If you paid attention to anything I’ve been doing lately (which I highly recommend against), you know that I’ve gone off the deep end in the sports card community.
The Minnesota Timberwolves aren’t a particularly exciting team to watch. That means the current value of their players isn’t very exciting, either. But you’re a die-hard Wolves fan, and, gosh darn it, you’re going to get some cards of these guys!
Here are three cards of current players and one of a former legend (we bet you can guess who) you should target.
Malik Beasley – 2016-17 Optic Holo
Price: $20-$30
In his first season getting real minutes, Beasley is averaging 20.5 points per game while shooting 40.6% from the 3-point line. While he’s serving a suspension right now, he’s going to come back scoring for the Wolves because, well, someone has to. Beasley is only 24 years old, so there’s plenty of upside here.
We see a huge boost in the card market when a player is playing well for a contender. Obviously, Beasley isn’t going to enter that territory anytime soon, but you can benefit from that by purchasing one of his more coveted rookies for cheap.
His last PSA 10 Optic Holo just went for $299. There are only five PSA 10s on the market for this card, and it has everything to do with Beasley being a late bloomer. Sure, it’s a risk to buy an eBay card and hope it can be a PSA 10, but this is not a horrible price to pay for it.
D’Angelo Russell – 2015-16 Prizm PSA 10
Price: $100
You know by now that I’m not a huge DLo fan. But as far as buying low, Russell’s stock has probably dipped a little too low. You can buy his premiere rookie card for a cool $100.
To put that in perspective, Caris LeVert’s rookie Prizm from 2016-17 nearly went for double that price. I mean, I like LeVert, but he’s not twice as good as Russell is.
(Take that D’Angelo Russell stans on Twitter who hate me!)
Kevin Garnett – 1995-96 Collector’s Choice PSA 10
Price: $230
KG’s market has absolutely exploded over the last month or so. A lot of that has to do with the market overcorrecting itself because Garnett’s cards were always so cheap. Some of it may have to do with this summer’s Hall of Fame ceremony, which certainly gives guys a card boost every year.
You won’t find a cheaper KG rookie at a PSA 10 than this one. Certainly, there are other options such as his Metal rookie or Topps rookie, but those are going for $600 and $1,200, respectively. You can get a pristine rookie of one of the best to ever play for right around that $200 mark. Can’t really go wrong there.
Karl-Anthony Towns – 2015-16 Prizm Red White Blue PSA 10
Price: $500
This card is a little more expensive, but it’s also harder to find. This is Towns’ rookie Prizm card, but it’s a Red, White, and Blue insert. There are only 69 of these (nice) at PSA 10 right now compared to 1,217 Prizm base PSA 10s. The fact that you can get this insert for only $500 and his base Prizm is going for $400 is pretty baffling to me.
It doesn’t seem that long ago when we were asking if Towns or Joel Embiid was the better center (maybe we were just asking this in Minnesota). Embiid’s Prizm rookie is going for right around $900. If you think Towns can ultimately end up being a good player on a winning team, loading up on Towns rookies isn’t a bad idea considering where his market is.
That’s all for this week! Hit me up on Twitter (@Kyle_Ratke) if you have any card questions — I’m more than willing to help however I can. With that being said, sometimes your guess is probably as good as mine with how the card market has moved.
