![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Picture1-1.png\")
<\/p>\nThen-Topps employee David Leiner witnessed the company losing the NBA license firsthand more than 15 years ago. So it\u2019s a bit of a full circle moment for Leiner, who\u2019s now the president of trading cards for Fanatics Collectibles \u2014 which owns Topps \u2014 for the league\u2019s license to return to the card manufacturer on Oct. 1 after years of being exclusive to Panini.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a monumental moment for the hobby and this comes with great responsibility to make sure we deliver for all the constituents out there,\u201d Leiner said.<\/p>\n
With that in mind, Topps will open the new era for basketball cards with a multi-pronged approach across the globe, starting with an emphasis in China.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Fanatics Collectibles (Topps) and Chinese-based card manufacturer Kayou announced a partnership Thursday to provide NBA trading cards to China starting with NBA Match Attax 2025. This set officially will be the first mass-market product release by Fanatics\/Topps under the new NBA license with the packs hitting Chinese shelves Friday.\u00a0<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n Topps\u2019 China-exclusive 2025 Match Attax cards. (Image: Topps)<\/p>\n
Kayou will handle the manufacturing and distribution of the product with Topps designing the cards.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Fanatics will open up the online presale for the 2025-26 Topps Basketball<\/a> flagship set midday Friday. Packs and boxes for this product will be available starting Oct. 23.<\/p>\n While Match Attax is a trading card game that\u2019s more popular overseas, the flagship set is a more traditional sports card release. The product will include the first licensed autographed cards for 2025 No. 1 pick Cooper Flagg<\/a>, this season\u2019s top rookie card chase who will be the poster boy for packs and boxes of the product, as well as Victor Wembanyama, whose autographed NBA cards<\/a> have only previously appeared in unlicensed Topps products. This set will also contain LeBron James autographs<\/a> on NBA licensed cards for the first time in more than 15 years. (Full checklist here<\/a>.)<\/p>\n \n 2025-26 Topps Basketball hobby box art. (Image: Topps)<\/p>\n The decision for Topps NBA cards to first hit the market in China, though, occurred based more on timing with the league preseason schedule than anything else.<\/p>\n The New Jersey Nets and Phoenix Suns will play two preseason games in Macau on Oct. 10 and 12. These are the first NBA events in China since 2019. Fanatics Collectibles will be at the Asia Sports Card Show and NBA House in Macau during the same timeframe as the two preseason games.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe wanted to make sure with the preseason games and the emphasis on China that we start building up that Chinese fan and collector base,\u201d Leiner said. \u201cThat\u2019s going to help the overall market for NBA trading cards globally. If we can really ignite that market and get a lot more fans and collectors in China, it\u2019s going to help the overall ecosystem. I\u2019m sure folks in the U.S. are going to be clamoring to get some of those early cards that we\u2019re releasing in China.\u201d<\/p>\n Earlier this year, Fanatics Collectibles established offices in both Shanghai and Beijing with the hopes of strengthening its local presence. NBA Match Attax are available in China online, as well as Kayou flagship stores, hobby shops and other retailers.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are thrilled to partner with Fanatics Collectibles to deliver the best product experience for NBA fans in China,\u201d said Mei Yunxuan, product lead at Kayou. \u201cThis collaboration allows Kayou to enter a new realm of sports IP and immerse ourselves in the unique charm of sports culture. Through our joint efforts, we believe we can offer an amazing product at the start of the new NBA season, providing NBA fans and trading card collectors a fresh way to interact with their favorite players and teams.\u201d<\/p>\n As for the U.S. launch, Topps will hold events at select locations on Oct. 23, including the New York City and Los Angeles NBA stores as well as other select locations. Stores will feature giveaways and appearances including NBA players Karl-Anthony Towns, OG Anunoby, Josh Hart and Late Night host Seth Meyers in New York City and Chris Paul in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n \u201cPersonally, I just couldn\u2019t be more excited,\u201d Leiner said. \u201cThe NBA is just a stellar property. We think we\u2019re going to bring a lot of innovation, a lot of cool things that are going to delight fans and collectors, and we\u2019re going to continue to grow the NBA trading card business on a global basis.\u201d<\/p>\n Which players might collectors chase in Topps\u2019 new licensed products? Here\u2019s a peek at the top 10 basketball players\u2019 cards in terms of eBay sales volume from January through August, via GemRate, a website tracking card sales and grading information (note that Nos. 1-3 won\u2019t be available<\/a> in Topps NBA products:<\/p>\n Michael Jordan: $41.6 million The Athletic maintains full editorial independence in all our coverage. When you click or make purchases through our links, we may earn a commission.<\/p>\n (Top image: Topps)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Then-Topps employee David Leiner witnessed the company losing the NBA license firsthand more than 15 years ago. So…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":319123,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[7,14305,6,10],"class_list":{"0":"post-319122","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-memorabilia-collectibles","10":"tag-nba","11":"tag-sports-business"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/115310077213305048","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/319122","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=319122"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/319122\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/319123"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=319122"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=319122"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=319122"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Cooper-Flagg-x-2025-26-Topps-Basketball-Cover.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\nKobe Bryant: $18.8 million
\nCaitlin Clark: $17.4 million
\nVictor Wembanyama: $17.1 million
\nLeBron James: $17.1 million
\nStephen Curry: $12.0 million
\nLuka Doncic: $9.2 million
\nShai Gilgeous-Alexander: $7.4 million
\nAnthony Edwards: $6.7 million
\nCooper Flagg: $4.7 million<\/p>\n