In Paris, Topps unveils its new NBA cards

Since 2009, an official NBA license has eluded Topps. This summer, however, the American brand regained exclusivity in the production of trading cards based on Grand League players, and that is inevitably expected around the corner.

Anyway, this is how it was explained to us Ardaone of France’s most popular collectors, present at the NBA Store last Friday for the launch of the 2025/26 edition. “We’re waiting for Topps at a turning point, in the sense that we want the design to be good, to see what they’re doing with the licenses, if they’re going to meet our expectations.” explains to us.

No point, Topps has already pulled out the stops, with the addition special and exclusive patches. A mechanism that has been seen before in baseball, but never before in the world of the NBA. The latter, sewn onto the jerseys of rookies, or winners of the 2024/25 MVP, Defender and Rookie of the Year trophies, are then cut out and inserted into cards that are rarer than ever. Enough to further stimulate consumer interest.

Opening to a wider market

If the NBA card market has been booming in recent years, with amazing trading card deckshowever, it had one weak point: its distribution outside the United States. Until this year, it was difficult to find outlets where you could buy NBA cards in France. A trend that should reverse with the return of Tops, again according to Arda.

“What’s really cool for the French and European public is that usually access to the cards will be easier. Lo and behold, they’re in the NBA store. Before, it was still hard to find a store that resold physical cards. So in terms of accessibility for people in Europe and France, that’s going to be really good.”

Indeed, the new collection is currently available at NBA Store Parisin the 5th arrondissement, at a price of 25 euros per box, almost twice as expensive as online.

Wanting to appeal to the French public, the producers decided, in addition to their headliner Cooper Flagg, to feature Victor Vembanyama. A phenomenon that even the most experienced collectors, like Gregory Gabile, our colleague from 5 majors and a member of the CardsAddict association, did not expect.

“It’s great. When you’re French, it’s a pride thing to see a player like Victor leading Topps. How proud it is to see 19 Frenchmen starting the season that will be available in the opening card packs. It’s great. Honestly, when I started doing this (in 1990), I couldn’t have imagined it.”

Comments collected by Nicolas Bulach

Photographs by Dean Alexander