The trading card company Topps is getting back in the basketball business in a big way, and Maine’s Cooper Flagg will be front and center.
When it comes to basketball, Topps has been on the outside looking in for roughly 15 years as rival Panini held an exclusive deal with the NBA.
But starting this season, Topps now has those exclusive NBA rights. And Flagg, a rookie with the Dallas Mavericks, is going to be on the cover of that soon-arriving set.
“For the first time since the 2009-10 season, Topps Basketball is making its fully licensed return. To mark such a milestone, the company needed a cover athlete who could embody both the brand’s history and the game’s future,” the company announced on its website. “That athlete is Dallas Mavericks rookie Cooper Flagg, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2025 NBA Draft and one of the most decorated freshmen in college basketball history.”
That new set of basketball cards will be available starting Oct. 23 and collectors can pre-order it starting at 12 p.m. Friday. The price of the set is not listed as part of the announcement.
The set has a 300-card base, and some lucky collectors could find an autographed card from Flagg with a throwback 1980-81 design.
“Cooper Flagg is a generational talent that deserves to be front and center as the cover athlete for Topps’ coming back into the Basketball Hobby with our first fully licensed release,” Topps Basketball product manager Brett Whiteley said in the company’s announcement. “Cooper is one of our exclusive athletes, and it was only fitting to reintroduce Topps back to the Basketball Hobby collectors with a talent that we expect to do great things over the next 2 decades.”