What’s New
The 2025-26 Topps Chrome Basketball release is scheduled for Thursday, December 18, following the debut of Topps' flagship Basketball on October 23. This release marks Topps' re-entry into the licensed NBA basketball card market since 2009. The flagship launch witnessed high demand across cases, boxes, hangers, packs, and singles, with added excitement for the Topps Chrome First Day Issue boxes released on December 15. The forthcoming Chrome release is anticipated to maintain this enthusiasm, particularly for base rookie cards.
Configuration at a Glance
- Product: 2025-26 Topps Chrome Basketball
- Release Date: December 18
- Format: Hobby boxes, retail boxes, hangers, packs, singles
- Key Hits: Base rookie cards, Chrome parallels
- Notable: First licensed Topps NBA product since 2009
- Popular: Base rookie cards and their Chrome parallels
Key Inserts & Parallels
- Highly anticipated flagship parallels and Chrome parallels
- Noteworthy inserts in the flagship set include Comic Court, Sonic Boom, All Kings, and 8-Bit Ballers (not covered in the base rookie card list below)
Autographs & Relics
- Details about autographs and memorabilia cards were not provided in the article
Bonus Rookie Cards to Watch
- Jeremiah Fears - New Orleans Pelicans (2025-26 Topps #207 RC)
- Card values (EX to Mint): $0.75 to $5
- Cedric Coward - Memphis Grizzlies (2025-26 Topps #211 RC)
- Card values (EX to Mint): $0.75 to $5
- Derik Queen - New Orleans Pelicans (2025-26 Topps #213 RC)
- Card values (EX to Mint): $0.75 to $5
Top 10 Most Valuable 2025-26 Topps Rookie Basketball Cards
- Tre Johnson - Washington Wizards (2025-26 Topps #206 Tre Johnson III RC)
- Position: Shooting Guard
- Season stats: 11.2 points per game, 39.8 percent 3-point shooting, started 4 of 17 games
- Ace Bailey - Utah Jazz (2025-26 Topps #205 Ace Bailey RC)
- Position: Small Forward
- Drafted: 5th overall in 2025
- Season stats: 10.0 points per game, started 16 of 25 games
- Card values (EX to Mint): $1 to $5
- Dylan Harper - San Antonio Spurs
- Position: Shooting Guard
- Drafted: 2nd overall
- Season stats: 13.1 points per game, 21.9 minutes per game, no starts yet
- Card values (EX to Mint): $1 to $6
- RC and Holiday RC rank seventh and eighth on OPG list
- Kon Knueppel - Charlotte Hornets
- Position: Small Forward
- Drafted: 4th overall
- College: Duke
- Season stats: 19.0 points per game, 40.5 percent from three
- Recent games: 33 points vs. Chicago, 29 points vs. Cleveland
- Card values (EX to Mint): $1.50 to $10
- VJ Edgecombe - Philadelphia 76ers
- Position: Shooting Guard
- Season stats: 15.2 points per game, started all 22 games
- Card values (EX to Mint): $1.50 to $10
- Topps Holiday #H163 Edgecombe also highly valued
- Cooper Flagg - Dallas Mavericks (2025-26 Topps #201 RC)
- Position: Small Forward
- Drafted: 1st overall (Duke)
- Season stats: 18.4 points, 6.3 rebounds, 3.5 assists per game
- First career 40-point game: 42 points vs. Utah Jazz on December 12
- Card values (EX to Mint): $2 to $12
- Holiday variations valued similarly
Collector Notes
- The 2025-26 Topps Basketball series marks Topps' return to licensed NBA cards after a 16-year absence
- Base rookie cards are a major draw for collectors, with high demand for both flagship and Chrome versions
- Card values reflect the current secondary market trends as of release
- Holiday variations are available for some rookies and are similarly valued to their standard RCs
- Design elements and print run details were not specified in the article
- Parallels and insert cards such as Comic Court, Sonic Boom, All Kings, and 8-Bit Ballers are included in the flagship set but not in the base rookie card value list
- No specific odds, short prints, or super short prints were mentioned
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