Welcome back, loyal listeners of the Stacking Slabs podcast two season two, episode two of the WNBA card podcast.

I'm your host, Caitlin, at Cold Lunch Cards, and I'm joined by my incredible cohost, Brett at stacking slabs. And we're excited to continue to be giving you guys collector driven and community focused content.

Brett, how are you doing today? I'm well. It is an exciting time to be a WNBA fan and collector. And I mentioned this to Caitlin in the I don't know.

We're DM ing. I Indianapolis right now looks like the Disney World for the WNBA. It is. I swear, every time I'm driving on a new street, there's a huge new monster Gatorade or Nike banner.

Like, I don't know if anyone seen anything quite like this, but I'm so proud of Indianapolis right now. It just looks so awesome. And, yeah, I'm excited for you, Caitlin, and I know we'll be talking a little bit about all star and such.

But, yeah, it's it's a fun time here in Indy. Yeah. I can't wait to join you over in Indiana for my first visit. And, yeah, it looks like a lot of fun, a lot of investment going up for the WNBA. So love to see it.

Well, before we get into talking more about kind of those travel plans and the upcoming all star game, we did have a bit of an exciting announcement for our listeners today, which is that, the WNBA card podcast is officially sponsored, and we're excited to shout out our first sponsor today, which is Great Lakes Trading Co.

They're a local hobby shop based in my headquarters of Saint Paul, Minnesota.

The owners, Chris and Spence. Spencer are both great human beings who are making sure that the WNBA is focused in their store through cards and boxes, wax, collectors, events, etcetera.

And we're just super excited to be partnering with them, to promote spaces in the hobby where women are welcomed and where WNBA cards are prominent and at the forefront.

Brett for our Patreon members is pulling up their video showing you what the store looks like, during their grand opening in June.

They are located on 2121 Randolph Ave in Saint Paul, Minnesota, and they're open Monday through Saturday, eleven to 7PM.

And it's just super exciting personally, as a WNBA collector to have a place that has a full showcase of WNBA cards. You don't see that often, and I know that they're making it a priority.

So shout out to Great Lakes Trading Co, for being our first sponsor of the WNBA card pod. We're super excited to continue letting you guys know about what's going on at that shop and how you guys can support them.

I'm super excited. Shout out Great Lakes Trading Co. And what's been fun about this and kind of behind the scenes is just to have conversations with so many, businesses in the hobby that wanna jump on board and wanna support.

So I'm really excited about just the interest and the support of the WNBA collecting community that we've got from, businesses in the hobby.

And, hopefully, as we continue to kinda move forward, we'll have some more exciting updates. Absolutely. Alright. Thanks, Great Lakes Train Co. We're gonna move on to tip-off today. That was kind of the pregame, I suppose.

Let's move into tip-off. I'm super excited to talk about this. There's a lot going on, like Brett said, in Indianapolis in his hometown. And, Brett, I think you went to a couple, maybe more than than a couple fever games the past week.

And like we said before, I'm on my way to indie or in indie by the time this episode releases. So how are you feeling? How's the games? How's Indianapolis? Yeah. It it this was a wild week for me on the, fan front.

I think part of, like, my coping and this is why I love the w so much. Part of my coping with, the Pacers season being over with and having that, like, just two months in Cambridge being part of playoff basketball.

Once the dust settled on the season, I just got so excited to kind of reinvest that energy into my fever fandom. And during the playoffs, I had gone to so many games. I'd spent so much money.

I had not gone to any fever games, and I was ready to go back for some basketball. So, unexpectedly, I had just a wild week of attending three fever home games all right in a row. And it wasn't planned, it just kind of happened.

And it really started on, last Wednesday where the tip-off game was at, noon, and it was like the kit or 01:00. It was the kids' camp day and which is awesome to get kids out. And the fever were playing the Valkyrie.

And the night before, I looked at it and I said, you know what? Like, ever since I've been doing this solo, I haven't taken any half days. And this seems like a pretty good opportunity to take a half day.

So got really excited, got my fever gear on, headed to Cambridge. And it was, like, seeing that amount of people pour into Cambridge at that random time was just so much fun.

And I got just they were probably the best seats I've ever they they were the best seats I've ever seen, the fever play in. I was lower level center court. It was just insane. They were, like, insane tickets.

I had access to, like, the lower level amenities. Don't ask me how I pulled this off. But outside of all of the conversation about the game exciting excitement, that was about the extent of it because the fever absolutely stunk.

The the Valkyries just crushed them on every account, and it really made me appreciate the Valkyries and just how tenacious they are defensively.

Obviously, a super well coached team. They are the definition of overachievers, and the fever didn't show up that game, and it it it they made them pay for it. So it was interesting where you've got Kate Martin and, Caitlin Clark there.

I think the whole state of Iowa was in the building. They bring these buses and all these, people from Iowa get out, and it's just crazy. And you can see them all run-in packs.

So it's kind of like, they get a winner whichever way they, it goes, which is fortunate for them. And what's also wild is just, like, Caitlin Clark has never beat Kate Martin. Yes. Six to no. Six to no for Kate Martin.

Does. I can't believe that. I bet if you if there was a line on how many times Kate Martin was gonna beat Caitlin Clark in the w, it would have been zero. There's like, I just don't think that anybody saw that coming.

Speaking of lines, in of sidebar here, I gotta say my my over bet on the Lynx and Liberty losses by the time they play each other. It's 10, Caitlin. So I think I win that bet. I don't even wanna talk about it.

Most of those are the Liberty. Let's see. They are. They are. They are. But you gotta clump them together. But, anyways, so I was walking down Penn to get an Uber on my way home, and I was just so frustrated after that game.

It was just like I was so excited. There was just such a stinker. And I looked, and I was like, oh, I gotta wait until Friday to watch the fever again and make up for this.

And I just had this moment on Thursday. I just texted my wife, and she's great. And we all have our partners who, like, support our insanity when it comes to fandom.

I I just said, hey. Fever play the dream on Friday. It's at 07:30. Do you care if I go? And she's like, no. Go. Have fun. And all of a sudden, I was back buying a ticket.

And then I got nervous. I was like, man, the dream had beat the fever both times they played them. They're really good. Am I just like putting myself through, like, this this punishment or what?

But, fortunately, the dream, did not play their best ball. Actually, like, on the Ryan Howard front, I thought she was legitimately out for the season based on the injury and the way they had the towels out.

Luckily, it's not as serious as I think it, I initially thought. She came back and played in the second half, which I was, like, insane.

I was, like, how's she playing? Like, it looks so severe. But, anyways, the fever played good ball. Sophie Cunningham was, like, electric off the bench. 16 points, 10 rebounds, fever win, great win against a really good team.

And then Sunday rolled around, and Sunday, if anyone has, you know, out there listening, has kids, I'm sure many of you do, you know, by Sunday, it's like, alright.

What are we gonna do with the kids? Get them out of the house. And I was getting ready, getting breakfast, and, I think my wife did some investigating.

She just goes, hey. Would you like to take Jolene to which is my oldest to the fever game today? I said, I absolutely would. That sounds like the best question ever.

Yeah. Yeah. Sure. I'll I'll I'll take my daughter. And I she we drive by Cambridge to go to school every day, and she always talks about seeing Juju when we took her there for the big ten tournament.

So I was like, by the way, tickets are gonna be expensive because Paige is in town, and it's Paige v Caitlin one. And I looked at the tickets, and they they the tickets were definitely more expensive than any other game.

But I was like, I I'm getting the approval. Let's do this. Went to that game, and it was just awesome. I think it was the it it felt to me like the first game that Caitlin Clark really started to feel and play like herself again.

You can tell just like the she's not 100% based on the injury, and you can see her, like, grimace here and there.

But Mhmm. In the game, she played like I feel like she can play to her full potential with the distribution. She hit some threes. Her long shot isn't quite there yet. She's very frustrated.

She's working on it. You can tell. But, yeah. It was a great win. They had fever beat the brakes off the wings. The wings stink. I felt really bad for Enrique because she played just she had two points and literally could it was a joke.

She couldn't hit a layup. She couldn't any hit anything, and you can just tell, like, she is so frustrated right now. And I feel bad for her because, obviously, I'm a big fan.

Final note for me is Paige is just unreal. Like, she plays like she's been in the league for ten years, and I was watching her. I was like, if this is what we're getting, like, now, like, get ready.

She is a very, very special player. But, yeah, Dallas is a Dallas is a mess. Sorry, Wigs fan. So it it was nice to go kinda get get two wins, one loss, as we're recording this fever play the sun tonight.

So I'm hoping for more wins, which we should. If we don't, then I'm gonna be depressed again. But, yeah, it was a fun week of seeing three games in a row. I'm so jealous, Brett.

And and I just got a hit on that wings v fever was such a big game. Like, I was so hyped for it. And the first quarter did not did not disappoint. It was competitive. Like, they were neck and neck the whole first quarter.

And then five Paige left the court, and they just completely, completely fell apart. It's it's crazy that a rookie can be that glue and that binding for a team. Because without Paige on the court, you'd expect Enrique to step up.

And like you said, I think she went o for 10 or over a week in the field, including, like, some pretty objectively easy shots. Just wanna shout out Paige for being an incredible leader in the postgame, press conference.

She got asked some difficult questions about Enrique's role that game. And just watching her respond to those so maturely saying, you know, she's gonna bounce back.

She's we know who Enrique is. Like, you don't see that from a rookie, or anyone, to be honest. And to see it from a rookie is just just makes me admire and respect Paige that much more.

And I think the Paige Clark, quote, unquote, rivalry isn't the right word, but matchup Mhmm. Is gonna be exciting for the next ten to fifteen years.

God willing, they both, stay in the w that long. That it was just super exciting. And and Paige, despite the horrific game that her team played, put up some impressive numbers and had some really difficult shots go in.

And I just think the word for her, obviously, that every corresponds is efficiency, but really seeing it at all three levels is is crazy.

And on the defensive side, I just have no way to knock her game. So I'm I'm jealous that you got to see her, in the flesh. You you know how much I love Sonya, and just the what she does and how she plays.

Like, this was my first time ever seeing Paige, live, and I knew I was gonna be impressed, but I was blown away by just how intelligent she is and how confident she is.

And it's year like, the Caitlin verse, Paige matchups in years to come are gonna be very special.

And I would imagine what we're gonna see in Dallas is a, I would imagine it's gonna be a a blow up or, hey. Let's do whatever we can to surround Paige with the right pieces and push this team forward.

But, yeah, rookie year, it this is how it always happens. You get drafted to the worst team, and you have to suffer, but you can see how good she is.

So if you're a Wings fan, there's a lot to be excited for, and that a lot is Paige. Yeah. Exactly. Exactly. I wanna touch on one last thing with the Wings here, which is that coaching situation is very interesting.

It's I don't know if our listeners know this, but, in case you guys don't know, Lisa Leslie apparently interviewed for that head coaching position in Dallas and didn't get it.

And to me, looking back, that was just not a good first step by the Dallas wings. It's no hate to this coach. I know a lot of people are saying things. There's a lot of lot of discourse out there about their current coach.

But to pass up on Lisa Leslie and go with somebody that has significantly less experience, and then for it not to work out, if I was a Wings fan, I would be pretty pissed off.

Yeah. This should be a Netflix documentary, to be honest, behind the scenes.

We've got the the GM calling the shots. It's just he said he said it's just, the player, the roster. It's about as ugly as, it could possibly be when you're trying to set the stage for your superstar for the next ten ten years.

So, I thought the fever, especially in the first half of the season with sides and the mess that was going on, I thought I was like, oh, I'm gonna have to suffer through this in Caitlyn's first year, and then they turned it around after all star.

But this is like it is so much uglier than that.

And, yeah, it's it's it's bad. But though things will get moved quickly, I would wouldn't imagine anything will happen in season, but I would imagine there's gonna be a lot of change come year too.

Yeah. I I've got this master plan in my head of what the wings are gonna do. And let me just say this. I've got Enrique going to the sky. I think that would be best. Just chuck it up, Enrique. You know, angels down there somewhere.

Just just chuck it up. I think that this Oh, that's sick of it. Yeah. I just I've got this plan for the wings, and I just know they're gonna do nothing about it. But, yeah. Exciting team, hopefully, in the next few years.

I'll get off my wings so fucked. Yeah. I'll I'll say this final final on that front. It's, you know, we have to have, like, rivals in a way as fans, and I always view its proximity and everything else.

And especially now with Angel Caitlin, even though the media spins it up. But it's like I view the sky as kind of the the fever's, rival.

It's just like it's just like that's what that's how I feel as a fever fan. And although, like, I want Arikae to be in a better situation, and that situation sounds the best.

I can't imagine her being on the sky and me being, like, I have to cheer for Enrique on the sky, but I want the best for her, and we'll see how it all, goes.

I'll also say final final, sad. I was like, fever. There's, all star stuff everywhere. Like, all the buses have wraps on it, and I felt so bad.

Like, one of the buses has just, like, Enrique on it. I'm like, oh, they that's just sad. Oh, nice. Like, not nowhere near the all star, and they're promoting her as an all star. It just kinda sucks.

So I I feel really bad for her this year. It's okay. I drafted her on my all star draft that we had on the pod, so she can have that as a consolation prize. I know that means a lot to her. I wasn't gonna remind anybody. Alright.

Well, let's talk about my kind of schedule of things. Brett's beating me in in person games, and I'm very upset about that. I've I I haven't made it back to a link scheme at Target Center since that Mystics game, which was very fun.

But I gotta get more on the calendar. And I kinda I kinda think I wanna go to a storm game, Brett. I was promised French dunking, and there has been no French dunking by Dominique Malonga thus far.

And I wanna be there when it happens. And it's probably not gonna happen in Minnesota, but that's the team that I'm kind of eyeing up as a potential game to go see in person.

Yeah. They they they haven't really needed her because they've been, I think, exceeding, most of our expectations with their play. But, yeah, I'm ready for them to unleash her at some point and see some some French dunking.

It'll be good for everybody. Speaking of French dunking, just a little aside, I saw there's a 17 year old French high school basketball player throwing it down with two hands over a euro basket.

So it looks like the French just keep producing these alien like basketball players. What is it? Is it the croissants? Is it the what's going on? Is it the wine or what?

I don't know. But, anyways, my point is I wanna go see the storm. I wanna see some dunks. Get Malonga off the short leash. She's on my fantasy team, so I have to watch her. And there's so much potential, but she's 19 years old.

So I completely understand keeping her on that short leash. So, yeah, the the storm are on my must watch list this year, and the second team that I really wanna see is the Valkyries.

We kinda touched on them. You got to see them in person. I think Natalie Nakase is the clear front runner for coach of the year, and that team, like you said, is very competitive.

They're a team of overachievers. Temi Fig Benley said, we're a team of six men or six women, and I think that that couldn't be more true.

And I just I really wanna see the first the first team, I suppose, the first Valkyries team in person and be able to say that I saw that.

So that's kinda on my to do list for WNBA watching in person. Those are good squads. Yeah. Be careful what you wish for on the Valkyrie front.

I know. I know. They're pretty they're sneaky for sure. Yeah. But in addition to those games as we talked about, I think the big headline here is that I'm going to all star weekend, which I'm super excited about.

And we keep talking about it. I think it's gonna be a theme through this episode, but I'm sitting 13 rows up for its skills challenge in the three point contest.

As of now, I think we've only got two confirmed for the three point contest, and we'll know by the time this comes out who the winner is.

So super exciting stuff, and look for me in the crowd. I'm debating whether I wanna make make a sign or not.

Do you gotta do do a signs are so huge at w games. Do it. There's some there's some clever ones this weekend. There were people, which is crazy, there were people off the top of my dome in that three game stretch.

There was people from Australia. Like, I came to Australia to see Caitlin Clark. Australia, Ireland, I saw one from Spain, and it's it's just wild. Like, all the people from around the world are coming to these games, which is amazing.

Yeah. I I think the WNBA all star game is gonna have a lot of that too. I imagine that it's gonna be packed, and there's gonna be tons of people walking around.

But one other thing that I wanted to hit on is that we're kind of at the midpoint of the season, Brett. It's not the exact midpoint, I think. Regular season starts May 16. The last possible final state is October 19.

The exact midpoint between those two dates is August 2, so the August. We're a bit before that. But it's always so interesting to see where the, teams line up at the midseason and then compare that to later in the year.

And I think that teams are either starting to catch their groove kinda like the Valkyries, or hit their stride, or they're wobbling a little bit in their comfort like the Lynx and and the, the Liberty.

So, it'll be interesting to see where we go from here, but just wanted to recognize that we're almost halfway through the season, which is it feels like a lot of basketball has been played, but it also feels like there's a lot to go.

So it makes sense. What one team all shout out who's been overly impressive and probably doesn't get enough airtime here is the Mercury.

They've exceeded expectations. Dangerous team. I remember looking at their, odds to win a championship at the beginning of the year, and they they were, like, maybe the best value play.

It was crazy. But, yeah, we I we just not out of we're not being intentional to not talking about them, but, yeah.

They've been really good. Yeah. I would say right now they're the link's biggest threat, and they're playing without two of their best players.

They're playing without Satu Sabli and KFC, Kalia Copper. And once those two get in there with AT who's been putting up, she's been putting up MVP numbers, folks.

AT is playing like an MVP. She's not gonna win it because of the piece of color, but I think she's very well deserving of that second spot. And it's just so crazy that we do not talk it out about AT.

She's been in the top five MVP conversation for the past five years and is bringing the Phoenix Mercury to the top of the standings in the league, and I'm just so impressed by what's going on over there.

I watched the Mercury VELKS game last night, which would have been Monday night by the time you're hearing this. And my god, AT is unstoppable. It's just a she's just an engine, and it just keeps going. And I just she's so fun to watch.

She's not as flashy as, say, like, a logo three. She's got one of the worst looking shot forms I've ever seen in my life. But she can get it done, and she's definitely growing on me as one of my more exciting players in league.

There'll be more on her card front later in this episode, but I'll also say I don't know if you saw this, and I can't recall the poll. It was like a quick Instagram thing.

It was biggest, smack talkers in the WNBA, and, AT had had the click was had the margins big time. She was number one. And I I saw a quote, and the quote was just like, I don't even guard her, and she talks shit to me.

I just love that. How can you not love that? Like, that's an incredible reputation in the fact that, we're getting to see those kind of, like, behind the scenes of player voting.

I just that's awesome. Alright. Should we get into our exciting kind of new segment that we're exploring in season two?

Yes. So, Caitlin mentioned data, and my ears perked up in terms of initiatives going into this season of the WNBA card podcast. And I thought, well, for this episode, let's get it going.

And so what I wanted to do and first of all, this wouldn't be possible without Card Ladder. Shout out Card Ladder, the official data provider of the WNBA card podcast, but it's all star.

I figured what not a better time to look at all stars this year and look back at their card card market. Just analyze what's going on. Try to identify opportunities. So that's what we are going to do here.

And I I felt, the best place to set the stage for this would be to I'm going to go through and just mention all the all stars and how many times they have appeared in the all star game, and then we'll get into some data analysis, that I pulled up from card ladder.

So at the top of the mountain, you've got Nneka. She's got this is her tenth appearance. Stewie, seven, Fi, five, Sabrina, four, Clark, second, Boston, third, Sabley, third, Gray, third, Paige, first.

Those are the starters. Reserves, Diggins, seven, eighty six, Kelsey Plum, four, Jackie Young, four, Kelsey Mitchell, three, third, Rhine Time, third.

Although, she's not gonna be playing. I'm it'll be live probably by the time this goes out, but I'm interested to see who's gonna replace her. Do you have any guesses?

Britney Sykes is my pick. That's who it should be. But but I will say Cheryl Reeve, head coach of the links, did say how come, you know, a team that's not as high in the standings is getting more quantity of all star players?

So if we're going for winners, I'm going Alana Smith of the LINKS.

It's yeah. The the LINKS have a lot going on. Maybe the most, fierce defender, I the the links have a couple. Right? You got fee and you got her it's her. So it's like two potential defensive players of the year on one team.

But, yeah, I know you're gonna rep your player. I know you probably talk smack if I try to push another fever player in there. Think? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So Angel Reese, second.

Caitlin's favorite player, Courtney Williams, second selection. Makes sense, folks. What are we doing here? I we'll leave it at that. I don't wanna talk about it anymore. Gabby Williams, first selection. Sonia Citron first. Kiki first.

Kayla Thornton first. So that's the breakdown. And what I wanted to do, first question I'm asking myself, and I figured it would be digging through there, is just making multiple all star teams consistently lead to higher card values.

And I wanted to break this down by, you know, the first year, obviously, there's no cards really. There is some but for Paige. Second year, there's a lot of hype.

Third year, maybe you're still falling into the hype, but I feel like at the fourth four year mark, you're really starting to see maybe, like, the values and where things sit. So I pulled let's see here.

There are seven players that based on that list who have made four or more, all star teams. What I did in this exercise is I picked one card, from their index, and then tried to look at all time sales of those.

Like, how many sales? What are they selling for? And I figured, Caitlin, like, I don't really have, like, a a script on.

This is where we're gonna end up, but I figured it'd be fun to just, like, present some of this data and kinda have a conversation. Yeah. I'm super excited for this, Brett. Let's dig into it.

Okay. So we've got NECA first, and the example is the 2012 Rittenhouse, rookie PSA nine out of 500. So the last sale of this card was 06/28/2025 for $862. Now there has been nine total sales of this card and a PSA nine.

Publicly, that card ladder pulls. And if you look at the kinda if I go by, date sold, if you look at the data, it's crazy. Like, you can go back 02/22, and this card is selling at 522.

It goes all the way up to 800, then it goes in 23 to $4. 75, and it's at $5. 50, then back down to 300. Then at one point, it went for sold for a $122, then a $170, and then up to $7.

97, and now $8. 62. So this card has been on a wild ride, but right now, NECA, which we've talked about, NECA collectors and there not being a ton of them, this card is sitting at the highest it's ever sold before.

As it should. I mean, put some respect on her name. I also like that this has the full gov on the card. If you click on it, you can see the full government name on there, which is makes it even more special to me.

I always wonder if when a player goes by a different name, than what's on the card, if that messes with sales, because, you know, if if they're putting in the full government in the listing versus what they're more usually known by.

Just something that I I'm curious about. But, yeah, NECA is booming for good reason. You said tenth tenth all star appearance. It still seems undervalued at this price.

Yes. And so the the high low difference from highest to lowest, there's a 158% difference from her high to low sale, which is absolutely wild. Moving over to Stewie. We've got the 2016, Rittenhouse rookie on card auto PSA 10.

It has sold, actually, it looks like there's 10 total sales. The last sale, date sold I gotta move this. K. The last sale oops. The last sale of this card, it looks like somebody this actually this throws off everything.

Up. This this happened last night. How about this, Caitlin? This sale here, somebody got this card for $1,326, which the the previous sale before that was 5 k.

Yeah. So yeah. This again, my the data that I pulled in prep for this episode is completely off based on this one sale that I didn't even see until now. It happens. It happens. I think this is a good deal.

If we ignore this, what was the percentage difference high low? A 127. Wow. Wow. So what is what do those big numbers tell you right about these two play because these are the two players that have made the most all star games.

Right? I think I don't know. I think it it obviously, to me, it shows that you make that many all stars, and you still have a lot left in the tank.

You solidified yourself in terms of, like, best NBA players of this era. And I think in this pre like, previous era, and I don't wanna date Neckar or Stewie too much, but I I they they have proven themselves.

And I think the smart money, individuals who maybe are big fans and have been following their careers probably look at Anika and probably look at a Stewie and say, you know what?

Although, like, people know who they are and they have accolades, like, their superstardom probably will never reach the level of what Caitlin Clark, Paige Beckers, and Angel Reese is now.

But from but we're gonna put our money here because we've been following them for so long, and it's like it it it feels like it's it's it's more safe. So that's kind of my read on the situation. Yeah. Absolutely.

Another thing that I just wanna point out is that these first two players are both their rookie cards are on different teams than what they're now on, which we see a lot more in the WNBA than, the counterpart of the NBA, which is just interesting for card values.

But why don't why don't we get into the third person who was drafted by their team? Yeah. So we we we can't not have an episode without talking about Collier.

And this is a card which, my cohost here, Caitlin, has a copy. This is the PSA nine, which has two public sales. This is absolutely insane. So somebody bought this card in July '23 for $229.

Not a bad buy. The last sale of this card was October for $1,425, which is a 144% difference between each sale. I would go out and bet that if this card were up for auction, it would, best that $14.

25. Just based on my appetite, I would know I would probably be in that competition to bid on a card like this. But, I mean, fee continues to trend up. She's been the best player in the WNBA this year.

I would imagine anyone new coming in who's looking at performance of players relative to values probably investigates her catalog and sees something like this, and it's like, man, I should be buying Nafisa Collier cards right now.

But that's my read. I know you're biased, but what do you have to say?

Yeah. Very biased here, but I still think it's undervalued. I also think something interesting about these catalog, like you mentioned, is that there's not a lot of great cards in her catalog because she was a rookie in 2019.

I think there's a couple other 2019 rookies we'll talk about, but it's just interesting to see, you know, she came in kind of in the cusp where Don Ross was there and now Panini.

So one could make an argument for the 2020 Prizm Gold being, a top three card, in her catalog.

So it's just interesting to see that these were selling for under $250, not even two years ago. Like, what were we doing, Brett? We were sleeping furiously.

Buying some stupid stuff probably. How about this card? So we've got the Sabrina 2020 Prizm rookie gold out of ten, one of the more popular cards in terms of just setting the stage for this new era of w collecting.

There is two sales of the, one's a PSA nine, one's a BGS nine. The first PSA nine sold 10/16/2022 for 5,500. Mhmm.

And then the BGS copy, which, obviously, BGS dyes typically sell for less than PSA nines, but we're talking about different eras, and she's had more time to prove herself. Sold for $8,500 via a private sale, which is, I don't know.

This card is not only Sabrina's, you know, NBA champion. Sorry. Okay. But she's proven herself. I mean, she's you go and look at the billboards downtown, Indianapolis. She's on them. She's there.

But, yeah, I think this card specifically and that split between those two sales, to me, really shows is in a good example to see the growth between, like, different eras of WNBA collecting in kind of the Panini era of w manufacturing.

Couldn't agree more. It's also interesting just like Sabrina's kind of the poster child of the set.

So the price was already quite high at 5,500 relative, to now 85 is it's a very interesting to see. Alright. We've got, Skylar Diggins, which we have let's see here.

Did I pull this up? So there's two sales of her gold 2020 black gold 2020 PSA 10, Prizm card. And not a massive difference between the two sales, but one sold for, in August, it sold for $600.

And then in May, it sold for $7. 20. So it she is a player who her black gold gold Prizm or black gold Prizm has actually gone down 8%, and that's kind of the first player to to go down.

And it's just two sales, and it's a black gold, which a lot of collectors, some don't care for. But I don't know. I don't really I know Kevin collects Skyler, but I don't really know any other Skyler collector.

Okay. Before we I have two points on this because this is such an interesting card. First of all, love the photo of this card. It's incredible. It's it's one of those photo shoot cards.

Skyler's kinda, like, dribbling between the legs. She's serving in the photo. It's just incredible. And to that point, I just wanna say, Skyler was the original it girl of the WNBA. She was that girl.

And if she just would have came just a little later, you know, you think about that. It's like she would be the face of the league. And I I totally believe that. And, you know, we talked you you mentioned Kevin who's PC's Skyler.

And, yeah, I just wish there were more collectors out there of Skyler because not only does she have the play, she has the accolades and the all star selections, but she's also got, like, aura.

Like, she is one of the most, like, shit talking players. She's gonna she's gonna go all out in every game. It doesn't even matter if the game doesn't really mean much.

She's an incredible player. So to see the price go down is very surprising to me. Maybe it's just a case of the black gold of it all. I love this card and the way it looks, and it's a photo shoot, and I'm not a big photo shoot guy.

Kevin made a a astute point educating me that, like, the timing of this and her movement, to the Mercury, obviously, that getting her in a Mercury jersey came via the photo shoot of it all.

And I sometimes I lose sight of player transitions and how that ends up on cards, but it was a good little history history lesson from him.

Kevin's always educating me. I I I respect that. Okay. So, AT, we're gonna be talking about her. By the way, this check out this description here of this card. It says Caitlin Clark nemesis. How about that for trying to get eyeballs?

What? Also, like, what? Just making stock up. I think I think, AT probably roughed her up her rookie season. Yeah. Like yeah. But she roughs up everybody. So this is, her her as in ATEEZ 2019 Donerous optic gold out of 10.

There's been three sales. I mean and these are just absolutely criminal. You have an $82 sale. You have a 290, and then this one must actually, this one might have been it's listed the same.

Although Well, my god. I changed it up a little bit. Yeah. Yeah. I'm guessing it didn't get paid for the first time. I can't well, it's about the same, but it's, $82 and about $2.

40. Yeah. For our audio listeners, this this listing, has a lot of emojis as well in it, but they slightly changed it between the two listings. So this was very intentional. And let me just say this is disrespectful price.

I think we're gonna get into the disrespect of it all here shortly, but, glad to see it going up, but not nearly enough. Yeah. And then we'll move over to Jackie Young, which was hard to find an ex a good example to talk about.

So I ended up with the 2019, Donerous Press rookie auto at a 99 PSA 10. And there has been four sales of this card, the highest, $350. And from the split between lowest to highest is a 111% difference.

So, again, Jackie Young for his great of a player as Jackie Young is, it just seems like she is one of those players always maybe playing a little bit in the shadow of one of the best players.

And, I don't know, collect collecting, buying new interests, like, typically, people don't go run to put money in those players.

Although, I don't the the I think about, like, the Liberty situation, and that's like a that's like a whole another story.

But, yeah, anything to say about just Jackie Young and her cards. I don't. There's not a ton of Jackie Young collectors. At least, I don't know many, but, she's a really good player.

Yeah. I mean, I I just pulled up a stat that I saw, recently, which is that, Nifisa Collier has the most 25 games this season with 10 of them. And then there's three players tied for second with five.

One of them is AJ Wilson, and the second one is Jackie Young. Now first of all, how are the aces still about 500 when they have two players that have, the second most 25 plus point games in the season.

I don't know how that works. But it's just interesting to see because Jackie Young is an incredible player. She puts up numbers, and people just kinda forget about her.

Maybe it's because of the stack team. Like you mentioned, she's playing with AJ Wilson. She's playing with Chelsea Gray. She's playing with Jewel Lloyd. There's a lot of names, and maybe it just gets a little crowded there.

But I also think it's similar to AT where they're both kind of private personalities off the court, and quieter than what they are on the court. And that doesn't really lend itself to fan experiences to feel more connected.

So maybe it has something to do with that. Maybe it has something to do with their card catalog not being as desirable for new collectors joining the the, the category, but it's very interesting.

And, you know, you just look at people like Jackie Young and AT and feel like, they're really disrespected in these, Yeah.

So I think those are, like, let's let's look at the kinda disrespect index. And as I looked at both of these, this whole list of multiples, like, the two players to call out are AT and Jackie Young.

So letting listeners know and I'll just say this. If you're looking for a great player to collect that doesn't cost a lot of money, AT and Jackie Young might be really good options.

Just go look at their accolades. So here's the crazy thing. Alyssa Thomas, what'd you say? She was in the MVP type top three for the last five years? Something like that. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So she's a killer.

She's one of those players not a lot of players wanna play against, they wanna play with, but her highest selling card according to card ladder of all time is her twenty nineteen Donerous Goldblazer out of 10 BGS nine five, which I love these cards, by the way, the gold lasers rule.

750. Are you kidding me? 700. She has her she has never recorded a sale on the thousand or plus mark, which was just absolutely mind blowing me. I just I have a hard time believing this.

I have a hard time believing this. I know. It it's like did I spell it wrong? It's like, it's crazy. But ever it it kinda passed my sniff test where every time I've bought an AT card, I've always felt like I gotta steal on it.

Mhmm. Mhmm. There's an AT card sitting on eBay right now that I've been eyeing up, and I have a feeling it's gonna go quickly now. But, yeah, her prices are super affordable.

It's a good good place to start if you're looking for a affordable player. And then we move over to Jackie Young, which is a card I would I want this card. I would smash Ben in two seconds if this were available.

Her highest selling card is, non by the way, in card lighter, there's some Asia Doubles. This is just like her own solo. $600, which is her 2012 debut gold Prizm PSA nine, sold for $600 in September. So, again, it's like, goodness.

Like, these are two of the best players in the league. We we started this conversation by talking about four or more all star appearances, and not even having a card sell for 1 k just seems seems wild to me.

Yeah. I mean, it's wild. Any ideas on why, like, these two players might fall in the disrespect index category?

I think there's a lot of layers to it. I think these players aren't necessarily pushed by the media, so to say, to be the face of their respective teams.

You see that more with AT right now with the Mercury, which is exciting. But the they're kind of just, they're not the superstar players that are on the posters or on the banners on the JW Marriott in Indianapolis for all star weekend.

They're not necessarily, popular on social media. They should be, but they're not. And and their games aren't as flashy. I think that really has a lot to do in collecting.

You know, like, you look at AT's game, and it's so fundamental. It's so consistent, but there's not usually a lot of flashes. It's just steady wins the race. We're gonna back you down in the paint, and the ball's going up.

And with Jackie Young, you know, her nickname is kind of the the silent assassin. It's a similar vibe of I'm not gonna talk too much. I'm not gonna I'm not gonna cause too much of a scene.

I'm just here to do my job. And I think that maybe collectors don't maybe they just don't appreciate that as much as, say, a logo three. I I that all makes a lot of sense, and I think that was a fun that was fun data to look at.

What I wanted to do next is look at the top five, highest selling WNBA cards, non Caitlin Clark from June 1 to July 14, and see if there was any correlation for the all star game, like, if there if there was any connection.

And so we're gonna fly through these real quick. You've got the, I saw page cards. I was like, oh, yeah. The instant stuff. You had her Magma. I love the parallels in instant. Magma.

What? Magma. This thing sold for $16,500, which is the one of one. We had, the card that just keeps coming up, this Cameron Brink, 16,287. What what's one not like the other, like or whatever that saying is, this might fall into it.

The Asia Wilson that we talked about, her, Rittenhouse platinum out of 25 rookie, 11/2015. Back to page, another Panini instant. This is her water pair parallel. Obviously, right?

Water pair. Yep. Duh. Out of 10, PSA 10 for $10. You've got ten, ten, 10. People jumping on the that I would love maybe we're talking data. We'll look at, when the Caitlin instance came out and draw a comparison with the page.

Maybe we can do that in a future episode. That'd be fun to look at. And then the final card, we've got Angel Reese showing up to the party, and this one sold at Golden Force.

This is her select black finite PSA nine one of one concourse rookie $7,320. These are the highest selling WNBA cards, non Caitlin Clark from June 1 to July or June 1 to July 14. What what's on your mind with that data?

What stands out to you? Well, clearly, four out of five are all stars. The one that's not is Cameron Brink. Let me just we're in the stats mode right now. I've just a stat about Cameron Brink. She's played 15 games in the WNBA.

But in and I will I'll give her her credit here. In those 15 games, 35 blocks. So she's she averaged about, like, 2. 3 blocks per game, which if she kept up the pace, would have been, like, a record, or at least leading in the league.

So that being said, with her expected timeline being a bit accelerated by the July, I would expect to see more Cameron Brink sales continue to shatter our minds, despite the fact that she hasn't played a huge quantity of games.

She's a high overall draft pick. There's a lot of hype baked into that, and I do think she's a high impact player that's gonna be very good, and hopefully help the sparks, kind of get over the hump that they're in.

So the clear man out or woman out is Cameron Brink here, for not making an all star game, but you could kind of do some mental gymnastics to justify that.

And I think the other odd one out is AJ Wilson because she's not part of the two most recent rookie classes, but she is considered, arguably a goat.

So it makes sense how she could kind of permeate that rookie class, historic sales trends. I love it. Great perspective. Maybe we finish this out.

My thought that's in my mind is if players like Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese, Paige Beckers are already more than the greats, more established like AJ Wilson, Stewie, Taurasi, even what you think it means for the future of the w market and collecting.

I mean, I think we're starting to see more parallels between WNBA category and then the more mainstream categories like the NFL and the NBA, in that rookies have this hype built into them.

And that's a good sign for market growth, but it doesn't necessarily signal safety and safe buys to me.

I think it just accentuates that buyers need to be smart in the market and not get too far ahead of themselves. I love it. I'm gonna kick it over to you for, speak of the devil here, collector spotlight.

Okay. Despite the fact that Origo Ogunwale has had a tough go at it, she is an incredible player. She's one of bright and I's favorites as a Notre Dame alum. I know Brett likes, she's an ordinary goat.

She's mine. She's my Notre Dame women's goat. Exactly. So it's all respect here. And since she's going through kind of a rough patch, I figured it'd be a good time to spotlight an incredible player PC at erike obanwale twenty four.

Every time I look up erike, this comes up first. And I'm always like, oh, Enrique has her own card collecting page. No. This is a Let's get her on the pod. Yeah. This is a collector who exclusively collects Enrique Ogdenwale.

It has some amazing cards, lots of shininess, lots of gold. And I just wanna shout out lots of shininess, lots of gold. And I just want to shout out one of these cards, which is the 2018 Sports Illustrated for kids, Enrique.

That's on my list of cards that I really want. And I think it's just an iconic card because of her performance in the NCAA championship runs. And so, this is just an awesome card, awesome collection.

We wanted to feature this this account. See, it's been a while since I've seen Enrique Don, just the Irish colors in the uniform, and that just makes my heart happy seeing this card.

So, yes. Thank you for the spotlight. I'm glad now. I'm getting some good energy, and I just gotta go to YouTube after this and watch the highlights from from the national championship again.

Yeah. I get it. That's the cure to any sort of basketball sadness is watching Enrique in the NCAA championship.

Alright. Collector spotlight. Loved it. Let's move on to mailbag. We've got five questions this week. They're very good questions, so thank you all for submitting them.

Let's start out with number one, which is kind of an educational question from at k c l I think that's how you say it. KCL. Is there a ranking system for color variations, or is it just preference?

They add that their favorite is green. I'll start by saying there's no set list of color preference, but the market tends to favor true colors, meaning they don't have, like, that qualifier of, like, disco, something like that.

It's just a simple color. And then the lower serial number they are, typically, that demands more in the market. I will say, like, sometimes that doesn't work out, and there's some wrinkles in there of, you know, color matches.

So if a player is wearing a certain jersey color and that color matches to the parallel, those can outperform even a lower number serial, serial number parallel.

For me, personally, I I do have ranking, and I try to stick to it just for some guardrails, but everybody has their own.

I typically go gold as king and then black as, like, super premium. That's usually out of my wheelhouse, though. And then I'll go to blue right after that, which is typically higher numbered, but I just like the blue.

And then the other colors kinda follow suit. So, Brett, did you have anything you wanted to add to this question? I thought it was a good question to let folks know.

Just kind of a reminder to me of how snooty I am. We just black or gold is kind of what I'm into. And, yeah, I'd I am of the mindset. And for whatever reason with w collecting, I I like to buy less cards, but bigger cards.

And black and gold are my favorite parallels. They just so happen to be the most expensive. And I think they'd still be if they weren't the most expensive, but, that's a whole another conversation for another day.

Yeah. That'd be a good experiment. Okay. Let's go on to number two from at a rod period one. Our black golds out of five, especially those from 2020 undervalued and underappreciated?

If so, why? Brett, I'll let you take this one. Yeah. It's just a great question. I don't know, like, undervalued or underappreciated. My own personal example, though, is I always get rid of them.

Every black gold card I've ever owned never stays in my collection. And I think it's because I just even though the golds are out of 10, I just have more of an appreciation for the golds.

Yeah. And and the black gold to me is, I know it shows up in other categories, but it's such a WNBA parallel in my mind, especially on the Prizm front.

Mhmm. I think if you're looking at rarity scarcity and you're looking at dollar values, like, there's probably a good opportunity there.

But for me personally, I think after, like, my last few that I've sold, I'm just like, yeah. I'm not sure I need to get into these again. That being said, they can be a good alternative.

Typically, they sell lower than the golds out of 10, so it's always interesting. If you're at a smaller price point, you can always hop on the gold the black golds out of five, which are technically more rare.

So, pick your own adventure, I guess. Okay. Let's move on to question three from a repeat question asker at m j s underscore sports cards. This one got me excited, Brett.

This is, what are the five most iconic w, and then in parentheses, base and parallel versions are treated the same here? Cards for each of you. Go. And Mark responded saying, I wouldn't make you do anything.

I wouldn't do myself. So he did a bit of research and post his top five. I'll read out Mark's list, and then I'll give you my list. Brett, if you feel the need compelled to answer as well.

I know you didn't probably research. I I did not I did not look at the questions in advance, but I'll just let you run with it. And if I have any commentary, I'll add it add to it. Awesome. So Mark's list is this.

The o four Diana Taurasi ultra rookie card, 1997 Lisa Leslie pep pinnacle rookie card, 2018 AJ Wilson Rittenhouse rookie card, 2024 Caitlin Clark Prizm rookie card, and the 2011 Maya Moore Rittenhouse rookie card.

Incredible top five. Let me just say that. I agreed with three of the five here. I took the o four d t ultra as well. I also took the 2018 Aja Rittenhouse, and I also took the 2024 Caitlin Clark Prizm.

I swapped out Elisa Leslie for the 2008 Candace Parker Rittenhouse rookie, and I swapped out I this is, like, painful for me to say, but I swapped out the 2011 Maya Moore for the 2020 Sabrina Prizm.

Because I just think when I think about WNBA cards today, the twenty twenty Sabrina has more eyes and more kind of recognition, sadly, than the 2011 Maya Moore.

These are great lists. I'll, like, add to that a little bit on the Sabrina front. Again, I didn't look at these in advance.

And knowing that I am a newer collector in the category, I might have the twenty twenty Sabrina at number one for me. Okay. And and and I think and it's it's less about the player, although I'm a big Sabrina van.

I think she's great. I fun to watch. And it's more about the ushering in an in a new era. Like, that card ushered in such a new era of Chromium style WNBA cards that, has a history now, and that is the rookie, and she was the player.

So for Sabrina's, like, right place, right time in terms of, like, that release, but then, also, she's delivered. Right?

We we're talking about her. For all surgeons are ready for Sabrina, which is a lot. Like, I'm not sure I would have said that out of the gate. So whenever I think about iconic WNBA cards, that card always comes up to in my brain first.

But know this listeners, like, that is the that is the set, and that is the cards that peaked my interest in the category. That's a good call out, Brett. And and it's no disrespect to my more, the goat here.

It's just, the market acts in mysterious ways. I'll say that. Exactly. Alright. Question number four from at card underscore collect underscore curr, which, first of all, incredible handle here.

That's very creative. If you were in charge of all WNBA products for one year, what would you do? And maybe just pick one thing that you would change, Brett.

If I was in charge of all WNBA products for one year, what would I do? Here you go, everybody. I would take Panini instant rookie royalty and flush it down the toilet, and I would release all of those sets as standalone sets.

And I would make sure to be mindful of rarity and scarcity to not overproduce, but I would that's that's the move I would make.

I would integrate the rookies, quote, unquote, with the best players, and that's how card said should be made.

Elect this man immediately to the Panini board of directors, folks. We gotta get this guy elected here. No. I I agree. My mind didn't immediately go to rookie royalty because I've kind of blocked it out of my mind.

I haven't today. But I'll say my big thing is I want game worn patches and origins. I think origins is a underappreciated set that has been around for WNBA collectors, and they deserve game worn local women.

That would be my change. Oh, okay. Final question. This one's also very exciting. From at Kevin dot m dot Cormier. Excluding the Liberty, which team has the best, quote, third best player on the court and hobby wise?

And those two things can be different. So let me just note that Kevin's talking about not the best trio or the best three players together, but the third best player on team.

So I'll start, and I think that my best third on the court goes to the dream. So the first best is Ryan. The second best is Gray, and I would put third best as BG. I think that is the third best player in the league minus Liberty.

This isn't the question, but there is a runner-up here for me, which is the storm. So it goes Skyler, NECA, Gabby is the third. And then for hobby, my pick for hobby is the fever Brett.

It goes Clark, Mitchell, Boston. I think Boston performs the best in the market as the third best. And my runner-up for that is the Sparks. So it goes Plum, Hamby, Rakia, and Rakia would be the second best for honorable mention.

Okay. This is an interesting question. I to me, what was the your your storm rankings were Skyler, Nneka, Gabby. Okay. I in terms of on the court, it would be going between this the storm and the fever.

That's a toss-up to me. I I know, like, maybe Kelsey Mitchell gets a lot of slack on this podcast, but she's She's a train. She can score the ball. I can't really wrap my head around the, the hobby wise at this point.

I just haven't enough time to process. So I'll just take whatever you say there. And Incredible. Yeah. We'll just we'll just give we'll give you your flowers and say, I agree with you.

Alright. Brett's going with Boston in both categories. Nice. That's exciting. Hey. Aliyah Boston, she's incredible. I love Aliyah Boston. I'm so happy that she's just on my team.

She's so so fun to watch, and she's so confident right now. And I'm excited for her to take that confidence in the all star game. And every time I watch the fever and watch Boston and I know I've got a cool Boston card, but I regret.

I'm like, why didn't I get that gold prizm, or why didn't I get that gold vinyl? So if any of you out there have the gold vinyl rookie or the the gold Prizm rookie, I might be a buyer.

Get at me at stacking slabs. I love the plug at the end of the pot. Everyone, thank you for listening. We'll see you next week, and, go, lynx.