Husky Men Heart Zion?

When I was kid, I always had to shop in the Husky Department of stores for clothes.

            When I played Little League baseball my parents, each season, had to go out and buy me a separate uniform from the ones the league provided because they never had sizes that fit me. Which was cool in one respect because when I played for the Yankees in the fourth grade, for example, my uniform was a replica of the Big League players, stitched logo and a button-up jersey, while my teammates had cheesy iron decals.

            In short, I was, and still am to this day, in fact, a pretty big fella.

            That said, despite being a more rotund than the average Joe all my life, I got a basketball scholarship to play in college, and was offered a baseball one, and enjoyed my 3-plus seasons playing hoops.

            What does this all mean, and more important, why do you care about any of this?

            I’m getting to that, I promise.

            It means my connection to a pair of NBA players, in particular, one long retired and one on a current roster, is stronger than it probably should be for the aforementioned reasons.

            And, coincidentally, both of these players are, I firmly believe, a good value in the hobby right now.

            Who are these gentlemen you ask?

            The first of these players is Charles Barkley (aka The Round Mound of Rebound) and the second being none other than New Orleans Pelicans forward Zion Williamson.

            Both of these gentlemen can ball — clearly — at the highest level.

            Barkley is already a Hall of Fame players, and considered one of the top players in the history of the game, and Williamson could very well have been the most hyped players to come into the league since LeBron James, both in the game itself and the hobby.

            Barkley’s rookie, a 1986 Fleer, sells for about $12,000 in a PSA 10, according to cardladder.com, with a population of only 230.

            Admittedly, that’s a lot of cash.

            But, his PSA 9s (pop. 1,673) are under $900 and the PSA 8 (pop. 3413) copies are under $400.

            These prices are insanely low, truthfully, for a player who was among the best of his generation on the court, and is still very relevant off the court.

            Barkley is on television constantly as a basketball commentator and analyst, and his quotes, such as "These are my new shoes. They're good shoes. They won't make you rich like me...they definitely won't make you handsome like me. They'll only make you have shoes like me. That's it.”

            Or, "I think that the team that wins game five will win the series. Unless we lose game five.”

            The list goes on…

            Plus, his rookie card is part of perhaps the most iconic set in basketball card history —’86 Fleer.

            A PSA 8 of Barkley, in a set where the pop. counts are relatively low, for under $400 is a deal. Especially when you consider you’re paying about the same for a 2020-21 Prizm LaMelo Ball base rookie (PSA 10), with a pop count way higher of a player who may not make an All-Star team.

            Now, before you get on a rant about comparing PSA 10s to PSA 8s, let’s remember, ultra-modern cards, such as the Ball rookie, are submitted to 10. That’s what the standard is set to with these cards.  

            For 1986 Fleer, PSA 8s, or even below, are very acceptable to collectors and dealers.

            Moving along.

            Zion Williamson rocked the hobby, and, some may even argue, is largely responsible for the surge in the hobby itself.

            His 2019-20 base rookie cards were so desirable it literally set off an avalanche of interest in chasing them, and ultimately other rookies.

            People searched for them (and others), found them, sent them into PSA for grading, then flipped them for huge profit margins.

            They did this, then repeated the process over and over again.       

            Heck, I was among these folks, pretty much everyone was at the time.

            The result — grading companies shutdown. The market soared on the demand of cards from every era, and flippers raked in profits like never before.

            Then, people got smart.

            They started paying attention to pop counts, and base rookies of ultra-modern players, in particular, plummeted. 

            Zion led the rise, and the fall.

            Now, his PSA 10 (pop.19,800 and growing) base 2019-20 Prizm rookie sits at $300, down from a high of over $1,000 back in Dec. 2020, according to cardladder.com.

            Sure, Zion has been hurt, but when he’s healthy, he averages 27 points per game and is virtually un-guardable in the paint. He can handle the ball. He’s a freakish leaper, and he has built in hype that will likely never wane, regardless of how good or bad the Pelicans (or any other team if he gets traded) play.

            People want to see him hoop, period.

            What does all this mean?

            It means $300 is too low, despite pop counts, for a player of Zion’s caliber and hype.

            Will it ever climb to $1,000 again — no, probably not.

            And if you were one of the folks who bought into Zion when the prices were crazy high, then you have to decide whether to cut your losses now or just ride it out long-term.

            Either way, when he returns, when he drops 30 points, makes an All-Star team, or executes a poster-worthy dunk that makes every highlight segment in the country, that card can climb to $500-plus.

            I don’t know about you, but I’ll take margins like that on any card all day long.

            Now, if you have deep enough pockets to afford Prizm color of Zion — fantastic. You’ll be that much further ahead with cards of lower pop counts and more scarcity.

            Point is, when I went to the card show last week in Shipshewana, Indiana, Zion was on my list of buys.

            I believe, right now, he should be considered for your list too.