been caught up in a customs uh examination. They can't examine every
single card that goes through. And so unfortunately when you don't complete your forms properly, it either triggers
it to be just ushered through and you know you're one of the lucky ones or it gets triggered for somebody to actually
pick it up and look at it. Most likely what's happened to you is you haven't filled in the paperwork properly
and then um it's been returned to sender, which it's a really it's a really crappy
system what they've done on that. But at the same time too, there is actually a process um that's been set up for this.
And I think that the communication around this hasn't been fantastic. And this is where you need someone who is
really u supporting you and also trying to help you out when you are at your
post office. So I'm blessed when I go to my local post office. I actually feel like my my service attendant tries to
get me the best price on postage, will teach me how to save some money on what to buy and all that type of stuff. And
so, for example, too, when a new process is implemented, which is, you know, very poorly advertised and I think, you know,
if we're being uh genuine about what's happened here,
it was ushered in in a very quick sense because of the way that Trump implemented the change. So, there wasn't
a lot of time to to talk about it. So, I'll give them, you know, some time on that. But there's also something to be
said about you getting good customer service at your OSOT. If you're not getting that, what you might not know is
there is actually a process set up for this. You log into your Zonos account. You then step, it literally tells you
what to do step by step. And I'm not saying it's an idiot's guide because, you know, it's not that sort of straightforward. However, once you've
done it once or twice, what you'll find is it's actually all very intuitive in that you just put in your values, it
will create how much tax or tariff that you need to pay and then it will go through. What you need to understand um
when you're shipping is that anything that goes through in an automated fashion is infinitely better when
someone picks it up. And so I I see this in my day-to-day job so much. Like if
you make an error or someone makes an error along the way and it triggers human intervention, it just really slows
everything down. Anything that can be done automatically or by a computer is the way to go. So unfortunately, it's
more red tape for you to jump through pre, but post, you know, you won't have these issues where your cards are being
returned to sender um and then you have an unknown wait period and then the person you're
selling the card to is left in limbo and their cash is being held. you know, it's just a bad outcome all around. So,
Coward, I'm very sorry that this has happened to you. However, there is some
uh light in your in the end of the tunnel on that one there. So, guys, on that note, I would just like to say
again, thank you everybody who's tuned in today. I am Russell Gibson. This has
been the You can't comp this NBA trading card podcast, and we will catch you next
week. Goodbye for now.