Collecting Dream Team rookie cards is a must for any basketball card collector, but it’s usually something someone works on collecting over the course of their entire lives.
We list out the best Dream Team rookie cards, but we also believe in getting great rookie cards of all basketball players, as well as other sports, so we created these pages for sports card collectors to bookmark:
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Dream Team Rookie Cards: The Backstory!
Before 1992, NBA players were prohibited from participating in the Olympics because they were no longer considered amateurs, which was what the U.S. Team were supposed to represent – the best amateur American athletes.
The Seoul Olympics in the summer of 1988 changed all of that because USA Basketball lost to the Russian team (mostly made up of professionals) and would go on to bring home the bronze medal in a game created in America. Apparently, that didn’t set well with people, as that “amateurs-only” rule got thrown out in April of 1989.
The first 10 players on the ’92 Barcelona roster were Larry Bird, Patrick Ewing, Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan, Karl Malone, Chris Mullin, Scottie Pippen, David Robinson and John Stockton. Clyde Drexler was added on later, with Christian Laettner also joining as the only collegiate player, as a nod to the previous amateur system.
On the February 18, 1991, issue of Sports Illustrated had several stars of the 1992 U.S. Basketball Team on the cover, with the headline, “Dream Team,” and the name stuck forever! The five players gracing that awesome magazine cover were Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Charles Barkley, Patrick Ewing and Karl Malone. You can buy copies of that magazine for less than $50 on eBay.
Dream Team Rookie Cards
Obviously, PSA 10s in all of these cards would be the ideal choices for any collection, but we all can’t afford that. Personally, I’ve picked up at least PSA 7 slabs of all the ’86 Fleer cards (except Jordan!), and PSA 8 slabs for the more accessible 1988 Fleer cards.
1986 Fleer Michael Jordan Rookie Card #57 PSA 7
Jordan was the lynch-pin for USA Basketball, but his rookie card is also key for any list of Dream Team rookie cards. This is an iconic card, no doubt, and I even did a video about 9 Amazing Facts You Didn’t Know About Jordan’s Rookie Card.
Not everyone (including me!) can afford a decent copy of his rookie card, so I wanted to share three other affordable options:
- 1987 Fleer Michael Jordan #59 PSA 7: A great shot of M.J. bringing the ball up the court with his finger raised, in his iconic No. 23 jersey. Don’t sleep on this card – it’s a big deal! It’s believed that Fleer produced fewer 1987 cards than they did for 1986. There are about 100,000 Fleer basketball cards from this year graded at PSA, compared to over 430,000 slabs from 1986.
- 1988 Fleer Michael Jordan #17 PSA 7: While the 1987 card is less produced and an earlier version of a Jordan card, the 1988 card is still a great one!
- 1996 Fleer Michael Jordan “Decade of Excellence” #4 PSA 9: This is a 10-year anniversary insert commemorating the superb rookie cards from 1986, and it looks exactly like the original – except it has “Fleer Decade of Excellence 1986-1996” gold embossed on the bottom left on the front. Since I won’t be owning the Michael Jordan rookie card any time soon, I grabbed this one to sit as a placeholder in my display with my other 1986 Fleer rookie cards.
1980 Topps Larry Bird / Magic Johnson Rookie Card PSA 7
Can you imagine if a rookie card came out in 2018 with Luka Doncic and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander on it? Even that wouldn’t be as awesome as this Bird/Magic rookie card, with Julius Erving in the middle as the NBA scoring leader!
Bird and Magic competed against each other in college, entered the NBA the same year and would go on to be tied together for the rest of their careers. This tri-panel card is one of the five most iconic basketball cards ever! Along with Michael’s rookie card, this card happens to be one of the most expensive Dream Team rookie cards out there.
1981 Topps Magic Johnson Rookie Card #21 PSA 8
1981 Topps Larry Bird Rookie Card #4 PSA 7
As great as the 1980 Topps card is, I also like to display the first solo cards of each of these players! Be careful when purchasing these cards, though, since there are also “In Action” cards, that aren’t quite as awesome.
1986 Fleer Charles Barkley Rookie Card #7 PSA 7
Barkley’s rookie card is considered the second-best RC in that ’86 Fleer set, just behind Jordan’s rookie card, and ahead of Akeem Olajuwon’s first-year card. Sir Charles is charismatic and lovable now, as a studio analyst on TNT, but this ’92 season was one of the first he became lovable to the rest of America, who previously knew him as grumpy and volatile.
You’ll see a lot of superstar rookie cards in this 1986 Fleer NBA set, which is why I looked deeper into it to see if this is the G.O.A.T of All Basketball Cards Sets Ever!
1986 Fleer Patrick Ewing Rookie Card #32 PSA 7
One of the best centers to ever come out of college, Ewing was the first overall pick in the 1985 NBA Draft, after a controversial lottery system was instituted that allowed the New York Knicks to win the top pick. Ewing dominated Eastern Conference centers for over a decade, and he would end up on both the NBA’s 50th and 75th Anniversary teams.
1986 Fleer Karl Malone Rookie Card #68 PSA 7
While Malone’s history off the court hasn’t been golden, this rookie card ranks as one of the “must gets” of this set. “The Mailman” is considered one of the greatest power forwards in NBA history, as a 11-time first-team selection of the All-NBA Team, which is tied with Kobe Bryant for second-most, behind LeBron James’ 13.
1986 Fleer Chris Mullin Rookie Card #77 PSA 7
Mullin actually won two gold medals with Team USA because he was included on the ’84 Olympic squad in Los Angeles. Considered one of the best sharp-shooters in the NBA, he was a five-time All-Star and one of the most beloved Golden State Warriors ever. This is one of the cheaper Dream Team rookie cards available, but it doesn’t mean it’s not awesome!
1986 Fleer Clyde Drexler Rookie Card #26 PSA 7
This 10-time All-Star is a member of both the NBA’s 50th and 75th Anniversary teams, and he won his only NBA championship after joining the Houston Rockets in 1995, rejoining his Houston college teammate Hakeem Olajuwon. Along with his nemesis, Michael Jordan, Drexler is considered one of the best shooting guards in NBA history.
1988 Fleer John Stockton Rookie Card #115 PSA 8
Despite being drafted in the same rookie class as Barkley, Jordan and Olajuwon, the unassuming point guard out of Gonzaga had to wait for his rookie card to come in in 1988 instead of ’86 or ’87. How does that make sense? At least this is one of the cheaper Dream Team rookie cards available because of that!
Stockton spent all 19 of his NBA season with the Utah Jazz, many of which came alongside Malone. Both of them, unfortunately, would come up on the wrong side of two NBA Finals appearances against Jordan’s Chicago Bulls. Stockton was a 10-time All-Star and he still holds the NBA records for career assists and steals.
1988 Fleer Scottie Pippen Rookie Card #20 PSA 8
Malone had Stockton, but M.J. had Pippen alongside him for six NBA championships with the Bulls in the ‘90s. Jordan is considered one of the greatest shooting guards ever, as was Drexler; Magic was considered one of the best point guards ever, as was Stockton; Malone was considered one of the greatest power forwards ever, along with Barkley. And Bird was considered one of the greatest small forwards ever, along with Pippen.
Pippen was a two-way threat, like Jordan, being named to eight NBA All-Defense First Teams, and seven All-Star teams. Pippen is the only NBA player to have won and NBA title and an Olympic gold medal in the same year twice.
Since this card came in the ’88 Fleer set, it’s one of the more affordable Dream team rookie cards.
1989 NBA Hoops David Robinson Rookie Card #138 PSA 9
Hoops was the first card company officially licensed by the NBA, and in 1989, it was the first company to go up against Fleer for basketball card sales.
The Admiral is the only player on this team to win both a bronze medal (from the ’88 Seoul Olympics) and a gold medal in 1992. Robinson was the first overall NBA pick in 1987, but he finished out his career in the Navy before joining the Spurs in the NBA in 1989.
Robinson’s PSA 9 copies can be had for around $30, which is cheap for any of these Dream Team rookie cards. His rookie card came out during the junk wax era, so there are many available.
1992 Upper Deck Christian Laettner Rookie Card # PSA 10
While we look back and say Laettner is a questionable pick out of college to join the Dream Team, make no mistake that there was no one more acclaimed coming out of college at that time. He’s even considered one of the greatest college basketball players ever – at any time!
Laettner was coming off back-to-back NCAA Championships with Duke, and he was the 1992 NCAA Player of the Year, before getting the nod to join Jordan’s team. Plus, Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski was an assistant coach on Chuck Daly’s Dream Team.
While he only made one NBA All-Star team, he would go on to play 13 seasons in the NBA.
Since it’s one of the cheapest Dream Team rookie cards out there, you can choose to get a gem-mint PSA 10 version, or you can even choose to do what I do, and buy a PSA/DNA Autographed rookie card of Christian Laettner at a relatively cheap price!
Two Players Who Just Missed the ’92 Dream Team
1992 Topps Shaquille O’Neal Rookie Card #362 PSA 10: Sure, Shaq was considered the better NBA prospect than Laettner, as he was the first overall pick by the Orlando Magic in ’92. But Laettner had the better resume at that time. Reportedly, Shaq, Jimmy Jackson and Alonzo Mourning were considered for that final spot rewarded to Laettner. There are a lot of Shaq rookie cards out there, but this Topps one is the most iconic.
1986 Fleer Isiah Thomas Rookie Card #109 PSA 7: Famously, Zeke was left off the squad because Jordan reportedly said he wouldn’t play if Thomas was on it. It was crucial for the Dream Team to have M.J., so Thomas got left back home. He had to pay the bill for the over-physical play the “Bad Boys” Detroit Pistons applied on Jordan during Detroit’s championship runs.
Other Great Dream Team Cards To Collect
While owning the Dream Team rookie cards can turn a good collection into a great one, we wanted to share some of the other great Team USA basketball cards from that original 1992 historic squad. Since these came out in 1992, they’re obviously not rookie cards, but it doesn’t make them un-collectable. For me, some of these cards are “must-own” cards despite their cheap price tags!
1991-92 Skybox Dream Team Cards
These were by far the best looking of all the Dream Team cards, from their beautiful individual cards for the first 10 players on the team (minus Drexler and Laettner), to the trio of cards that make up the coolest puzzle ever. My suggestion is to buy three graded copies of cards #544, #545 and #546, and then buy this sweet three-graded card display. Or you can buy the raw cards and use this three-card display from Amazon.
1991-92 NBA Hoops Team USA Cards
This was part of a 32-card subset at the end of the 1991-92 NBA Hoops Series 2 set, which included not just the Dream Team cards, but also cards of great Team USA players from past Olympic seasons. It also has cards of the Olympic coaches, like Daly, Krzyzewski, Lenny Wilkens and P.J. Carlesimo.
Since the 1992 Barcelona Olympics was the first year with professional U.S. athletes, right at the junk wax era, there were Olympic cards produced, which includes more Dream Team cards.
This Impel set was the very first regular trading card set for the Olympics! Since cards need to be produced well before the Olympics took place in the summer of ’92, this set of cards even has some athletes that didn’t make Team USA (like decathlete Dan O’Brien)! It does have Olympic athletes in many different sports, though, which is cool – including Team USA. Guys like Oscar De la Hoya and Lance Armstrong had rookie cards in this set!
Topps didn’t join the basketball card fray until 1992, but they couldn’t get in on the Dream Team cards boat! Skybox got the license, and they also used their Impel brand to create these Olympic cards.
If you love rookie cards, here are some more articles tracking great cards from the past and present:
- The Most Valuable Baseball Rookie Card of Every Year Since 1948
- 1st Bowman Cards For the Top 100 MLB Prospects in Baseball Right Now!
- Topps Rookie Cards of the Top 100 MLB Players Right Now (2024!)
- The Best Topps Chrome Rookie Cards From Every Year Since 1996
- The Best 2nd-Year Baseball Cards Dating Back to 1953
- The Best BASKETBALL Rookie Cards From Each NBA Season Since 1948
- The Best FOOTBALL Rookie Cards From Each NFL Season Since 1956
- The Best HOCKEY Rookie Cards From Each NHL Season Since 1951
Are there some Dream Team rookie cards you plan to pick up? How far away are you from completing your collection?
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