The 10 Best Sports Cards to Buy in July 2026, According to Our Data
By Ripbin Research · Updated 2026-07-13 · comps from live eBay market data
Panini's NBA and NFL licenses have ended, making 2024-25 National Treasures the final editions of the hobby's flagship rookie-card brand — and the market hasn't fully repriced the last-ever rookie patches of ascending young stars. Our ten July picks, drawn from daily eBay comp data on serial-numbered rookie cards, range from a ~$38 Alex Sarr National Treasures patch /99 to a ~$1,650 Stephon Castle NT rookie patch auto.
Every month we publish the cards our research flags as most likely to appreciate. The picks come from the same system that powers Ripbin's price guide: a daily monitor of raw (ungraded) eBay listings for serial-numbered rookie patch cards, with outlier-trimmed comps for each card. On top of the data we layer a simple framework — an improving player, on a team that is actually being built around him, in a card with a hard supply cap.
July 2026 is an unusually good month for that framework, for two reasons: a structural supply story and a fresh set of on-court catalysts.
The macro story: the last National Treasures ever
Panini has lost both of its major US sports licenses — the NBA rights ended in October 2025 and the NFL rights in March 2026, with Topps (Fanatics) taking over both sports. That makes 2024-25 National Treasures basketball and 2024 National Treasures football the final editions of the brand that has defined the modern rookie-card hierarchy for nearly two decades. There will never be another NT rookie patch auto.
Terminal sets have a strong track record in collectibles: when a flagship brand ends, its final rookie class tends to accrue a scarcity premium over time because the supply story is finished — no future print runs, no brand dilution. The market has partially priced this in for superstars, but the discount is still wide on second-tier and ascending names.
A second wrinkle most buyers miss: several stars signed exclusive autograph deals with Fanatics and therefore have no Panini autograph cards at all. For those players, the National Treasures rookie patch (no auto) is the closest thing to a Panini flagship card that will ever exist — which changes what a 'patch-only' card is worth.
The season catalysts: what 2025-26 just confirmed
The 2025-26 NBA season handed out unusually clear signals. The Knicks won the title, the Spurs made the Finals behind a 22-year-old Victor Wembanyama, and the All-NBA teams crowned a new generation: Cade Cunningham made First Team, while Jalen Duren — at 22 — made Third Team and was a Most Improved Player finalist.
Cade is the cautionary tale for waiting: his 2021-22 NT rookie patch auto /99 now comps around $6,500 raw. The window on 'ascending star, discounted card' closes fast once the award news lands. Our picks below are the names where we think that window is still open.
Budget tier (under $150)
#1Alex Sarr 2024-25 National Treasures Rookie Patches #152 /99
~$38~$38 raw at recent comps; active asks run far higher on a thin floatThe quietest star leap in the 2024 class: Sarr went from a raw #2 pick to roughly 19 points and 8.6 rebounds with elite rim protection at age 20. This is his patch card from the final National Treasures set — a hard-capped /99 of a potential franchise big, at the price of a dinner.
- ▲Second-year averages of ~19/8.6 with top-tier shot blocking
- ▲Terminal National Treasures set — no future NT print runs
- ▲Only a handful of raw copies surface per month; the float is extremely thin
- ▼Defense-first bigs historically underperform in the card market, and the Wizards give him zero national visibility. This pick needs the scoring leap to continue.
#2Jalen Duren 2022-23 Panini Spectra RPA /199
~$72~$72 raw (July 2026 comps)Arguably the cheapest All-NBA rookie patch auto in the hobby. Duren made All-NBA Third Team and was a Most Improved Player finalist at 22, as the third option on a rising Pistons core. An on-card-era RPA of a current All-NBA center for under $100 is a pricing anomaly.
- ▲2025-26 All-NBA Third Team + Most Improved Player finalist
- ▲Detroit's young core (Cunningham First Team All-NBA, Ausar Thompson) keeps improving
- ▲All-NBA selections historically reprice a player's entire rookie-card shelf
- ▼Spectra is a mid-tier brand and /199 is a softer cap than /99 — if Duren plateaus as a 'very good center,' the upside is capped with him.
#3Stephon Castle 2024-25 Panini Immaculate Rookie Patch /99
~$65~$65 raw (July 2026 comps)Rookie of the Year in 2025, then a Finals run in year two as Wembanyama's running mate. Castle's premium autos have already repriced, but his Immaculate patch /99 still trades like he's a role player. San Antonio is the most clearly 'built' young team in the league.
- ▲2025 Rookie of the Year, 2026 NBA Finals appearance at 21
- ▲Permanent spotlight playing next to Wembanyama
- ▲Immaculate is a top-3 premium brand; /99 patch is the value entry to a rising star
- ▼Patch-only cards are structurally capped below the same player's RPA — this is the lottery-ticket version of the Castle bet, not the trophy version.
#4Amen Thompson 2023-24 Panini Obsidian Rookie Jersey Autograph /99
~$88~$88 raw (July 2026 comps)The cheapest serial-numbered auto-plus-jersey card of the highest-upside defensive wing in basketball. Houston just added Kevin Durant to a young core Amen anchors defensively — the front office is all-in around this group.
- ▲Kevin Durant trade signals Houston is building to win now
- ▲All-Defensive-caliber wing entering his age-23 season
- ▲Under $100 for an on-card /99 auto of a potential top-15 player
- ▼The jump shot is still the swing skill. If it never comes, he tops out as a defensive specialist — a profile the card market pays poorly.
Core tier ($150–$1,000)
#5Alex Sarr 2024-25 National Treasures RPA /99
~$375~$375 raw (July 2026 comps)The trophy version of pick #1: Sarr's true rookie patch auto from the final National Treasures set. If the budget patch is the lottery ticket, this is the card that goes five figures in the superstar scenario — a #2-pick unicorn's flagship RPA priced like a role player's.
- ▲Same player trajectory as pick #1, with the full RPA premium structure
- ▲Terminal-set scarcity on the hobby's most important rookie card format
- ▲Raw copies appear only a few times per quarter
- ▼Same Wizards-invisibility and defense-first risks as the patch, with ten times the capital at stake. Size accordingly.
#6Jaxon Smith-Njigba 2023 National Treasures RPA /99
~$450~$450 raw (July 2026 comps)JSN has quietly become one of the NFL's best young receivers, and this is his flagship rookie card from a terminal brand. Elite receivers are one of the few NFL positions the card market consistently pays long-term.
- ▲Ascending WR1 production profile entering his age-24 season
- ▲Final-era National Treasures football — the 2023 set is among the last
- ▲Receiver RPAs hold value better than any non-QB football position
- ▼Football card values are QB-dominated; even great receivers have a lower ceiling than quarterbacks, and Seattle's QB situation affects his stats.
#7Amen Thompson 2023-24 National Treasures RPA /99
~$550~$550 raw (July 2026 comps)Our highest-conviction risk-adjusted pick in the core tier: the flagship NT rookie patch auto of a player with top-5-in-the-league athletic upside, before the offensive game fully arrives. If Amen makes an All-NBA team in the next three years, this card reprices the way Cade Cunningham's did.
- ▲Terminal NT set + KD-era Rockets relevance
- ▲The exact 'ascending player, ascending team' profile that repriced Duren and Cade this season
- ▲Still priced at a fraction of comparable-upside wings
- ▼A $550 bet on a jump shot developing. The downside scenario (elite role player) probably halves the card.
#8Jalen Williams 2022-23 Panini Immaculate RPA /99
~$800~$800 raw (July 2026 comps)An All-NBA-caliber second option on the 2025 champion Thunder, still priced like a very good role player. J-Dub is the classic 'winner's discount' card — overshadowed by an MVP teammate, underpriced relative to his actual league standing.
- ▲Core piece of a title team entering his prime years
- ▲Immaculate /99 RPA is his premium rookie card
- ▲Every deep OKC playoff run is a repricing event
- ▼Playing next to Shai Gilgeous-Alexander caps his counting stats — the card market pays box scores, and his may never look like a superstar's.
Conviction tier ($1,000+)
#9Drake Maye 2024 National Treasures Rookie Patch /99
~$1,200~$1,200 raw (July 2026 comps)Maye is a Fanatics-exclusive signer — he has no Panini autograph cards at all. That makes this patch /99 from the final NT football set the definitive Panini card of a potential franchise QB. Patch-only is normally the discount format; when no auto exists, it inherits flagship status.
- ▲No Panini auto will ever exist — this is the brand's terminal Maye card
- ▲Young franchise QB trajectory in New England
- ▲QB rookie cards carry the highest ceiling in the sport
- ▼QB bust risk is binary and brutal — a bad two-season stretch could cut this card 70%. This is the highest-variance pick on the list.
#10Stephon Castle 2024-25 National Treasures RPA /99
~$1,650~$1,650 raw (July 2026 comps)The last National Treasures rookie patch auto of a Rookie of the Year who just played in the Finals at 21, attached to Wembanyama's prime for the next decade. This is the 'pay up for certainty' pick: most of the career risk is already resolved, and the terminal-set story does the rest.
- ▲ROY + Finals appearance before age 22 — the résumé is already real
- ▲The final NT basketball set ever printed
- ▲San Antonio is built to contend for a decade
- ▼You're paying post-catalyst prices — the easy 3x is gone. The bet is on All-NBA seasons, not on the market noticing him.
How we pick these cards
Every card above passes the same screen. First, the player: improving year over year, young enough that the best seasons are ahead, on a team whose front office is demonstrably building around him. Second, the card: serial-numbered to /199 or lower, rookie-year, from a premium brand — and wherever possible from a terminal set, where the supply story is permanently closed. Third, the price: we track raw eBay listings daily and compute outlier-trimmed comps, and we only feature cards trading at or below those comps.
We deliberately avoid: defense-only players (the market pays offense), running backs on long holds (sell into peak years, don't hold through them), unnumbered modern cards (no supply cap), and anything already repriced by award news — which is why Cade Cunningham, at ~$6,500, appears in our analysis but not in our picks.
Buying raw? Stick to listings with sharp, well-lit photos of the exact card, check the serial number matches the photos, and prefer sellers with deep feedback on high-value cards. For cards over a few hundred dollars, plan on grading: a strong PSA 10 candidate typically commands a meaningful multiple of raw price.
Matching listings live on eBay
Affiliate — we may earn a commissionFrequently asked questions
- What are the best sports cards to buy right now in 2026?
- Our July 2026 data flags final-edition National Treasures rookie patch cards of ascending young stars as the best risk-adjusted buys — led by Alex Sarr's NT Rookie Patch /99 (~$38), Jalen Duren's Spectra RPA /199 (~$72), and Stephon Castle's Immaculate patch /99 (~$65). Panini's NBA and NFL licenses have ended, so these are the last National Treasures rookie cards ever printed.
- Why do Panini National Treasures cards matter for investing?
- National Treasures has been the flagship rookie-card brand in basketball and football for nearly two decades — its rookie patch autos are the default 'most important card' for modern players. With Panini losing the NBA license in October 2025 and the NFL license in March 2026, the 2024-25 basketball and 2024 football editions are terminal sets: supply is permanently finished.
- Should I buy raw or graded cards?
- For the budget tier, raw is usually the better value — grading fees eat a large share of a $50 card. For cards above a few hundred dollars, buying sharp raw copies and grading them (or buying already-graded PSA 10s at fair comps) is standard practice, since gem-mint copies typically sell for a meaningful multiple of raw.
- How much should I invest in sports cards?
- Treat cards like a speculative, illiquid corner of a portfolio: money you can leave untouched for 5–10 years and could afford to lose. Diversify across several players rather than concentrating in one, and size the high-variance picks (like quarterback rookies) smallest.
This is collectibles market analysis, not financial advice. Trading cards are speculative, illiquid assets — prices can fall sharply, selling takes time and fees, and past results don't predict future returns. Never invest money you can't afford to hold for years or lose. Do your own research before buying anything.