Los Angeles Lakers rookie cards that are worth collecting

These Los Angeles Lakers rookie cards are worth collecting

Life can be hard out there for Los Angeles Lakers fans trying to be basketball card collectors. The world of basketball cards was never exactly booming right when the Lakers were, and as such many of the Lakers greats and their rookie cards are either unsalvageable due to old age or completely devalued due to the era in which their rookie seasons took place.

A good chunk of the 1980s was pretty rough for basketball cards. Companies were overprinting and completely diluting the available supply of cards, making for a complete lack of interest in the cards altogether for quite some time. A good chunk of the late 70s and early 80s has very few cards printed for the league’s hottest players.

The cards that did make it through that era were treated and stored very poorly, meaning if you do have something pristine from that era, it actually might be worth something considerable today.

In general, though, the quality too was quite low in that era and the cards were nothing like the high-quality product we see Panini producing today or even the very clean now retro-feel cards produced in the 90s and early 2000s from Topps, Upper Deck, and SkyBox.

The good news for Lakers collectors is that means it’s sometimes easy to build up a respectable collection of Lakers legends, especially if you’re eyeing rookie cards. Since some of the recent greats like Shaquille O’Neal and Pau Gasol were not drafted by the Lakers and spent their rookie years elsewhere, there are no rookie cards of them in Lakers jerseys.

So, of the cards that include the beautiful purple and gold, which rookies are worth collecting?

Let’s dive into some names and options to keep an eye out for.

Before we get into it, here’s one to keep an eye out for — A trio mini-card set including Kobe Bryant, Derek Fisher, and Elden Campbell from Bryant’s rookie year. It sold for $10 recently. There’s a buy-it-now (as of October 28, 2020 morning) available for $15.