Can you believe that the Steph Curry, RPA (rookie, patch, and signature) flawless brand card recently sold for a crazy amount of $5.9 million? Well, this made me interested in the topic of basketball cards. Therefore, I focused on the topic of “Basketball trading cards.” I wondered, What are the top benefits of collecting NBA trading cards? After conducting my research, I concluded that the top benefits of collecting NBA trading cards include the thrill related to collecting, the financial rewards associated with short and long-term investments, and the sense of community that exists among card collectors, which has been especially appreciated during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

One of the top benefits of collecting NBA trading cards is the thrill related to collecting. According to Dr. Shirley M. Mueller, “The enjoyment of arranging and rearranging a collection can be the motivation… Though this may serve as a means of control, it could also simply be the demonstration of organization skills applied to collecting as taste and knowledge accumulate.” In other words, an NBA trading card collector, like other collectors, finds satisfaction in the very act of collecting. Adding to and organizing his or her collection is a thrill. Also, other collectors aim to acquire additions to their collections at a modest price. It’s the possession of something wanted by others for comparatively little money that excites them. Still, other collectors get satisfaction from feeling that collecting cards are a way of owning a bit of history. They feel closer to the past, perhaps even deceased ancestors, important people, or circumstances of long ago. 

A second benefit of collecting NBA trading cards involves the financial rewards of short- and long-term investments. For example, Ben Broadwater, the director of Investment U. stated, “Growing up in the ’70s and ’80s, collecting and investing in sports cards was a way of life. Sports Card binders filled to the max lined the shelves of many bedrooms. Old shoe boxes stuffed to the brim. If you were smart enough, you invested in some hard cases to protect your most expensive cards. Unfortunately, even if you did all of those things, most of the cards back then were overproduced. So aside from a few outliers, their upside is minimal.” This quote is related to a long-term investment because right now it is 2022 and if you collected cards back in the ’70s and ’80s and protected them well and they are in good condition right now the cards would be worth a lot of money compared to when you repurchased them then and sold them right away. Also, if you repurchased them then and sold them right away then you would have short-term investment. A short-term investment, for example, is, if I buy a card in 2010 and right after I get it, I immediately sell it a day later. The difference in the cost of a short and long-term investment would be drastic. This is why the financial rewards are associated with short and long-term investments.

A third benefit of collecting NBA trading cards is the sense of community that exists among card collectors, which has been especially appreciated during the COVID-19 pandemic. For example, collectors also gather what they consider treasures to enhance their network of friends. In other words, they have a social motivation for collecting. The buying, selling, and trading of sports cards exploded during the COVID-19 pandemic. New collectors seeking a safe, affordable, stay-at-home hobby flooded into the market, millennials and those older who were feeling nostalgic, picked the hobby back up, and investors saw an opportunity to flip rapidly appreciating assets for an easy buck. As a direct result of the pandemic-fueled trading card frenzy, eBay reported a 142% rise in general trading card sales in 2020 over 2019. This is why the sense of community that exists among card collectors has been especially appreciated during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In conclusion, I found that the top benefits of collecting NBA trading cards include: the thrill related to collecting, the financial rewards associated with short and long-term investments, and, the sense of community that exists among card collectors, which has been especially appreciated during the COVID-19 pandemic. Don’t you want to start collecting NBA trading cards because they are awesome? You never know, maybe you might have a valuable card.