The Cards We’re Hunting and Avoiding at The National (And Why)
Geoff and T-Pott talk about the 2026 National! Follow Geoff: Instagram: Twitter: TikTok: LinkedIn: Companies Geoff Founded: Sports Card Investor: Market Movers: Three Five Two: NoviAMS: iLS Network:
Video Transcript
We're here on the show floor of The National.
The show is still being set up behind us, but today, Teapot and I are gonna tell you the cards we're hunting for and the cards we're going to avoid at this year's National, and why.
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All right, Teapot, what does it feel like to be back at The National?
The show is opening soon-ish.
We still got a little bit of set up work going on behind us.
How excited are you about this this year?
I'm really pumped.
We've been setting up the last couple of days, and it's all coming together, stuff's getting hung.
We're close.
We're really close.
It starts tomorrow, and I am super pumped, to actually I'm, like, intentionally walking by booths not looking right now because we got more work to do, and I can't, I can't lose focus.
You wanna be surprised.
Yeah, I wanna just I, I When it's time, when it's time, I'll go look.
Yeah.
And of course, by the time people are watching this, it will be, it will be later today that it will be opening up on Wednesday, of course, and we've got full coverage of it on our Sports Card Investor channel.
I know you're gonna do a video on the Market Movers channel.
Yeah.
Or maybe multiple videos.
We'll do a few.
Tons of coverage coming out.
But what I wanted to talk about today, I, I, I, I didn't want this to just be another National preview episode, because we've done those in the past.
Yep.
I wanted to talk about today actually what the strategy's gonna be.
Yeah.
Because the market i- it's in a t- it's in a tough place right now for buyers.
It's in a great place for sellers, a great place.
I mean, every, you know Seems like every iconic card or every card of a, you know, all-time great or Hall of Famer has doubled, you know, over the last several months.
So if you've got some of those cards and you wanna sell or trade, you're in great shape.
But if you wanna buy, it becomes trickier.
Yeah.
It becomes more challenging this year, in my opinion, than ever before.
This is a more difficult buying year, certainly than we've seen over the last, you know, four Nationals where, you know, you could find deals easier.
The deals are gonna be harder to come by this year.
So I wanna dive into kinda the strategy, like what we're looking for, what we're, you know, what we're gonna try to find.
And so I'm gonna start with a big question, and that is, Teapot, if you can only leave this year's National with one card, what card do you want that to be?
All right, is this, like, we're dreaming and I could just leave with any card?
Or is this, like, realistic within the bounds of what I might actually leave with?
I mean, maybe give me a little bit of both.
Okay.
All right.
So if I'm just starting and dreaming big, we talked about this on Cards on the Table last week, I think those new dual back-to-back award winners patch autos- Yes are insane.
I said that Ohtani, I think, is the greatest card I've ever seen.
The Scubal is in the mix, and I love him.
Even though I think he's gonna get traded, I'm still gonna root for him.
I still love watching him pitch.
He's one of my favorite pitchers to watch, so I'd be really excited about that.
There's a couple other cards that even if I could see one here in person, I would really like it.
The, the 1998 Precious Metal Gems Barry Sanders with the lion in the background.
The Gem Master sold, I think, last year.
I would actually just rather have the number to 50, like, scope effect one.
It's such a cool card.
The 97 Star Rubies Barry Sanders is a beautiful card with the blue.
The one that's eluded me, and I missed it on eBay a year and a half ago, is the 2021 Gold Kaboom Barry Sanders.
Yeah.
And I might be priced out of those now.
I would definitely have to do some work and consolidate some stuff to get, to pick one of those up and rationalize it, but that would be at the high end of, like, if I saw one here, I might have to make some moves to try to get that one into my PC.
There's only 10 of them, and they just, they're, I think most of them are locked up in, in collections now.
So historically, I have always been not a big fan of buying the cards of, you know, guys who are, are retired that are coming out in these new case hit sets and everything like that.
Yeah.
Because I would say, like, well, you know, Barry Sanders, I mean, they could continue to make cards of him every single year.
Yeah, yeah.
However, it's interesting, that card in particular- Yeah because Panini lost the license.
They no longer have the license.
So even if Panini chooses to make another Barry Sanders Kaboom in the future, it will be an unlicensed Kaboom.
Yeah.
So we can, we can now definitively say that's the only Barry Sanders licensed Gold Kaboom.
Yes.
There will never be another.
There will only ever be those 10.
Yeah.
And so for that reason, I actually do like that card.
Yeah, it's a- I think that's a good buy.
I think it has some staying power, and I just, I love those Gold Kabooms.
Yeah.
I think they look fantastic.
The, I have the regular one.
I have the 2021 just regular Kaboom, so if I were to find the Gold, I'd probably move the, the regular one, along with some other stuff.
And I'm not a I, I like post playing days cards all right.
I get why people don't go after them.
Like, I, I set my own hobby PC boundaries and rules, and I completely understand why other people set that one, but that would be a pretty, pretty cool one.
I, I've had to set that one in my own collection, because they continue to come out with Tim Tebow in basically every new card set it seems.
They do.
I mean, he's been in Prizm- Yeah you know, the last several years, Prizm draft picks, as well as even regular Prizm.
And he's now in Topps Chrome.
Yeah.
They've got a, they got Topps Chrome Tebow cards.
Yeah.
So it's like there's so much Tebow that it's, like, continuing to try to, like, chase all of his one of ones every year and everything, it's like, man, they're gonna continue to put this guy in sets for the next, like, 50 years.
So, like- He's over here on the wall for Panini- He's, he's- with the Color Blast.
I know.
Like, literally right next to us, so.
So I've, I've had to limit my scope of, like, a guy like Tebow in terms of what I'll buy.
Playing day stuff, I go after all that.
Post playing day stuff, I've on- I'm, I will only now buy it if I really love the card, like I do on one of the Color Blasts, because I really love the card design.
Yeah, yeah.
But I, I'm not gonna try to buy his, you know, blue out of 199 every single year it comes out or whatever.
Yeah.
I, I just, I just can't.
Understandable.
There's just too many, too many.
Okay.
I'm gonna answer the question by saying I actually, I, I've been- Getting more and more into insert sets, complete insert sets.
Yeah So I'm gonna, I'm gonna say the, the card that I would be looking for would be a, a, a complete set of one of the kinda coveted inserts that I'm after.
So, I, I really wanted to buy a complete set of Duncan Go Nuts- I saw the video at Fanatics Fest.
Yeah Couldn't agree with the guy on price.
Yeah If I see one of those here for a slightly more reasonable price point, I'm gonna go for that.
I, I mean, the multi-measal- metal fusion titaniums I love, but the I mean, that set with the Jordan in it would That, that would At that point, this set, that set's upwards of a million dollars.
Yeah.
I'm probably not gonna pick that up here, but I really would like to find the 2018, football Donruss Downtown complete set because those are actually way That was the first year of football Downtowns- Yeah, they're rare way more rare than what people think.
They are.
The Optics from that year are a lot more common, but the base Donruss, way more rare.
Or the 2016 Donruss Downtowns from basketball- Yeah because that's, you know, where the Downtowns actually started- Yeah that year.
2013 Kaboom.
These are all, all be sets that I would love to pick up.
So hopefully by the time the week's over, I've located one of those on the show floor and have picked that up and that will be, like, something I'm really happy to bring home from National.
Well, you know I'll keep my eyes peeled.
I think, I think the early Case Hit stuff from Panini is- Yes is a play.
Yeah.
Like, we've talked about that.
Yep.
The, the newer stuff is still very popular, at least right now.
I have some thoughts on that I think we'll get into, but the early stuff is like, yeah, some of these cards are, like, you know, total pop 33 out in, you know, out in the wild, and they're, they're tough.
People are sleeping on the first two years of Stained Glass- Yeah from back in Panini Innovation.
Yeah.
They have not taken off in price- Yeah the same way that, like, early Kabooms have.
Yep Or early Downtowns have.
Yeah.
Stained Glass haven't taken off to that same degree.
I think, people are sleeping on that one.
Even the 2018 Stained Glass from Prism football are actually pretty short printed.
They're really nice.
Stuff like Josh Allen- Yeah Lamar Jackson.
Yeah.
Mahomes is in that set.
Yes.
They look- Beautiful set that's a really good-looking set too.
Beautiful set.
They have the golds and the blacks.
Yeah.
Those are sick.
I totally agree.
Yeah.
I totally agree.
People are sleeping on those.
Okay.
The market right now, as I mentioned, so hot it is harder to find It will be harder to find opportunities this year.
Are there still some market inefficiencies, though, that you think maybe exist as you look at this a little more broadly, are there categories of cards or types of cards that you think could be sneaky buys this year?
I think there are always market efficiencies in just about every category.
So I'm gonna rattle off a list, and I kinda wanted to be a little bit comprehensive with this question.
We've talked about soccer, all-time greats, the top ones- Yeah we know Messi, Ronaldo, and the up-and-comers, we have Mbappe and, Erling, Erling Haaland, and Yamal's market's been hot.
I think you get into those earlier sets that are just lesser known, 2006 World Cup, some of these other sets early.
Yes.
Yes.
I love that one.
So, so I, I think if you can find really good cards, especially in the highest grade you can afford, of Ronaldinho, original Brazilian Ronaldo- Okay.
Okay.
Yep Zidane- Yep Iniesta, Drogbas, Zlatan, Thierry Henry, some of those guys, Sergio Ramos, like some of these guy- Like, I think that's kind of a play.
They don't have a lot of cards.
You have to actually dig deep and do the research to figure out what's even out there for them.
But man, if you can stumble across some of their best cards, I'm so bullish on soccer for the long term because I see how much money and energy Topps is putting into it, and PSA's expansion into Europe and all over the world, I think that market is just gonna eventually I don't know when.
It's already hot for those top players.
It might take a while, but I think some of them will blow up.
We've ta- I talked a lot about '90s cards for, like, baseball and football compared to basketball.
Yes.
I still think there's opportunity there.
I've shifted a little bit, like with football, into more into the 2000s.
Like, yes, the late '90s and into the 2000s.
There's, there's a movement that's been happening somewhat quietly underground.
It's very active on Instagram, and it's for, like, fantasy football goats.
It's such a Fantasy football is so popular, so popular.
Everybody plays it if you, if you watch NFL football.
And those players going back, there's a lot of guys- Like Schulte.
LaDainian Tomlinson's- Yeah at the top of the list.
Priest Holmes, one of my- Yeah, yeah, yeah the guy that got me to be a Chiefs fan 20-plus years ago.
Jamaal Charles, Arian Foster, Sean Alexander, some of these early guys.
Even getting into the receivers, the Andre Johnsons, Calvin Johnson, of course.
And then just some of those goats that aren't Tom Brady.
It's like, just come down to run.
You and I have talked about this a million times.
Peyton Manning and Drew Brees are two of the most- Drew Brees, yeah undervalued- 100% athletes in, on planet Earth.
And I would th- throw Randy Moss into that mix, too.
He's I mean, in terms of pure talent, I think he's number one all time.
He's number two on my list behind Rice.
I don't know how he could be ahead of Rice, but he's, his cards are not expensive.
They really are not expensive.
And you can get some really cool ones.
So I think you start pushing into that category.
Terrell Owens, you know, some of these other guys like that, there's a lot of opportunity in there.
And I think, you know, I've made that chart, I don't know if you remember, of, like, the typical collector journey, where people start out if they collected when they were kids.
They get back in, they're trying to figure out what's good, they're learning about the new sets.
They buy into breaks and boxes, and they start just buying a whole bunch of stuff, and then they wake up one day and their whole desk is covered and they're like, "I don't know what to do."
And they go through this whole process of consolidation, and they hit, like, that two to four year curve where suddenly they start to consolidate and sell, and they go back to what they most fondly remembered.
And as we're now aging in, we've, you and I have been back in the hobby for eight, you know, eight years or so, I think that's why the 2000s now.
Like, it was kind of a weird dead era for, for sports cards that not a lot of people know about, but there were collectors.
Scotty B from our team collected back in the 2000s and has fond memories.
I think they're gonna pick up there.
If I look at the NBA, we've talked about this too, that sweet spot for age breakouts is in that, like, 25 to 29 range.
So I start looking at players who are 24 years old, maybe 25, to say, can they take another step?
Cade Cunningham, I'm finally a believer.
I'm a Pistons fan, and I've, I've held off on Cade for a long time.
I'm gonna be looking for a nice Cade card while I'm here.
Okay.
And maybe some of his Prism Silvers, which have dipped down.
I'm excited about him.
He's only 24.
Cade Cunningham and Anthony Edwards are both only 24 years old right now.
They have not hit their prime.
I do not think they've hit their prime, so I'm really, bullish on them.
I also think Cooper Flagg's the real deal.
Yeah.
He's very expensive- Yeah but I do think he's the real deal.
If I go to b- baseball, uh- James Wood and Nick Kurtz.
Kurtz has been down over the last month.
He's like six of his last 42, so he's in a little bit of a slump.
If I can find a really nice Nick Kurtz on a deal, I would probably pull the trigger.
Between him and James Wood, I, I feel very strongly there's at least one MVP award in the future, maybe not too distant future, if not multiple between the two of them.
Topps case hits.
You just talked about Panini.
Topps case hits are popular right now.
They're very popular.
I think all that energy, Reeves, and all that crowd that that's what they, like, specialize in are those types of cards from Panini, they're not making them anymore.
It's only gonna last for so long.
Those The, the people who live in that space, a lot of the young, you know, young adults, teens, they want that active players, they want the opportunity and the upside.
They're gonna shift- Yeah into the All Kings, into the Ultraviolets, into the Alter Egos and stuff, and we're in the early years of their- of those.
They're only gonna make more and more of them over time.
That's just what's gonna happen.
And then the last oddball one, I just, I'm still very p- bullish on pop culture cards in general.
For people who are into that, if you have a favorite show or a favorite movie or a favorite band or something like that, Topps has talked about that in their industry conference that they wanna keep, like, getting IPs and we've seen Magic doing funny things, you know, Magic: The Gathering with a lot of, like, film stuff.
So I, I think, like, Star Wars, type stuff, older Lord of the Rings autos are very popular.
And even for me, like, with Dune coming out later this year, as well as another Marvel movie, those two are, to me, interesting plays.
Yeah.
But who knows?
I like all those suggestions.
There's a lot.
I like all of those suggestions.
I'll, I'll, I'll toss one in the mix that's maybe a little bit of a variant of one of yours.
The two- th- 2000s football, and I might look to Tom Brady specifically, Topps Chrome, Bowman Chrome- Yep Topps, Topps, p- Pristine- Pristine's awesome some of those types of sets.
Oh, so good.
The refractors.
Yep.
The X-Factors.
Yep.
Some of the numbered cards.
Brady stuff, it, it's still, it's still not that much.
You A lot of those cards you can buy in the hundreds of dollars, sometimes, sometimes even the lower hundreds of dollars for, like, a 2005 Tom Brady X-Factor or something of that nature.
And I see, like, you look over to basketball, and you look at, like, like, LeBron's market through those years has gone absolutely wild.
Kobe's market.
If you look at, like, any LeBron refractor, X-Factor, you know, that type of thing from the 2000s from one of the major sets, they've gone berserk.
Yeah.
And, and Brady's stuff's been hot as well, but it started from such a lower baseline that I still look at some of that stuff and I still feel like there's upside opportunity on some of that, like, 2000s Brady in particular, and, and maybe some of the other names you mentioned as well.
Yeah.
But I just, I, I just, I think the market I think people will come to appreciate the very low pop counts of those cards and the high quality look and production of those cards over time.
They're really nice.
Yeah.
That era was I didn't collect in that era outside of, like, for, like, three months in 2008 after I graduated college.
I, I got bit by the bug- and was, like, opening some boxes of stuff, and that was it.
And so that whole era for a lot of people who collected when they were in their 80s and 90s, they just didn't- It's a dead era in the 2000s.
Yeah.
Go discover the 2000s.
There's some really cool cards.
There you go.
Okay, let's switch Let's kinda switch this a little bit.
What's What is a, a player that, that people are chasing currently that you just want to avoid?
Yeah.
There's one that comes to mind for me that I think is a big trap.
Okay.
It's called Admiral Akbar, it's a trap.
I think it's Drake May.
I think Drake May had the, he had the, he did have the easiest schedule to the Super Bowl of any team, of any quarterback in any team since Kurt Warner's Rams- Okay back in 2000.
And it, it was He didn't look good in the playoffs, and he didn't look good against top defenses- No that he played in the regular season last year.
That is not me saying Drake May won't be a good quarterback or isn't a good quarterback, but I see on Instagram constantly people ranking their top 10 quarterbacks in the league and whatever, and the number of people who put Drake May above Jared Goff, even above Matthew Stafford or ab- Like, I'm like, all right, I know he was m- runner-up for MVP.
He had an amazing season.
Their schedule was gravy.
Their schedule is not gravy this upcoming season.
It is very difficult.
I rely a lot on strength of schedule going into years- Yeah to try to decide which NFL players in particular to watch.
And it's, it's only 17 games, so you look at it.
It's not perfect.
It's not a perfect science.
Teams surprise us, other teams disappoint.
But Drake May, I'm a little worried about.
I, I think it could be a bit of a trap similar to what we saw I know C.J.
Stroud had the great rookie season.
Jayden Daniels had the great rookie season.
This was Drake May's second season.
But still, I think he's, I think he It could be a trap.
And the other one is just I toyed with the idea of buying some of his cards.
I couldn't bring myself to do it, Jeff.
You know Caleb Williams.
I couldn't do it.
I was gonna say.
I'm a Notre Dame guy.
I was gonna say, I, I- He played at USC.
Yeah.
I figured, yep.
And I'm a Detroit guy, and he plays for the Bears.
He I will ad- admit fully, he has all the talent in the world.
The arm talent is insane.
He was not as consistent last year as people think.
In fact, for the first three quarters of most games, he wasn't particularly good.
He was phenomenal in fourth quarters of the game with his back against a wall, which for a young quarterback, you get excited about.
You're like, "Wow, this guy's gonna go out and, like, gr-" I saw that e- early in the career with Matthew Stafford, and we've s- seen what that's done.
But William's market is, is rising.
The last two weeks his cards are up, like, 30, 35% on his more liquid stuff, and so I think the window's been missed.
Yeah.
I think we're gonna get into the regular season.
My prediction for the Bears, and I don't Maybe this is being a homer.
I think they're gonna start out about 500 through their first eight games of the season.
They have a tougher schedule.
Maybe I'll be wrong and everybody will laugh at me, but I'm Right now I'm not.
I think it's too, I think it's too hot on Caleb Williams.
I'm not buying in.
I think those are fair.
I would I, and my answer actually is gonna expand this a little bit and just say most young quarterbacks in general.
It's been so tough in recent years, and I think the hobby has kind of started almost to wake up to the fact a little bit that, like, the, the rampant speculation on young quarterbacks, it's just, it is, it is almost always a losing battle.
Yeah, it's rough.
And then even when you finally hit it with one, C.J.
Stroud in 2023, Jayden Daniels in 2024, and you, you, you found the right guy and his stuff went up triple during the course of the season- Yeah and you're feeling great about it Then the following season comes around, and if you haven't sold it, you're probably setting yourself up for disappointment.
Yeah.
'Cause with both of those guys, they were hot as could be rookie year, down second year.
And you just talked about Drake May.
That may happen to him, as you said, this season.
So it's just, it, speculating on the r- on the young quarterbacks is such a difficult play.
Yeah.
I used to do a lot more of it than I do now, and my record on it wasn't great.
It wasn't great on the speculation on the young quarterbacks.
It was a pretty awful record.
That's kinda the biggest meme for you.
And so Like, of course.
That's the one people give you the hardest time for.
It's fair.
It's fair.
Yeah, I, I struck out on, I struck out on a bunch.
And, and so, you know, I've, I've kinda come around and said, "Okay, you know what?
I still enjoy playing in that world a little bit."
Yeah.
It's, you know, it's I'm, I'm always gonna play a little bit speculative and a little bit prospecting, but I'd much rather put, you know, the majority of, of my card money into cards that I feel like likely aren't going to possibly be worth, you know, 80% less in two years if it doesn't pan out.
So.
Yeah.
You know, I've been, I've been a little more cautious.
Okay.
But the opposite of this, maybe somebody who people are sleeping on right now who you, you're kinda high on.
Who, is there a sneaky person that you're looking at right now?
Well, one of the things that both shocked me and then didn't surprise me at all was the reaction by quite a few people after Spain won the World Cup, and Lamine Yamal at age 19, freshly age 19, just won the World Cup, and people were like, "This guy stinks."
Right.
"He only scored one goal and had one assist.
He didn't do anything."
And I'm like, okay, tell me you don't understand soccer without telling me you don't understand soccer.
And I'm not a soccer expert, but I know enough about it to watch, and watch this guy get double and triple attacked when he's got the ball, watch the number of successful dribbles and passes.
He's phenomenal.
So apparently I'm much higher on Lamine Yamal than a lot of people are now, but I still think he's got a lot of staying power.
The one that I gotta mention, though, is Jared Goff.
And this is a homer pick for me, but when Jared Goff came to Detroit- Yeah I wasn't sold.
I was, I was really happy for Matthew Stafford going to the Rams.
Mm-hmm.
And I was excited about the prospect at that time of him winning a Super Bowl, because I was like, "It's never gonna happen in Detroit."
Jared Goff has come to Detroit and has been the best quarterback Detroit's ever had through the seasons we've had with him.
And I lo- and Stafford's our best quarterback of all time.
But Jared Goff, number one in passing yards over the last four years by a margin of 8%- over Mahomes.
Now, Mahomes missed some time last year.
Number one in passing touchdowns by a margin of 11% over Josh Allen.
Number three in wins in that timeframe, with just a few fewer than Allen and Mahomes.
And only Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen, and Lamar Jackson have more wins than Jared Goff since 2018.
He is an absolutely elite quarterback.
Yes, he has weapons.
Goff slander will not be tolerated while I'm around.
I am very high on him, and I think his rookie card should be a lot more expensive than they are.
They're very inexpensive.
He's really good.
They're I couldn't belie- I had, last year I had one of his National Treasures rookies, and it was like, it was, oh, it was like, it was 600 bucks or something.
Yeah.
I'm like, how is this possibly so cheap for a National Treasures Patch Auto- That's crazy it's numbered to 25.
I don't think it was his true one- Yeah but it was one of the variants that year, colossal materials or something.
It was like $550 or something.
Crazy.
Yeah.
I'm like, what?
What?
It reminds me a lot of Stafford at this point through his career.
Yeah.
And then he went to the Rams and won a Super I hope Goff can win it with Detroit.
Yeah.
But he's just been a heck of a quarterback, honestly.
He's a good quarterback.
Yeah.
I totally agree.
He's also a nice guy.
I like him, too.
Yeah.
He's, maybe he doesn't have the most electric personality, but I, I think he, I, he's I, I find him enjoyable.
He's low-key hilarious.
Yes.
There's a video from years ago where he put on a wig and pretended to not be Jared Goff and went and competed at, like, a D2 tryout and was just lighting up the field.
And these guys were like, "Who is this guy?"
And then he, you know, takes the wig off.
It's, like, six minutes, so it's worth watching.
Okay.
Yeah.
All right.
There you go.
I'm gonna, I'm gonna throw out a name that people are probably gonna be like, this is, maybe not a fair name to throw out, 'cause th- my question was, who are other people kinda sleeping on who I think is gonna go up a lot this year?
I'm just gonna say Cooper Flagg.
Yeah.
Okay.
Okay.
Wow.
And, and, and, and you could, you could say, well, people aren't really sleeping on him, but I would say that to a degree they are in the same way that last off season It was very obvious to both of us last off season when we looked at Victor Wembanyama's card prices.
Yep.
Yep.
A player who also people say, "Well, no one's sleeping on Victor Wembanyama," yet they were.
Yet they were.
They were.
And we looked at his cards last off season and both of us are like, dude, his cards are gonna go up a lot during this season, in the playoffs.
The Spurs are gonna be a lot better.
His, his stuff's just gonna go up.
It's gonna go up.
And sure enough.
You know, and there was always the little bit of a question about health with him, and so that was the danger.
He obviously had the health issues, so his cards were down quite a bit as a result of that.
Cooper Flagg, it's a little bit of a different situation in that he's not coming off, like, health issues or anything like that that has driven- Right his market down.
But I still think, I'm like, this guy, I, I believe he's gonna be a generational talent.
Yeah.
And they don't come along very often.
And I think when you zoom back out, you know, 10 or 20 years from now and you look at the 2000, the 2020s, I think you're gonna think of Wemby, and I think, I think you're gonna think of Cooper Flagg probably above anyone else- Yeah in the decade.
That's what I think's gonna happen, and I, that's, that, I think with Wemby everybody can see that, and that looks Okay, yeah, that's pretty obvious now.
Assuming he stays healthy, that will be the case.
Yeah.
Cooper Flagg, it's still a little too early to know for sure, but I just feel like this guy's got all the elements.
He set records last year, scoring records in games.
He apparently grew two inches this off season.
Wow.
Yeah.
He's got all the And, and people forget how young he is.
He's 19.
He was supposed to, last year he was supposed to be a college freshman.
Yeah.
But he classed up.
You know, so he went to Duke as, like, a 17-year-old.
He gets in the NBA as an 18-year-old.
People forget that.
So super young, huge career ahead of him.
I, I still think, I, I still think Cooper Flagg's low compared to where he'll eventually be.
When he came into the league, before he started and made his NBA debut, I always like to make player comps of, like, what's the worst case scenario, most, you know, best case, and in between.
And my, like, low-end comp for him was, like, Shawn Marion or Andrei Kirilenko.
Like, he's lanky, he's defensive, he's good, he can play make, and he, I, we'll know he'll be able to score enough.
Like, I was like, baseline is, like, 15 a game for this guy in his career.
He already showed enough flashes.
Post All-Star game, he really started to come into his own.
He had some big scoring performances, and he's so young.
He's showing all those flashes.
Like you said, he's growing, so now you're looking at him going, "Well, if this guy can even de- develop, like, 60% of Jokic's passing capability at that size," we don't even know if he's done growing, 6'11" with a crazy wingspan, and he's, and he develops 60, 70% of Giannis' defensive prowess and he can really develop a consistent mid-game jump shot, that is a deadly, lethal combo- I'm excited for a guy that size.
He's, he's really fun to watch.
The other one, I, I, I didn't know if you were gonna go here, but the other one I know you've said before, I've heard other people say, I completely agree with, is A'ja Wilson.
Yeah.
So- She's the GOAT.
And, and, and I mean, her, her cards are not worth much, especially if you compare them to Caitlin Clark- They're not or Paige Bueckers.
Yes.
You know, players like that.
Yeah.
They're super, super affordable for her best cards.
I think if you can track them down, I'll let you know if I see any.
There you go.
Yeah.
All right.
Let's zoom out here a little bit before we wrap.
I wanna talk about the National just a little bit in general.
What is the biggest mistake that collectors make when buying at the National?
Buying the first cool thing you think- Yeah you see, and then just losing your whole budget when maybe you're spl- planning on being here for two or three days, is a big mistake.
That typically happens if you don't come with some kind of a game plan.
You don't need to come with, like, a specific, you know, bible that you can only follow these 10 cards you're targeting.
That can actually be a trap to not have a good time, but I see it a lot.
Last I was here two years ago, obviously, at the, I was at the National, and I don't remember who it was, but somebody came up to me the first day, and they were like, "Well, I just, I came with $2,500 and I just bought this card and, and it's amazing, but now I feel weird 'cause I'm excited, but also I have no money left," you know?
So that can happen.
I don't know.
I guess it's still cool to walk around and look for things.
The flip side of that can be true too, though.
The, maybe the bigger mistake is you see the card- Yeah that is on your list.
Yeah.
You came prepared.
You find that Barry Sanders gold prism- And it's gone.
It's gone and you're like, "Ah, I gotta think about it- Yeah until tomorrow."
And you come back to it, and that card will not be there.
If it is, if it is that desirable, that rare, and priced even remotely reasonably, it will not be there.
It'll be maybe into somebody's, you know, Zion case for trade night or something, trying to make some profit, but it will not be there very long, and I think both of those can be really dangerous.
A- and that's the, that's the problem, is trying to figure out which one it is.
Is it like, "Oh, I should hold off and, and walk around a little more," or is it, "If I leave this item, I won't find it again"?
Yep.
And to me, that distinction comes down really probably to the rarity and uniqueness of the item.
I was gonna say that, I was gonna say the second part of what you answered as my answer.
I- like, one of my core memories of the National was a few years ago when I went to a dealer who had all of these signed Michael Jordan Sports Illustrated magazines.
I remember this.
And there were I was like, oh my gosh.
I, I really kinda fell in love.
Beautiful magazines, beautiful presentations, and I, I bought two of them.
Well, actually, I didn't buy any of them at the, at the moment.
I, I was like He, he had, like, he had several.
Yeah.
And it, there were, there were three that I really, really wanted.
Those were Jordan's first three.
The very first one, he's in college with North Carolina.
The second one, he's in the Olympics, and then the third one, he's with the Chicago Bulls.
And I'm like, "I really want all three of these 'cause I think they're special."
I walked away from the table.
I went and I thought about it.
I walked around a little bit more.
I came back that same day, and the Chicago Bulls one had sold, and that was actually the one I wanted the most of the three- That's crazy 'cause I'm like, that's the Chicago Bulls debut rookie, you know, magazine.
And so it was like, oh my gosh.
So, and I've had a couple of experiences like that over the years.
So if it's something like that where you're unlikely to see it again- Yeah ah, you might wanna act on it.
Yeah.
If it's a card that you probably can find somewhere else or, you know, whatever- Yeah then, you know, you can definitely be a little more patient- Yeah and just keep walking around.
Yep.
Yeah.
Interesting.
Okay.
Couple final questions.
If you were coming to the National on a, on a, maybe a more limited budget, maybe $1,000, $2,000, let's say- Yeah how would you hunt with that type of budget?
What would Like, how would you approach that?
What would you hunt for?
I mean, I think it starts with, I always ask people, like, what are your goals?
What are you trying to do?
Are you just trying to pick up PC cards?
Are you trying to go after something?
Let's take this from the l- angle, though, that you're maybe trying to thread that needle that I always say of, like, you know, collect what you like, invest in what others like.
Try to find that join in the t- two of those things so you can get something really cool.
If you wanna work a network, I think there's a lot of cards, this goes back to some of the, like, opportunities right now, of all-time greats- who aren't on the Mount Rushmore- Mm-hmm of all-time greats- Mm-hmm but are truly really, like, greats, especially at their positions in football, defensive players, whatever, and look for stuff that you just don't see.
If there hasn't been a sale ever or recently or it's some, you know, low pop or just really tough to come by refractor insert, something like that, and you see one of those, you can buy those, and if you're, if you have somewhat of an established network, you have an Instagram presence, a YouTube channel, a shop, so you d- you're a dealer, that's the type of things that you can really enjoy owning, and just wait and see what happens.
And sometimes those cards absolutely pop off, and maybe today, $2,000 is the price you're comfortable with for that card, and it's the price you're willing to pay, and maybe next year it's 10K, and you're like, "Well, I wouldn't have bought it at 10K, and so I'm comfortable letting it go to somebody who wants it more, and I'm gonna go find the next one that I'll enjoy owning in my PC."
I know some people see that as, like, a weird cardinal sin, but you and I both, we've done that many times, and that can be a really effective way to grow the quality of your collection over time as well.
And then I would say if you, if you see some things, like, just get the cash deal done.
Try to, try to negotiate it and, you know, you can approach it with that budget.
You can also spread it out and come home with a Zion case full of really cool stuff, start building out your binders.
There's a lot of strategies, but, that's the one that kinda comes to mind to me, and you do see a lot of stuff at the National you never see anywhere else.
Mm-hmm.
Is it a different strategy for someone who's coming to the National with a lot of money to spend, $200,000 as opposed to $2,000?
Does that change the strategy or approach at all?
We see record-breaking sales now every single week on Natty's, on Golden, on Heritage, on eBay.
We see it all over the place, and- A lot of those record-breaking sales on a lot of new stuff, and a lot of new stuff where I get a little bit concerned because I'm c- I don't know that the people buying them realize how many Super Fracter autos Lamin Yamal has, or how many one-of-one autos Cooper Flag has.
There's, they're out there.
There's a lot of them, and these big price tags.
If I had that kind of a budget, $200,000, I'd be a lot more careful, a lot more intentional.
I might still be going back into that GOATs type tier.
You can do one of two things.
You could, you could try to go out and get Go back to that soccer list I did, and just be like, "I wanna try to go pick up the rarest or best card I can find of each of those aforementioned players that I said," and come back and be like, "Check out this showcase.
This is unbelievable," and you can sit and wait.
Or you can go back to the iconic stuff, and I know the GOAT market's been really hot.
But I've, I've been talking a lot about the, the Upper Deck, you know, Griffey rookie in PSA 10 condition.
It's been rising, rising, rising, rising.
If your plan is long-term, I just still don't think you can go wrong with buying the iconic GOATs.
I just don't.
Just like historically, at least, you just can't go wrong with investing in the S&P 500.
You know, put it in there, send it to one of the vaulting options, or put it in your fire safe or whatever, get it insured, and you could have that.
And you could pull them out and enjoy it or look at them that way, too.
I just think I, I wouldn't be comfortable taking that big of a swing on some of these new players.
It, it can work out if they wind up being the all-time great, but I think rarely does it- Yeah does it pay off like that.
G- it's high risk, high reward.
Yeah.
My, my advice, if you're spending that kind of money, get here as early as you can.
Yeah.
Because sometimes the most unique things, the best things, the best opportunities are there right at the beginning of the show.
But if it's a good deal, a good opportunity, something really unique, something noteworthy, it, it may be gone a couple hours into the show.
Yeah.
So if you're watching at home and you're coming to the National, get in the car, hop on the plane, get here, and try to get here right when the doors open and find some of those early buys.
Some of the guys who play in that space, they're hunters, man.
Yeah, they, they do.
And they are networked.
They do.
So you, you're, you've got the odds stacked against you if you're, if you're not, if you're not networked- Yeah and connected, 'cause people just know who to call, too.
100%.
Okay, final question.
As, Fast-forward a week.
Yeah.
As you're looking back on this year's National, once it's over, what would have made it a successful National for you?
I'm really proud of the effort that my team's been putting into Market Movers.
I know I say that to pump, but, like, we've pushed out some good releases this year thus far.
We're right up against trying to get some, so hopefully some new cool stuff out in time for this National.
We've kinda hit our stride.
We've done a lot of work to shore up our infrastructure and things, and we're putting a lot of energy into mobile, and web is gonna get a complete overhaul.
So the I It Really mean it.
Obviously, that's my job.
That's, that's my team's responsibility.
I'd love for everybody to try Market Movers.
Just try it.
I think Well, I don't know what our code is for the Is it just National?
National.
National.
Code National.
Code National, 30 days.
One, one, one month free.
One month free.
And 30% off for life.
That's the best deal you're gonna get all year on it.
Yeah.
Just try it out bec- And I, I know that sounds like a whole other thing.
And you gotta, you gotta sign up through the web for that.
Yeah.
You gotta go to sportscardinvestor.com and click Market Movers.
Yeah, yeah.
Code National, yes.
Yeah, yeah.
So t- so try that out.
You know, the other big thing is just it, it, it always feels successful.
This is such a It is an exhausting week.
It's a fun week, and we're all exhausted by the end of it.
We put a lot of energy into it, but it's like the highlight of every year, just- Oh, 100%.
Everybody who walks up and they're just like, "Thank you for the content.
Thank you for the education.
Thank you for the entertainment.
Thank you for the digital apps.
Thank you for Cards HQ.
So excited you're gonna be coming to Detroit.
Where else are you guys going next year?"
And people are excited about that.
That is something that not everybody gets at their job.
A lot of people don't get that at their job, and we get to come here in this hobby that we love, and then on top of it, have so many people come and say what, what it means to them.
That's a big success for me.
Yeah.
Tho- those are awesome things.
Totally agree.
I- it's, it's the funnest week of the year.
We call it the Super Bowl.
For our team, it's the week when our videos get watched the most, our social posts get a lot of interaction, Cards HQ is able to buy more, you know, for the store than we're able to buy at any, any week of the year.
Yeah.
More people sign up for Market Movers.
It's just the engagement across the board with everything we do peaks this week, and so it's our Super Bowl.
And I always Like, my favorite When I look back, my favorite moment of the week, hopefully, will be the Sunday night team dinner.
When it's all said and done- Yeah when the week's over and everyone's exhausted from our team, because man, are they exhausted, 'cause we go hard this week.
Yeah.
We work our tails off this week.
Your voice is usually gone.
Oh, totally gone, and, you know, everyone's, every But the end of the week, that moment, it's like we packed up the booth, we're done, we go to the team dinner.
It's just such an amazing moment of just, like, celebration and team togetherness.
Yeah.
And I really look forward to another great one of those, hopefully this Sunday.
Absolutely.
Let's do it.
Awesome.
Okay.
That's it, guys.
We are, we're gonna wrap.
They're finishing setting up behind us, and we're gonna get ready for all of the videos that are coming out this week across all of our channels, so please stay tuned.
Please stay subscribed.
Thanks for watching, and we hope to see you at the National.
