Ranking the top 10 Topps Basketball sets of all time (1-5)
(EDITOR'S NOTE: Our countdown of the top Topps Basketball sets of all time started with sets 6-10. Here's a look at the top five sets (1-5).
Topps has produced some amazing, history-changing basketball card sets over the years.
From the first release in 1957-58 to the memorable 2009-10 set, Topps has banked on consistency and innovation.
The 2025-26 Topps Basketball product marks the first time in 16 years the company is making NBA-licensed cards. Panini took over the exclusive license in 2010 and didn’t let go until this year.
“Topps is synonymous for a lot of people with trading cards, and I think for people to come into the hobby and see now that Topps is offering basketball cards again, I think it just brings them back to the nostalgic roots of where Topps used to be,” REA President Brian Dwyer said.
To commemorate Topps being back in the game, SCD has ranked the top 10 Topps Basketball Flagship and Chrome sets of all time. We started with sets 6-10. Here's a look at the top five, in reverse order.
Enjoy our countdown of the best Topps Basketball sets and some of the most iconic Topps cards of all time.
5. 1980-81 Topps Basketball
The mid- to late-1970s saw a little bit of a lull for Topps Basketball. The company experimented by adding a new wrinkle for its 1980-81 set: trifold cards. The cards were regular sized, but were on perforated panels. Each player made up one-third of the card. A collector could keep all the cards intact or turn them into three separate cards.
Topps made the magnificent decision to include a pair of well-known young players on the same card—Magic Johnson and Larry Bird. The duo battled each other in the 1979 NCAA championship game before making their way to the NBA.
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In what became their rookie card, Johnson and Bird were on a trifold with superstar Julius Erving.
“It’s so cool they nailed putting Magic and Bird on the same card. It’s so iconic,” said Derek Grady, vice president of sports auctions at Heritage Auctions. “It’s one of my favorite cards, honestly, because those guys were so great.”
The Johnson/Bird/Erving card is very rare in excellent condition. Of the nearly 17,000 graded by PSA, only 24 have earned a Gem Mint 10.
Johnson and Bird appear on a few more cards in the 1980-81 Topps set, but they are only paired up once on that iconic card with Erving. A Johnson/Erving/Jan Van Breda Kolff is the second most desirable and valuable card in the set.
A Bird/Bill Cartwright/John Drew comes in as the No. 3 card in the set.
4. 1996-97 Topps Chrome
If the 2003-04 Topps Chrome LeBron James rookie is the best basketball card from the 2000s, Kobe Bryant’s 1996-97 Topps Chrome rookie would be the staple for the 1990s.
Topps released its Flagship set earlier that year and followed it up with the popular Chrome cards. PSA has graded just over 800 Bryant Chrome cards in a 10 compared to almost 5,500 Flagship Bryant’s in a 10.
“All of the Topps basketball Chrome series of the ’90s and early 2000s were incredibly iconic, incredibly important,” Goldin founder Ken Goldin said. “There’s a lot of people in the camp that ’96 Topps Chrome Basketball is what really started the modern era of basketball cards. So, obviously, the Refractors, the Gold Refractors, the Atomic Refractors, the Black Refractors, the Superfractors, all that stuff is what people are going to be looking for.”
The 1996-97 Topps Chrome Basketball set includes rookie cards of top overall pick Allen Iverson along with fellow rookies Ray Allen and Steve Nash.
And, of course, Michael Jordan base and inserts are always popular.
3. 2003-04 Topps Chrome
The 2003-04 Topps Chrome Basketball release features plenty of big-name stars, but none more famous than LeBron James. His rookie card, which is arguably the top Topps Basketball card from the 2000s, shows a young James putting up a jump shot for the Chrome card.
In the Flagship product that year, James’ card shows him on draft night holding up his Cleveland Cavaliers’ No. 23 jersey after being selected first overall.
“To me, that’s the iconic Topps basketball card,” Sports Card Investor founder Geoff Wilson said. “Obviously, LeBron was such a hyped rookie in 2003 and somebody who obviously completely lived up to the hype and then some with an incredible career.”
Wilson is a big basketball card collector. No. 1 in his PC is James. He owns the complete rainbow of the 2003-04 Topps Chrome LeBron cards—most of them in the highest grade in existence.
Mill Creek Sports owner Scott Mahlum remembers when 2003-04 Topps Chrome Basketball was released.
“When they first came out in our store, the regular Topps you could have for $50-60 a box. That’s definitely changed,” Mahlum said.
NBA Hall of Famers Carmelo Anthony, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh all have their rookie cards in the 2003-04 Topps Chrome set.
This set and the cards of these star-studded players, is essential for any basketball card collector.
2. 1969-70 Topps Basketball
This was Topps’ reintroduction back into basketball after its stellar 1957-58 release. Since basketball cards weren’t all that popular back in the 1950s and ’60s, card companies shied away from producing sets.
Topps went with a totally different look with he 1969-70 release. Known as “Tall Boys,” the cards measure 2½ inches in width by 4 11/16 inches in height. Typical cards are 2½-by-3½ inches. These quirky dimensions appeal to certain collectors but not others.
“1969 Topps Basketball I think is very innovative,” REA President Brian Dwyer said. “I think the ‘Tall Boy’ concept was fantastic for basketball. They had done it years earlier with hockey. But bringing it to basketball really made sense. Football, same thing. You had hockey Tall Boys in ’64, football Tall Boys in ’65.”
Highlighting the set is the rookie card of Lew Alcindor, the Milwaukee Bucks center who became Kareem Abdul-Jabbar not long after entering the league. He made his name as a scorer when he joined the Los Angeles Lakers in 1975, leading the franchise to five NBA championships. He retired after the 1989 season as the NBA’s all-time leading scorer.
“It’s one of the most important basketball cards there is,” Grady said. “Then there’s just so many other rookies in that set. It was nice [Topps] was back in the game.”
The 99-card set also includes Wilt Chamberlain’s first Topps card and rookie cards of Hall of Famers John Havlicek, Walt Frazier, Elvin Hayes, and Bill Bradley. In all, there are 28 Hall of Famers in the release and 55 rookies.
1. 1957-58 Topps Basketball
This is a no-brainer to be the best Topps Basketball set of all time. The 80-card release was Topps’ first in the sport. It features 25 rookie cards and 28 players in the set who went on to Hall of Fame careers.
“Very iconic,” Wilson said. “Probably underappreciated. Basketball is very interesting because there were so few sets over the years that it actually places more emphasis and value on the sets that existed. As you think through basketball history, ’57 Topps had a very important place in the history of basketball cards.”
The 1957-58 product was the first basketball set since Bowman in 1948.
“I love the ’57 Topps set because it’s a look at what they were thinking at the very beginning, like, how do we picture basketball players,” Dwyer said. “I think there’s some great action shots in that set. There’s great selection in that set. From a collecting perspective, it’s a very tough set to find in high grade. I like the challenge of that set. I like the fact that collectors appreciate when a really nice, clean example of that comes up.”
“Those cards are extremely difficult to find centered,” Grady added. “There’s problems with the print snow on a lot of the cards.”
One of the most iconic cards in basketball history resides in this set: Bill Russell’s rookie. The Boston Celtics great won 11 NBA championships during his 13 seasons. The Russell rookie is highly sought after by basketball card collectors. A PSA 8.5 sold for $660,000 in May 2023.
Rookie cards of Bob Cousy, Bob Pettit, Jack Twyman and Tom Gola round out the top players in the set.
“There’s a clear delineation as far as the top tier. It’s Bill Russell and Bob Cousy, then it’s kind of like Cliff Hagan and guys of that ilk,” Just Collect and Vintage Breaks owner Leighton Sheldon said. “But that being said, the unopened product or even wrappers from it, it kind of makes it very mysterious. Whereas if you compare it to 1957 Topps Baseball, which is an amazing set, 1957 Baseball was made in multiple series. Even though packs are really hard, you can find a wrapper.
“It shows the state of basketball: forget about cards. It shows the state of basketball in our country, meaning like even with those mega stars today, it wasn’t like that at the time.”