Description
2025-26 Topps Chrome Basketball marks the company’s first licensed standalone Chrome offering since 2008-09, and collectors will get plenty of variety once the product hits store shelves.
Box types for the product will include hobby, jumbo, mega, Fanatics mega, blaster, hanger, Breaker’s Delight, and First Day Issue. Topps will also release a complete factory set and a Sapphire version of the product.
Hobby boxes will include one autograph, while jumbos will have three.
2025-26 Topps Chrome Basketball Checklist Details
If you are new to the Topps basketball scene, Topps Chrome serves as a premium upgrade to the 2025-26 Topps flagship basketball set printed on a chromium stock. Topps announced the base set will run 299 cards, featuring veterans, rookies, and legends.
All of those cards will be covered by more than four dozen parallels, including traditional Refractors and the coveted Frozenfractors (/-5) and Superfractors (1/1).
Other Refractor parallels for the set include Prism, Negative, Magenta (/399), Teal (/299), Yellow (/275), Aqua (/199), Blue (/150), Green (/99), Purple (/75), Gold (/50), Orange (/25), Black (/10), and Red (/5).
Collectors will also search for Wave, Blue Wave (/150), Green Wave (/99), Purple Wave (/75), Gold Wave (/50), Orange Wave (/25), Black Wave (/10), and Red Wave (/5) Refractors.
Additional parallels include Pulsar Refractors (Hanger box-exclusives), SkyLight Refractors (Fanatics mega box exclusives), Blue X-Fractors (Mega box exclusives) and Geometric Refractors (Breaker’s Delight-exclusives) in Gold (/50), Orange (/25), Black (/10), Red (/5), and White (/2).
First Day Issue will be a Jumbo-Exclusive, giving the concept its return for the first time since the 2007-08 Stadium Club set. Blaster boxes will feature Red, White, and Blue parallels.
Topps has selected 50 players for base image variations.
Autographs
Signatures will be plentiful and signed on-card.
The company teased a full rainbow of hard-signed Autograph Refractors, including Blue (/150), Green (/99), Purple (/75), Gold (/50), Orange (/25), Black (/10), Red (/5), and Superfractor (1/1).
Rookies, veterans, and Hall of Famers will be included on the checklist. Signers include rookies Cooper Flagg, Dylan Harper, Ace Bailey, and Cedric Coward; veterans Victor Wembanyama, LeBron James, Stephen Curry, and Chet Holmgren; and Hall of Famers Allen Iverson, Magic Johnson, and Dirk Nowitzki.
On November 21, Topps announced an autograph agreement with Giannis Antetokounmpo and that he would become a late addition to the Topps Chrome checklist.
A new autographed concept will be Stratospheric, which features on-card signatures and players who fly sky-high.
Additional signatures can be found in Future Stars Autographs and Next Stop Signatures.
Another autograph checklist will stretch across both hobby and retail formats. These certified autographs are split, with rookies falling from hobby boxes and veterans falling from retail boxes.
The autograph chase continues with SkyWrite Signatures, which feature players surrounded by clouds, Signature Style, and Chromographs.
Gold NBA Logoman Relics
One of the top chases, however, will be the Gold NBA Logoman Relics.
Starting this season, the previous year’s MVP, Rookie of the Year, and Defensive Player of the Year will wear special golden Logoman patches on the back of their jersey, some of which are later authenticated and placed into very rare Topps Chrome cards.
Reigning MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Rookie of the Year Stephon Castle, and Defensive Player of the Year Evan Mobley will have Relic versions (/4) and Autographed Relic versions (1/1) in the product.
Inserts
Helix, an SSP find that Topps has produced across the sports spectrum, will make a third appearance as part of a basketball Chrome set.
Fanatical inserts, which debuted in 2025 Topps Chrome baseball, will also come to basketball. These SSPs were exclusive to mega boxes and blaster boxes in the baseball set and featured dynamic and emotional photography.
Ultra Violet All-Stars is a hobby-exclusive case-hit, which will feature original artwork on an eccentric design with two images of players.
Other SSPs include: 451, Radiating Rookies, Advisory, Paradox, Let’s Go!, Glass Canvas, Patented, Finals, and Rock Stars, which revitalize a retro theme from 1997-98.
Additional inserts include Youthquake, Sleek Finishers, Destiny, Instinct, Voices, Loading …, Generation Rising, Clutch Gene, Xs & Whoas, Go Time, Ball of Duty, Inspirational, Activators, Serenity, and Tall Tales, which offer the look of a vintage comic book.
A Brief History of Topps Chrome Basketball
Topps Chrome debuted to basketball collectors in 1996-97, right in time to include Kobe Bryant’s rookie card. The company continued a dedicated Chrome release every year through 2008-09 and released Chrome as part of the Topps flagship set in 2009-10, prior to Panini’s takeover of exclusive NBA licensing.
Topps revitalized the brand in 2023-24 and 2024-25 as an unlicensed product, and Chrome will soon make its triumphant return with full licensing now that Topps has regained a deal with the NBA.
2025-26 Topps Chrome Basketball cards at a glance:
Cards per pack: Hobby – 4; Jumbo – 11; Mega – 8; Value Blaster – 4; Hanger – 15
Packs per box: Hobby – 20; Jumbo – 12; Mega – 7; Value Blaster – 7; Hanger – 1
Boxes per case: Hobby – 12; Jumbo – 8; Mega – 20
Set size: 299 cards
Release date (subject to change): December 18, 2025
Shop for 2025 Topps Chrome Basketball cards:
- Hobby Boxes — On eBay
- Jumbo Boxes — On eBay
- Mega Boxes — On eBay
- Value Blasters — On eBay
- Hanger Boxes — On eBay
Shop for past years’ Topps Chrome Basketball cards:
What to expect in a hobby box:
- Autographs – 1
- Base Refractors – 6
- Base Prism Refractors – 4
- Additional Base Parallels – 4
- Inserts – 12
What to expect in a jumbo box:
- Autographs – 3
- Base Prism Refractors – 6
- Additional Base Parallels – 5
- Inserts – 16
What to expect in a mega box:
- X-Fractor Parallels – 10
- Base Refractors – 2
- Base Prism Refractors – 1
- Base RayWave Refractors – 2
- Inserts – 3
What to expect in a value blaster box:
- Red, White, and Blue Parallels – 2
- Base Refractors – 1
- Additional Base Parallels – 2
- Inserts – 2
What to expect in a hanger box:
- Pulsar Parallels
