James Wiseman rookie card value, rarity, complete guide

James Wiseman rookie cards will be extremely sought-after for basketball cards collectors

James Wiseman rookie cards could be one of the hotter pulls in this class for collectors of basketball cards.

Wiseman is an unknown prospect prior to starting his rookie season. What we know — He’s a huge, dominant player who has the size and speed to be one of the best big men in the league if he hits his ceiling.

What we don’t know is exactly what his completed package looks like, even coming into his rookie year. Due to an eligibility battle with the NCAA, Wiseman played a mere three games at Memphis and a collective 69 minutes. In those games, he averaged 19.7 points and 10.7 rebounds (23.0 minutes per game). His defense looked solid and there are the makings of a top-tier NBA player easy to see in his game.

He’s likely to be a good player. The biggest unknown is how long it will take him to get to that point. For that reason, he’s a card many collectors will want to hold for some time.

James Wiseman rookie card value

James Wiseman rookie cards are likely to have significant value this season, as he is one of the most notable figures of this year’s rookie class. Given the mystique around what he’ll bring to the table right out of the gate due to a rocky freshman season with Memphis, there’s a lot of hype and interest surrounding what he can produce.

Sports cards are extremely volitaile and depend on various factors. Most important is how good the player is, which is why Wiseman’s card value is exrtremely uncertain at present. Other factors like whether or not the card is graded, how rare it is (and if it’s numbered), and if it has any unique attributes like an autograph all are important to consider.

This guide will cover the major releases from the 2020-21 season from Panini that feature Wiseman, and the general rarity and relative value that each notable card holds compared to the field.

Here’s a listing of the currently available James Wiseman rookie cards on the aftermarket.

Panini Contenders: Draft Picks 2020

Photos of this product courtesy of Panini’s blog, The Knight’s Lance.

James Wiseman rookie card Contenders Draft Picks: Parallels

Any product with James Wiseman rookie card parallels in this product follows this print run numbering:

• Base: Unnumbered
• Red: Unnumbered
• Green: Unnumbered
• Purple: #/99
• Blue: #/99
• Cracked Ice: #/23
• Gold Cracked Ice: #/23

James Wiseman rookie card Contenders Draft Picks: Tickets

The tickets are essentially the cards of the box. It won’t be rare in most cases, but each pack should have at least one ticket with an on-card auto. Most of them will typically be less hard of or second-round prospects, but for the lucky few who were able to get a LaMelo Ball, James Wiseman, or in this case Anthony Edwards, congrats!

Of course, no Memphis Tigers logo here, the USA flag takes its place instead.

There are a couple of different variations here, including a premium holographic version. Here’s what’s available of this card on eBay from sellers.

The first autos for young prospects are at times a little weird. Edwards, as we can see, could be a bit larger, but looks better than some of the ones we’ve seen the last few years.

Here’s how the tickets lay out, from least rare to most:

• James Wiseman rookie card — Tournament Ticket
• James Wiseman rookie card — Conference Ticket
• James Wiseman rookie card — Finals Ticket
• James Wiseman rookie card — Draft Ticket

Panini Prizm Draft Picks

James Wiseman’s first rookie basketball cards didn’t have any logo on the jersey due to his eligibility battle with the NCAA that resulted in him playing just three games at Memphis, and the same will be true of his second offering of cards in the Prizm Draft Picks product.

There’s a good chance Wiseman’s most popular cards are his cards that feature his first NBA jersey, but his “collegiate” cards being the first of his career may be worth-it for some collectors.

This product, also released before the NBA Draft itself, is a more modern, less collegiately-themed version of the draft picks cards compared to Contenders. Contenders heavily focused on college colors and “tickets” into the NBA.

Prizm is arguably Panini’s best product. It’s ultra-modern, highly metallic/foil-based, and a fan favorite for a wide variety of reasons.

Favorites like tiger stripes parallels appear in this product.

Many of the James Wiseman cards in this product have two variations, so it’s worth noting that, for instance, there are two Black Prizm Draft Picks of Wiseman, one is the #2 and one is the #42.

Here are some of the highlights of James Wiseman cards from Prizm Draft Picks:

James Wiseman rookie card Prizm Draft Picks: Parallels

The parallels for the Prizm Draft Picks James Wiseman rookie card are as follows:

• Pink Ice: Unnumbered
• Purple Wave: Unnumbered
• Red Ice: Unnumbered
• Red White and Blue: Unnumbered
• Hyper: Unnumbered
• Ruby Wave: Unnumbered
• Silver: Unnumbered
• Red: #/299
• Blue: #/199
• Purple Ice: #/149
• Blue Ice: #/99
• Purple: #/75
• Orange Pular: #/49
• Green Pulsar: #/25
• Mojo: #/25
• Blue Shimmer: #/13
• Black Gold: #/5
• Black: #/1

Plenty of interesting parallels to go after here in these packs, with the black 1-of-1 the grail of them all.

Beyond the base card, there are other cards in this product worth collecting including Crusade, Choice, and Fast Break. Wiseman also headlines the Colorblast card, which is a landscape-orientation action shot underscored by an artistic splatter of color.

Wiseman is also lumped in with the international prospects due to his unceremonious exit from Memphis after just three games, and as such there is an extra set in here of Wiseman in the Global Prospects cards which is essentially a variation of some of the products included in this product.

Panini Flawless Collegiate 

Packaged in a literal briefcase, the feel of high-end luxury within this product is palpable. This isn’t your dad’s cards that have been stored in the musty basement for the last three decades, this is high-end collector material only.

There is a selection of cards to be ripped in the center of the case, with and three cards come sealed in plastic casing right out of the case.

James Wiseman rookie card Flawless Collegiate base and parallels

While the patches and autographs are undoubtedly the star of the show within this product, the base and parallels are still valuable given that they are extremely low print runs.

• Base: #/15
• Base Gold: #/15
• Base Platinum: #/1

When it comes to patches in the Flawless Collegiate product, here’s how the numbering breaks out for James Wiseman rookie cards:

• Patches: #/20
• Patches Gold: #/10
• Patches Platinum: #/1
• Dual Patches: #/20
• Dual Patches Gold: #/10
• Dual Patches Platinum: #/1
• Horizontal Patch Auto: #/20
• Horizontal Patch Gold: #/10
• Horizontal Patch Platinum: #/1

And for James Wiseman rookie card autographs in the Flawless Collegiate product, they are numbered as such:

• Rookie Autographs: #/20
• Rookie Autographs Gold: #/10
• Rookie Autographs Platinum: #/1
• Rookie Diamond Signatures: #/10
• Rookie Diamond Signatures Gold: #/5
• Rookie Diamond Signatures Platinum: #/1

Panini Immaculate College

Immaculate College, much like the Flawless product, is high-end, albeit a step down from the extremely bold briefcase unboxing experience that collectors get with Flawless.

Similar to Flawless, the main focus of this product is autographs and patches. Several players have college hat patches included in this product, but Wiseman is among the handful of players who didn’t play in the NCAA (along with LaMelo Ball and other international players), so he doesn’t have any hat patches in this product. His base, parallels, and autographs are the main ones in this product.

James Wiseman rookie card Immaculate College base and parallels

The base and parallels for James Wiseman rookie cards in this product are low print run, similar to Flawless:

• Base: #/49
• Base Gold: #/20
• Base Green: #/5
• Base Platinum: #/1

James Wiseman rookie card Immaculate College autographs

Autographs in this product are unique in that they are duos or quads, meaning there will be multiple player autographs on these cards. Wiseman’s duo pairing is Precious Achiuwa, whom he played with briefly at Memphis, and his quad partners are Obi Toppin, Anthony Edwards, and LaMelo Ball (an extremely sought after card, to be sure.

• Immaculate Dual Autographs: #/25
• Immaculate Dual Autographs Gold: #/10
• Immaculate Dual Autographs Platinum: #/1