Description
The release of 2025-26 Topps Basketball marks the company’s first licensed basketball product since 2009, as Fanatics and the NBA enter into a new long-term and exclusive trading card licensing agreement.
Collectors can expect to find an autograph or relic card in every hobby box, while jumbo boxes will feature one autograph and one relic.
2025-26 Topps Basketball Checklist Overview
Topps had produced NBA cards in recent years through an agreement with the NBA Players’ Association, but that prevented the company from using logos or team names. Among Topps’ recent basketball sets, none were a new edition of the flagship product.
Historically, Topps first produced NBA cards in 1957-58, then again from 1969-70 through 1980-81. A rise in the NBA’s popularity pushed Topps to return the flagship set to the industry in 1992-93, and collectors enjoyed a new edition every year through 2009-10, when Panini took over exclusive licensing rights to produce basketball cards.
Now, the 2025-26 flagship Topps checklist kicks off the new era with 300 cards, including 45 rookie cards and 30 combo cards. The design is the same one Topps used for its 2025 Topps Baseball set.
Short-printed Golden Mirror cards will make their basketball debut, giving each card in the base set an alternate photo and a golden background on the flip side.
Other versions include the 1/1 First Card parallel, which gives the first card of each player off the production line a special stamp.
Blackout, Clear, and Team Color Border variants will also be available, and select players will have Player Number Variations. These cards showcase a player’s number repeated throughout the background and are serial-numbered to match the player’s jersey number.
Autographs
Topps has loaded its return to basketball with plenty of autographs for collectors to chase – and an extra layer of excitement comes in the form of Victor Wembanyama’s first licensed autograph cards. As an exclusive signer for Fanatics, Wembanyama’s Panini cards could not feature his signature.
Flagship Real One Autographs have checklists for veterans and rookies, though one of the biggest themes for autograph collectors will be the cards based on the classic 1980-81 Topps set.
To celebrate the set’s 45th anniversary, there are four autograph sets inspired by that design, with veterans and rookies each getting their own checklist of Base Autographs and Chrome Autographs.
Additional autograph sets include:
- Contemporary Marks
- Havoc Marks
- Marks of Excellence
- New Applicants Autographs
- Rookie Photo Shoot Autographs
- Signed and Sealed
- Topps Notch Signatures
There are also Dual Rookie Photo Shoot Autographs and 1980-81 Topps Triple Autographs.
Memorabilia Cards
Topps also delivers on the memorabilia relics in its new flagship set.
A blast from the past is Own The Game, a long-running insert from Topps that included jersey pieces in 2006 and 2008.
Additional relic sets include:
- Flagship Real One Relics
- Franchise Fabrics
- Rise to the Occasion
- Rookie Roundball Remnants
- Swish and Stitch Relics
- Woven Wonder Relics
Inserts
As baseball collectors could tell you, the Topps flagship set has become the home to an extensive line of insert concepts every year, and the company brings the same mindset to its new basketball set.
Collectors can find nearly two dozen insert sets, a mixture of old favorites, concepts borrowed from baseball, and new sets.
Inserts familiar to baseball collectors include:
- Stars of the NBA
- 8-Bit Ballers
- Power Players
- All Kings
Retro concepts from earlier basketball releases include:
- New School (1997-98)
- No Limit (2000-01)
- Rise to Stardom (2000-01)
- Clutch City Prospects (2006-07)
- Generation Now (2007-08)
New inserts include:
- Daily Dribble
- Levitation
- Comic Court
- Home Court
- Sonic Boom
- Sole Ambition
- Hardwood Stars
- Class of ’25
Another new insert is MVP Vault, which pays tribute to some of the MVP winners during Topps’ most recent absence from the industry.
The 1980-81 Topps Basketball retro inserts include 100 players, with 99 cards appearing with a Chrome finish.
2025-26 Topps Basketball cards at a glance:
Cards per pack: Hobby – 12; Jumbo – 40; Mega – 14; Value – 12
Packs per box: Hobby – 20; Jumbo – 10; Mega – 16; Value – 12
Boxes per case: Hobby – 12; Jumbo – 8; Mega – 20
Set size: 300 cards
Release date (subject to change): October 23, 2025
Shop for 2025-26 Topps Basketball boxes on eBay:
Can’t wait for the new set? Shop for past years’ Topps Basketball boxes on eBay:
What to expect in a hobby box:
- Autographs or Relics – 1 Total
What to expect in a jumbo box:
- Autographs – 1
- Relics – 1
