Former Mavs star unveils Luka Doncic card worth $100,000 – Everything you need to know about the rare collector’s item whose value rose 200% “instantly”

From Pokemon cards to THE most coveted RPA card, some people are just naturally lucky! Sports collectibles undoubtedly bring in a pretty penny. But there’s a lot more to it than that. Collectors buy these gaming items (the popularity of which has grown exponentially recently) purely for the joy of owning them, not for profit. Of course, they can prove to be a lifesaver if you ever find yourself in financial trouble. But, as mentioned, collectors buy them primarily for the nostalgia and emotional attachment associated with a player or team.

But Grant Williams might be willing to explore the market before deciding to keep or sell. Yes, the first-time basketball card collector was at the Fanatics Fest in New York, and what else could he have gotten his hands on but the rare Luka RPA! Let’s hear the experience from Doncic’s former teammate himself.

Grant Williams talks about his first time as a collector and how he got his hands on the rare Luka Doncic RPA

“I’ve been collecting Pokémon cards for a long time, but today is the first day I’ve collected basketball cards.” said the 25-year-old with barely concealed excitement. Williams bought the 2018-19 Panini National Treasures box for $10,500 to try his luck. Given Luka Doncic’s RPA, this is at least 100,000 US dollarsthat’s money well spent. And how did he react to the unbelievable?

“I was screaming because when I bought it, I said, ‘So what can I do to get my money back?’ And they say, ‘Probably a Trae (Young) or something.’ That gets me about 10,000. So when I start, I pass by it and I’m like, I got a Nate “Tiny” Archibald, I get something else and then I see a blue stripe and I’m like, Luka Doncic. And I see nine out of 10. And I just run.”

So much for beginner’s luck! When many saw Grant steal the exquisite card, many immediately approached him before the item was even graded, offering $250,000 to $500,000 for the Luka RPA. But it seems Williams had other plans. First, he wanted to take it to the PSA (Professional Sports Authenticator) to have the collectible authenticated and graded. Second, he wanted to give the Slovenian superstar a chance to buy it from him.

“I have to give Luka the right of first refusal because I bet he would buy it for a million.” he said. “So I said, ‘I really need to call Luka.’ I spoke to him twice on FaceTime, he didn’t answer. He’s in Slovenia right now. So he’s going to call me back and I need to talk to him about it because this is absurd.”

Williams re-shared the above video on his X account and captioned it: “I immediately bid 300,000. But first I have to give my brother LD a chance.” followed by a handshake and a fire emoji.

Well, kudos to the entrepreneurial side of Grant Williams. But since we haven’t gotten the 5x All-Star out of his collector’s closet yet, the Hornets forward may be better off holding onto the RPA. The highest price a Luka RC has sold for was in November 2022. An extremely rare 2018 National Treasures Luka Doncic Rookie NBA Logoman Patch card sold for $3.12 million, the highest price ever at a public auction!

While the abbreviations mentioned here may make sense to one collector, they may be confusing to others, so let’s take a quick look at what they mean.

What is an RPA?

A Rookie Patch Autograph Card, or RPA, is exactly what the name suggests – a rookie card that includes both the autograph and a “patch” or piece of the rookie’s jersey. And in the case above, the RPA card belonged to Dallas Mavericks superstar Luka Doncic. There was a lot of concern among Mavs fans about how the international phenom would fit in with Dallas. Well, we can safely say that “Luka Wizardry” has taken the spots in the Lone Star State, in addition to landing one of the NBA’s best ball handlers, Kyrie Irving.

So what about the PSA? Sure, you saw what it stands for. But why exactly did Grant Williams say he had to take it there for grading?

What is PPE?

Founded in 1991, Professional Sports Authenticator (PSA) is one of the most reputable independent certification bodies for sports memorabilia. Headquartered in Southern California, PSA has offices in China and Japan. According to the company’s official website, over 65 million items have been certified to date.

As for their grading system, it’s no joke! While cards are graded on a simple scale of 1 to 10, thorough review of details is what determines a card’s value. Of course, 10 is the highest rating, the perfect card. But even then, depending on the circumstances and the age of the card, they may allow some exceptions. The numerical rating is based on four categories.

• Centering: Centering is of utmost importance if the collector plans to sell the cards in the future. When a card is checked for centering, it is divided into left/right and top/bottom to check what percentage is off-center. A perfectly centered card is measured as 50/50, meaning 50% of the card is left/right and 50% is top/bottom. According to PSA guidelines, the image must be centered between 55/45 and 60/40 on the front and 70/30 on the back.
• Corners: Over time, the corners may fray. This is unavoidable. But for a PSA grade of 10, the corners must be perfect. And what looks like a perfect corner to us may not be the case to PSA card graders, of course. They use a variety of methods to ensure that the cards are in pristine condition.
• Edge: Much like the corners, the edges also need to be of good quality. Unlike invisible fraying on the corners, the slight issues on the edges are very visible to the naked eye. A chipped edge on a card exposes the white edges of the card. Hence perfection on the outside and virtually no scratches under magnification.
• Surface: The first thing you’ll notice is definitely the surface. On very well-maintained cards, surface wear is minimal (very minimal), such as lack of shine, wax marks, or scratches. But as seen in the cases above, a PSA-10 rating again requires perfection.

In addition to the numerical ratings, PSA has three other ratings: Half Point, No Authentic and Altered Authentic.

A half point means that a card can receive half a point more when awarding PSA grades 2 to 9 due to certain high-end qualities (at discretion). No authentic refers to the fact that PSA only marks the card as authentic without providing a numerical rating. This can be due to many reasons, such as the presence of an alteration or serious defect, or for some other reason the original holder may have asked the organization to simply authenticate the item.

What Changed Authentic, the map, based on evidence of “Trimming, recoloring, restoring and/or cleaning”the card simply cannot be graded. The collector’s item is of course genuine, but that’s all.

Well, there you have it. What would you do if you found a rare collectible while cleaning out your garage or attic? Share your reaction below (or show it to us at @es_sportsnews on X).