Welcome back, loyal listeners of the Stacking Slabs podcast to season two, episode seven of the WNBA card podcast. My name is Caitlin.

I go by at cold lunch cards, and I'm joined by my host, Brett at stacking slabs. And we're excited to continue to deliver collector driven and community community focused content to your headphones or your speakers every single week.

Brett, how are you doing today? Doing great. I will just say appreciate all of the feedback from the loyal listeners of this podcast. It is nice to hear good things about the content that we're creating.

So I just wanna shout out, all of you who are tuning in and sharing and showing your passion. It's kind of what it's all about. And we're we're in the home stretch here the of the season, Caitlin.

It's it's gone by, quite quite quick. So I don't know. It's crazy. It's like, next I feel like before we know it, we're gonna be jumping into the playoffs, and then the season will be over.

So maybe that, like, I have a topic that I wanna maybe kick things off with, and that was kind of the reason for it. It's like, oh, let's maybe start talking about something else.

Not saying we're not talking about the WNBA. Hell, it's the name of this podcast, but that's where my head's at right now. I'm in the same mindset, Brett. I am getting anxious and excited for the playoffs.

As a Links fan, I feel like this is the moment we've all been waiting for. I'm quickly anticipating my GOAT's return, Nafisa Collier, to the court. Though the the Lynx look pretty good playing without her.

So it's been exciting, but definitely, hoping for September and October to deliver results that make me excited as a fan. But it just like you said, it feels like it's going so fast.

We started and and and now it feels like we're almost done. So I suppose that's the story of every season, But it just feels so bittersweet because when you're in the in the moment, it feels like it's just never gonna end.

And as a fan, I just I just wish it would continue. Here's a question for you. So the links, since Fi has been out, they are are the are they five and o?

Is that right? Playing good basketball. My question to you, maybe to stir the pot a little bit, because they're undefeated, does that hurt, Fi's MVP candidacy? This is blasphemy.

This is blasphemy to me. I I okay. I'm just gonna come out and say Most valuable player. That's what we're talking about. We're talking about most valuable player, and she is the most valuable player. We had a I'm just gonna say this.

We had a listener question posed for the mailbag that kinda talks about this and since Brett doesn't like to read them beforehand, maybe we'll just address it first and foremost. This is my thing. Fee is an equal opportunity employer.

She's giving everybody a chance to prove that they're the most valuable player. And guess what? I'm not I'm not convinced. So her team playing well without her is just a testament to the culture that Cheryl Reeve has built in Minnesota.

And I think that, it has no bearing on the MVP race. I think it's fees award to win. And and I guess we'll see. How about that? We'll see. Getting getting you fired up.

I I I can't help it, Brett. It's the it's just I'm I think that, like and I'm I'm certainly not here saying that she she's not the MVP. What I what I think it opens the door for is, like, what what is what does the MVP mean?

What and I feel like it's always an award that has different interpretations Mhmm. By different fans trying to some say, oh, it's the the best based on stats. Others say, well, it's the most important to their team.

And so, that's why I I was I had not noticed the links losing it all, which is the mark of a really strong team. And so I wanted to get kinda your take when their best players out.

I guess losing. What's your take on that? Yeah. And let me just say this just to close this, conversation up is that the person that the two people that are competing with her, I think, undoubtedly are Asia and AT.

And my argument against against this whole, point is that, okay, does that mean you have to be on a bad team to be the MVP to prove that you're good?

I just I don't think that it's logical the other way when you when you reverse the the scenario.

And and I don't know. And the other point I wanted to make about AT, and I love both these players, AJ and AT, is I did some digging of stats, Brett, because I've been really impressed, by her performance this year.

And I think the past five years, she's been playing incredibly well.

And I'm not saying this to, like, shit on her or anything. I'm just saying it. She's came into the league in 2014, Brett. Do you know how many three point shots shots Alyssa Thomas has taken in her career in the regular season?

I have zero idea. Do you wanna guess? I, sent in her entire career? Entire career regular season. Thirty? Twenty five. Okay. 25. And you know how many she's made?

How many? One. One. One. Do you think that you can be this is just another question. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Posing interesting question. You think you you can win MVP by making one three pointer in your Doesn't matter.

Doesn't matter. I don't think it matters. I don't think it I think and I'm not here to make the case for AT. I'm just saying, I don't think one statistical category sways you to be the MVP or or not.

Alright. Except for winning. I think that winning, it does. And that's where I wanted to end this is that fee is a winner with or without her on the court. The links are winning, and I think she's built the strongest case for MVP.

We'll see. The odds have shifted slightly, but she's still heavily favored. And unless, AJ pulls or AT pulls their team up very far to the two seed, I I just don't see it happening.

I'll I'll I'll say this, and I'm certainly not saying this in, positioning over the three players that you you mentioned. I I wouldn't do that, nor would I disrespect the greatness of those three players.

But I do think that you can begin to make a case. I'm not saying the case is, up against the other three players would be a winning case, but I'm saying I think you could make the case for Kelsey Mitchell to enter the conversation.

Do you want do you want me to go? I I think if we're bringing Kelsey Mitchell in, Alicia Grey beats her by a lot in the MVP case.

But I just think she's she's really taken the Atlanta dream at the time of the recording are second second place in the league behind the links. And they've done that without their star player, Ryan Howard, and with BG hurt quite a bit.

And the only person carrying that team, no disrespect to the rest of the dream, it's just fact of the matter, is Alicia Gray, who's been shooting out of her mind and is just very impressive player all around.

And it's and the thing for me, I always come back to it. It's showing up in the win category, Brett. I don't think Kelsey Mitchell has that same effect yet.

Maybe she could. I I think the case you just made for Alicia Gray sounds exactly the same as the case for Kelsey Mitchell with no Caitlin Clark, the fever are winning, have a winning record.

She's leading the league in total points, 38 points the other night, all time highs in all categories.

I'm just I'm just saying she she she deserves to be if you're talking about Alicia Gray, you should be talking about Kelsey Mitchell. That's that's what I'm saying. I'll let I'll let Brett carry that torch.

I I'm gonna I'm gonna say this, guys. I thought it was funny. I think it's so funny. Every time a player gets right next to 40 points, I think Kathy calls team and they're like, do not get to 40.

We're not giving out the DoorDash. It just kills me every time. I was rooting for Kelsey to hit 40 for that specific reason. But, yeah, I I'm just not a Kelsey Mitchell fan.

That doesn't mean I don't respect her. She's showing very, very well this year. So sure. Why not throw her in there? Like, how about everybody just gets thrown into the MVP e conversation and fee beats them all.

I like this idea. Oh, okay. You know what? I I got us going to begin this. This is what I've learned is whatever you do, don't act like fee isn't the MVP, because if you do that, you might get your head bit off by my seer.

We'll see. We'll see. If she if she doesn't, we'll come back to this, and maybe I'll wear a Kelsey Mitchell jersey. I I would be surprised. And we talked all of that.

I've I'll be surprised if fee is not the MVP, but I figured my my point was just that the wigs are still winning and, you know, fee isn't there. So let's talk about it. And we talked about it. We talked about it, and we'll be back.

Okay. We went on a complete tangent there, folks. Thanks for bearing with us. No. I enjoy it. Any any chance to talk about fee, you know, I'm gonna seize that opportunity. But let's let's do a quick plug for our sponsor today.

Awesome Card Shop off Randolph Ave in Saint Paul, Minnesota is Great Lakes Trading Cards Company. Officially, as of the time of recording, repping the WNBA card podcast in the store with a poster.

If you guys are visiting or see it anywhere, just go ahead and tag us. Let me just say this personally, to to look back, like, and think about childhood me being, like, wow, my podcast about WNBA cards has a poster in my in my LCS.

It just feels very, very awesome. So I was thankful to Great Lakes Trading Cards Co for, showing some love to the WNBA card podcast.

That yeah. I got the Instagram, update, and I looked at it. I was like, oh, wow. That's super cool. So, yeah. That's it it is, we're on season two.

We've got posters and hobby shops. What's next, Caitlin? Like, the sky's the limit. Yeah. Exactly. Well, let's get into, what we wanted to talk about today, Brett. I know you're excited to talk about this topic.

Why don't you introduce it for us? Yeah. So we I got a question in person, I think it was, at the national, and it was regarding our content here. And the question was about, well, what happens when the WNBA season is over with?

And I think Caitlin and I enjoy the WNBA enough on good good reminder as Caitlin is holding up her unrivaled, sweatshirt. Yes. Unrivaled. We've got well, it's gonna be we're gonna rebrand it, the unrivaled card podcast.

I think you're producing cards, Panini, but we don't know. We just saw a a picture from unrivaled, not Panini. So but, anyways, the question was around, will you talk be talking about, you know, collegiate women's basketball and cards?

And I feel like I was just like, well, I know that my cohost has a ton of energy for that, category. So, certainly, we will be. And I figured, you know what? Why don't we prepare for that?

Why don't we prepare for that? And we're give everyone a little sneak preview. I feel like when we first started talking about cards, it was mostly around Bowman stuff and kinda some cards you were buying around the tournament.

And so let's, like, maybe revisit that because we've got some time before, college basketball starts.

And I was curious, maybe just, like, on your end, like, what what is happening in your head and with your collecting. So that's what I wanna get into. And I think I was looking back on or thinking back on the history of this show.

And the first episode we did was right after the Huskies won the national championship, and we were talking about Sarah Strong quite a bit. So maybe we can, like, catapult into this conversation by talking about Sarah Strong.

But then mostly, I really wanna know outside of Sarah Strong, like, in terms of who you're focusing on this season, and if that focus is not only on the court, but with cards, like, who are who are the players?

Like, what's going on in your head right now?

And, hopefully, the goal is just to build some awareness for our audience around maybe those players, and maybe we'll hear from the audience saying, here, you guys, there are players that you should be talking about or looking at that you didn't mention.

So starting the conversation is the goal. I'm just gonna, like, lob that up to you, Caitlin. How what's going on in your head right now?

We're, you know, a few months before the season tips off, but, like, how are you thinking about it? What players are you thinking about? That is a big question, and I'm excited to talk about it.

I think we where we wanna start is with Sarah Strong because that's where where we began this podcast, like you mentioned, in season one episode one is talking about Sarah Strong.

And I think that she should be the headline of college women's hoops right now. I think she has all the ingredients to be an incredible prospect, both on the court, obviously. I think on the court, she's no longer a prospect.

She is a key player of that, program and will be, for the next three ish years depending on, how she wants to do that. I think that she's, more of a prospect in the sense of the card community because she's still so young.

She's gonna she's a rising sophomore. She's already won a national championship. And my hot take my hot hot take of women's college hoops is that she's gonna repeat the Brianna Stewart experience and win four in a row.

That is a piping hot take, but I don't know if it's, I don't know if it's true or not if it's gonna happen, but I believe in her that much.

The other Can I ask can I ask what we've seen one season, I think, especially if you're watching the tournament in the road to the championship, you could tell, like, wow?

She's a freshman. She's special. Is there is there anything outside of just, like, that season that you saw or potential that leads you to make such a bold proclamation?

I just watch watch the basketball she plays. It's so pure. You hear her coaches talk about her. Her teammates talk about her in such high regard. She was 18 when she won the championship.

I think maybe 19. I think to have that amount of composure, I think she had the most impressive, both individual and statistical performance of, the tournament, specifically that championship game.

And she does it with such grace. She has some of the quietest performances you'll see.

And she reminds me of some other Huskies, that maybe, hail from my state, Maya Moore and if you see Collier where it's we're here to do a job, we're here to win, and then we're going home, and that's gonna be it.

And Sarah Strong definitely gives me those vibes. And I think that, not only does she have, you know, the talent, but she also has the build, being such a versatile big.

I think that's gonna be a key, especially as we talk about this idea of college hoops being very different from professional women's basketball.

That transition is not as easy as some have made it look, and I think Sarah Strong is well poised, for that transition.

So, yeah, I have high hopes. I guess we'll see. But she's not the only name that I'm that I'm excited about. And I I created a list, and it's long, folks.

I I'll try not to, like, beat this this, horse, but I I made a list of 10 players that I'm currently looking at, right now going into the season and also long term of who I think is going to be a valuable player in a WNBA franchise.

And number one was obviously Sarah Strong. I I don't wanna, like, continue going over that over and over again. But, like, it feels so clear to me that she's a generational player, and it still feels early.

Despite the fact that her prices have kind of blown up, I think we'll continue to see them see them rise, especially if my my bold take comes true.

But right under Sarah Strong at one b, I have AZ FUD. And AZ FUD is an interesting one because, you know, she's a rising senior or, like, graduate student or something.

She's in her final year at UConn. She won a national championship. She obviously has proximity to Paige, which helped her with her popularity, but her card market has almost nothing.

Like, she does she doesn't appear in Bowman. She doesn't appear in Topps, All American. She has a few Panini instant cards and maybe some, like, leaf or other other type of card.

And it feels to me that her not only her popularity in terms of play style and talent, but popularity off the court as well would warrant more product, and she hasn't.

And I think that that supply demand difference, is going to drive up her prices, especially as she continues to rise up the draft charts.

I've been seeing people mocking her top three, top two, top one. And I think that depending on who wins that lottery pick, with the needs of their franchise, they might value a guard like AZ over a big like Lauren Betts.

So I it's very interesting to think about the fact that we have a potential potential first overall pick that doesn't have Bowman or Topps Chrome, which are the premier products of of women's basketball cards.

Do you have any insight? Like, is it a is it a licensing thing? Do you have any idea why she's not in those sets? Because she's to me, especially after the national championship, she she she in this conversation, she's a household name.

It just seems bizarre that she's not in any of those sets. Yeah. I wish I could provide more information. I'm not sure. I'm sure one of our listeners could educate us on her licensing.

Maybe she has an exclusive or something. But either way, with a with a prospect like this, you just expect much more. And so I think that, like I said, that supply demand gap, is something that collectors can take advantage of.

Both both collectors that are looking for rare and scarce items, but also people that are looking to maybe make a play, in the future.

Alright. And then that's kinda okay. So I went Sarah Strong, AZ Fudd, and then the final person in my, like, a tier. So we have, like, is Juju Watkins, which, like, I don't know if that needs to be said.

But it does feel like when an injury hits, the card market has a potential to take advantage of that. And, there's no reason not to believe she won't bounce back better.

And I'm not gonna be betting on her downfall. I'll tell you that. She is like another player that has outstanding credibility in their community, incredible name recognition.

She feels like more of a celebrity than any of these other players. And not only that, but she's what six two guard can get downhill can shoot a three leading a program that notoriously, has had seen better days.

I just think once again another prospect that could, really make a WNBA franchise and also could spoil my Sarah Strong, four years in a row take. I'll say that.

I think just in the last two years, specifically, even we can go back further, but it seems more apparent now than ever before that if you look the part in college and you're dominating and you're at the top of the draft board, like, your likelihood immediately translate into in having an impact in the WNBA is likely at a all time high.

You just go back to the last two years, and you've got five all stars right out of the gates.

And I'm the same way where it's I look at Juju, and I'm just like, there's absolutely no way she's not going to be one of the best players right when she gets in.

Yeah. Their rookie year, there might be some figuring it out and fine tuning, but, like, we've seen these players like Paige, Caitlin, Angel.

You know, we've seen them, and it's like, yeah. They're trying to figure it out, but they're good enough to make the all star team right away.

Completely agree. I think those three players that I mentioned are really my a tier that that transition is not really a concern for me as a potential buyer in their card market.

I just wanna caveat by saying, like, you know, coaches and analysts get paid millions of dollars a year to make these claims and be right about it.

And a lot of them are wrong, and sometimes we're wrong too. So I just wanna put that out there as I make these bold claims about how I feel about players.

It's just based on watching them and reading, about their stats and what people have to say. It's it's not a scientific method to say the least.

Gotta ask gotta ask this question. Yeah. We're getting into the tiers, and we're just gonna we're, like, kinda combining all this together. But your mindset regarding, the these like, take Juju for instance.

Mhmm. We believe she is one of the best players. She's proven that. She's gonna have a high ceiling in the w. How do you think about that knowing that she's eventually going to probably be drafted in a couple years?

Number one overall, she's gonna have WNBA cards. Like, what role and in this moment do these collegiate cards have, do you think, on the long term catalog of a player like Juju Watkins?

Like, are we having this conversation right now to, like, let listeners know that, like, here are some players that, like, might be fun to buy because they're in college basketball, but maybe we don't wanna hold these cards forever when new product come out.

Like, maybe let listeners inside on your mindset when it comes to, like, college versus pro cards.

It's tough, and it's very personal preference. But for for myself, I find that once we've made it to the prism rookie release, I've usually been priced out of these superstars. It's just not feasible.

Like, the card itself, a silver prism per se, is not something that I necessarily love and need in my collection. And not only that, but the price is, like, just doubling and doubling and doubling and just going up and up and up.

Whereas if you can get in a bit earlier on the college cards, you can get a cool like, the cool to cost ratio is much higher in my opinion.

And so when I think about how that purchase me making a purchase of a Juju Watkins College card, how it will feel when she's drafted and now has these other products, it's not a sense of feeling like I, you know, bought too early or I should have waited so I could get her in her Toronto tempo jersey or whatever it may be.

But it's more of the fact that I remember women's college hoops by the moments that were made.

And that's the virtue of, the NCAA tournament is that it creates moments. It creates, memories for collectors. And in my fandom and in my collecting, I'm trying to represent those memories and those moments.

And the USC uniform of Juju Watkins is going to be incredibly memorable for me, just as how Caitlin Clark in the Iowa Jersey did, just as Paige Becker's in the Yukon Jersey did.

I don't think it's it's has the same effect that maybe other lanes do where once the pro uniforms come out, the cards, the college uniforms kind of fall off.

I've I've found that in women's basketball, you know, there might be a slight difference just because of the price of the product that's being released.

It's Prism's gonna be more expensive than Bowman You. The ceiling's gonna be higher on those cards in terms of market prices. But for me, they don't seem to be falling at the same rate as, say, like, men's basketball even.

So I I feel very comfortable in my purchasing of college hoops cards, not only because of their longevity that's been proven and their value sustaining, But because I really like the look of the cards and it reminds me of when Juju takes over a game or Paige takes over a game or whoever it may be.

It brings me right back to that moment and I can pinpoint the month and the year and the day that those things happen and I think that's what so fundamental to my collecting is being able to represent that. I love it.

One one point I just wanna, like, pile on is and one of the reasons, and I think about this a lot, why I think, the collegiate women's basketball cards, hold and withstand kind of the test of time is it's a lot different from NIL and other sports where, for the most part, like, these women are playing three to four years.

So they have the time to build that equity with those fans and that fan base. So it's not just the, oh, he or she wore this jersey for a year, or they did a transfer portal for a year, and now they're gone.

Like, we're seeing these the best players really stick around for a long time and win championships, and that kinda enhances their overall collectibility in those uniforms.

At least, that's how I see things. Yeah. As a person that kind of feels like they don't have a home with a college women's basketball team because the Gophers just have not returned to their glory days of, Lindsay Whalen and friends.

It it definitely doesn't affect me as much, I will say that, as I think it does to you, Brett, who you have, like, kind of a blue chip program in Notre Dame women's basketball.

And having those players on campus in the in the Notre Dame uniform for, you know, three to four years is very valuable compared to if somebody wants to transfer to Minnesota and for one year and bring me a championship, I'm gonna worship you forever.

You know what I mean? Whereas for like a Notre Dame fan, that's just like everyday business. We we we hope so. Well, speaking of, I wanted to get back to this list of 10 players that we had.

We went over the three of them that I thought were kind of the top tier. I wanted to get into the b tier of players. And the three that I put out were Syla swords, Olivia Olson and Makayla Blake's.

Syla swords and Olivia Olson are both on the University of Michigan team. They're both 19 years old. Silas swords is a guard, six feet tall from France. She's the facilitator, the one guard.

And then Olivia Olson is, 19 years old, six foot one from Minnesota, by the way, Minnesota could not keep her home. So she went to Michigan makes me very sad. She's she's a little bit bigger. She has kind of that juju frame.

I think most people kind of lean towards Psilos swords. She's a little bit flashier, take some long range shots, has a cool name, but both of them are incredibly, talented young players that are feeding off of each other.

And I don't know if we've really seen that dynamic at play yet in other teams in women's college basketball.

I'm sure there has in the past, but for, like, the era of Bowman U collectings per se, to have two players that are around the same age, both highly, highly anticipated prospects with interesting fan bases with, you know, the the, French aspect of it as well.

I just think that it'll be interesting to see how that plays. Thinking about teammates, thinking about how Michigan really hasn't had too much going on when the women's basketball side for a while now.

I think that could be that could be kind of a a boom per se. And then the third person that I put in that b tier is Makayla Blix, who is a rising sophomore at Vanderbilt.

She's infamous for her two fifty point games that kind of hit the headlines hard. People, her little she she was kind of under the radar, and then she had two fifty point games and people figured it out real quick.

I think the only thing impeding her from being in the a tier for me is her team. And it's no hate to Vanderbilt, shout out Vanderbilt, but, they're just not a power program, like UConn or Notre Dame or USC or some team like this.

And I think she could really benefit from the NIL of it all of maybe maybe she'll say goodbye to her Vandy fans and build a fan base elsewhere.

That's my prediction with Blake's. But if you like high high volume shooting, lots of good basketball being played, turn on Vanderbilt and Mikhail Blakes.

And then, I have the c tier, which this is not giving them a c grade. We're just doing relative to each other. And there's four players in here. The first one, Madison Booker.

Shout out Madison Booker. I remember Oh, buddy. When I met her at the WNBA All Star Game. Big fan of her game. Big, big player. I think, the Texas with Rory Harmon should be good. I have high expectations for Madison Booker.

She kinda has a more a bigger build, a little bit more WNBA, size. And I think that she just needs to kinda relax in her game and she'll be good. I saw that the coach has now permitted her to go back to her high school shooting form.

They were kinda trying to to fix it a little bit or I don't know. I don't know why they do that, but they're trying to change it and it sounds like that that experiment has stopped.

So if if we get back to the Madison Booker shooting, I think we'll see. And then, finally, finally, the three other names I'll mention is Toby Fournier. This is kind of the most under the radar player out of the 10.

She's a Canadian, six foot four, 19 year old playing at Duke, rising sophomore, and she can dunk. And I know that we talk about dunking a lot with Dominique Malonga, and we're like, when is she gonna dunk?

I think Toby Fournier could be the type of player that dunks every night, and, I would be excited to see how the card market reacts to such a highlight reel style of play that, you know, if if she dunks in the NCAA tournament, everybody's gonna have that on their story.

How does that translate to cards? And then I'll finish, shout out Brett in Notre Dame with Hannah Hidalgo, who's in her final year, I think, and Olivia Miles, who's a senior now at TCU.

I think those two are players that people are aware of, but not necessarily, setting the same comps or driving the same, popularity as the the top tier players we talked about.

So it was a lot, but those are my 10 players I'm looking into right now.

It'll be interesting to see if we finally get a legitimate Olivia Miles card, which sucks because she's no longer playing for my team. And I'm also, like, having this debate.

It's like, does does the exit of Olivia Miles make Hana Hidalgo, obviously, more of a focal point of the offense? But, obviously, does that translate into efficiency? I don't know. We'll see. But, that is a great list.

Is there anything else just regarding kind of this segment, how your mindset, anything else you wanna touch on before we move on kind of the net to the next that didn't get mixed in with, this earlier conversation?

I think I think something I did wanna mention is this spectrum that we talk about a lot in this balance of being a collector versus somebody who's trying to make a few dollars.

And I think, to for that to be a slider as the year goes on and as you're collecting evolves, I think it's totally fine.

And it's okay to have cards that sit in the middle of that. And and, you know, I think having it's interesting and I'll I'll use just like a personal vague example is like, okay.

Let's say you buy a Mikaela Blakes before she had the 50 game and you're like, wow, I believe in her. I think she's gonna be really great.

I think I could make a couple bucks. And then she has a 50 game and you watch it and you go, wow. Now I'm a fan. I'm a fan. That's okay then to move that card to the PC or to say I'm ready to move on from this.

And I think that understanding that selling things, is a natural part of the hobby, I think is something I just wanted to call out because prospecting, a lot of what it's about is is is proving that you are right and in selling it.

And it's okay to also not take advantage of of those potential profit opportunities because of the fandom. And so that was one thing that I I wanted to finish out on.

What I like about, like, us talking about this early is that if there are these players or other players that you like, putting some attention on grabbing some cards of those players to make you as a fan more engaged or get you engaged with the college women's game.

And I think that's a fun part about this, and I've experienced that. It's like, you can buy cards for not that much money, and have fun, and be engaged, and get excited, and get motivated.

And, you know, come tournament time, you can decide. Well, maybe now because, you know, one of these teams is a higher seed and have a potential to make a run, I can sell sell two or three of these while keeping one or two.

And, like, that mindset, it's that, like, approach is super popular in the hobby, but has not been very affordable as Mhmm. Repacks, case breaks, all these things has continued to exist.

And I find this segment in this area is an opportunity where you can have a lot of fun and do that, and tie your collecting with what you're watching, and do a little bit of speculation.

And, I think it's a really fun thing. So that was kind of the spirit of it. It's like, yeah, we're gonna be talking about this. Why don't we talk about it now?

And, actually, it's a it's a lot of fun to get involved in this category, where you're collecting for a long term or you're just trying to get involved to maybe make some flips during the season. Absolutely.

This was a fun one. I'm excited to to continue to talk about college hoops and how it interacts with the professional league, both the WNBA and unrivaled, with the signing of, like, 15, NCAA women's basketball players to unrivaled.

I just think this segment is gonna continue to grow and become more popular. And, the WNBA card pod will be talking about it, frequently, I'm sure, once the professional season ends.

Are we getting an AZ unrivaled card before we get her Bowman card? Like, what what's your prediction there? At the rate we're going right now, I'll take the unrivaled card.

I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm with you there. Alright. Should we move on to the next, seg here, Caitlin? Let's do it, Brett. Let's let's hear it. Alright. Undeniably, the market is just absurd right now.

We're in a bull market across the board. You're just go check out card ladder. Check out all the auctions that are closing. And what I wanted to get into a conversation about is is the WNBA card market really growing?

And so I wanted to break this into different categories. And just because prices are going up, I don't necessarily that I think that translates back to, like, growth and sustainable growth.

And so what I wanna do is just hit some indicators of things that I'm seeing based on my observations, and then I'm gonna run through those.

And then Caitlin, would love to kinda get your reaction on that. Every time I spend time looking at WNBA from a historical perspective in card ladder, my mind continues to, get blown.

I think first, we start here. July or a couple months ago, and this is the second consecutive month, the card ladder recorded an all time high of 308,000,000 across the sports card hobby in online sales that they're tracking.

This is up 2,000,000 from the previous month of 306, and 306,000,000 was an all time high.

So back to, like, prices are going up, volume of sales is increasing. So what does this mean for WNBA cards? So I, ran a little filter and did a filter of not $600 cards or more.

And I searched in this, search bar, WNBA. So we just pull whatever WNBA card related. And I went back starting at 2020. I feel like that's just a good cut, break point of this era with Prism.

If you don't like the way I think about this, I'm sorry. But it's just it gives me some structure around kind of this era. So I went started with 2020 in July, and looked at the month from July 20 all the way through '25.

So I'm gonna give this data to you, the listener of the WNBA card podcast. In July 2020, a $100 or more, there were six total sales, during that time. You've hit fast forward to 2021, July, a 145 sales, a $100 or more.

2022, July, a 185, a $100 or more. 2023, 188, a 100 or more. In July '24, we move up to 589. Total sales, a $100 or more. And then if we look back on twenty twenty five July data, we are at 4,938 sales, $100 or more.

So the rise year over year was kinda steadily increasing, and then we hit 2025. And, I mean, there are people spending their hard earned money at a higher rate than ever before on WNBA cards and WNBA collecting.

Maybe, Caitlin, before I move on to the next, do you have any reaction on that? Just makes me so happy, to see the growth. I think it is an indicator of growth.

And it also makes me, regret not buying more, as we all do, I suppose. But hearing the single digit sales in July 2020 with six sales over a $100, what were we doing? What was everybody doing? What were we gotta get those numbers up.

That is crazy to think about. Indicator number two, collector base expansion. This is more, my own observations, but it feels like there's more unique buyers and sellers. There is or I'm seeing new collectors posting WNBA cards.

You're seeing breakers, obviously, running more breaks. Indicator number three would be greater grading activity, looking at PSA submissions of just isolating it to Prism, in total pop.

So you've got 2020, which is the debut year of Prism. In total population cards according to PSA, you have 9,500.

That's a lot in comparison to the following years. You've got '21, September, '22, '25, '28, '23 Prism, '20 two, 93. And then then you move over to '24. And we have 35,636 cards graded according to the PSA pop you report.

So you look at that twenty twenty, you're like, wow, 9,500. Great. Well, look at 24. Right? 35,000. So Wow. That's, substantial. Moving over to the next one, wax prices. Let me pull these up really quick. Share my screen.

Okay. Again, card ladder. Now I've what am I doing here? I don't know why it's doing that, but we'll just talk through the numbers. You have 24 Prism selling glass sale for $13. 81 a box you've got $23,279 dollars a box cheap $22.

02 80 a box $21. 03 69 a box. And then $20. 25 25, which is crazy. Like, the last sale you could you August 3, you could have bought a box of debut, Prism for $5. 25. But then you look at kind of the Caitlin Clark here.

We're at $13. 81. Wow. So, again, like, that's crazy. Yeah. I'm surprised by that, to be honest. Me too. Me too. And I was at the national looking for a box of the 2020, and I found a case.

And I I was not You ran away. You said no. Thank you. Yeah. Yeah. I've no. I've not sped to that. I wanted to, but I'm like, don't do it. Just run away. And then I think my final indicator is just, like, overall cultural visibility.

Right? We're seeing AJ Wilson commercials. We're you know, it just feels like the momentum around the sport is higher than ever, which leads to more interest in collectors. So, yeah, those are just some of what I'm seeing.

And I I think I I can I I will make the case that, you know, whichever way you cut it, whether you think, like, flippers are here and they're gonna leave, all this, like, might be true? But regardless, like, the growth is here.

Like, we're in a growth oriented, category at this point. And just some of the stuff that I dug up and I'm sharing with you is very, very crazy, but I think encouraging for a lot of you who have been collecting this stuff for a while.

Caitlin, I'll pass it to you for just, like, thoughts and feedback. Yeah. Closing comments on this topic for me is not only are the numbers backing up the growth, but my personal interactions are backing up the growth.

I think just interest, at local card shows, at card shops, at, online in my DMs. I just feel like more people than ever wanna talk about WNBA cards. They wanna learn more about it, and I think, you know, we're here to do that.

And, the podcast is to hopefully hopefully help that growth as well. I am just struggling over here with my screen share. Caitlin, I'll just let you run with this.

Right? No worries. I think we're gonna move on to our pickups of the week, which I'm super excited about. I'm showing mine for the Patreon, showing it on the screen here. I picked up a 2024 prism gold, Natisha Heidemann out of 10.

I think it's the bookend copy. Yes. 10 out of 10 from Rocky's Sports Cards on Twitter and Instagram, former collector of the week, so thank you to him. This was an exciting pickup because I had the Connecticut Sun jersey, prism gold.

And I thought to myself, I don't really care about the sun. I would rather have a Lynx jersey. And so somebody bought my, Connecticut sun, which enabled me to buy the Lynx, which was just a fun thing.

I think in collecting, you know, being able to make those lateral moves can sometimes be just as rewarding as super high value plays.

So excited to have this one in the PC. I posted this on Instagram, but my Aerie McDonald black finite from '24 prism, right when this card literally, got sent out, it she broke her foot.

So, you know what? It's okay. I really enjoyed watching her, and I collect the finite. So, was excited to add this one to my collection. That's a good attitude to have, Brett.

Cool card no matter what. But the timing was truly comical. When you when you you messaged me, you're like, it popped. I was like, oh. Yeah. Congrats. And I'll continue that, like, with Sophie this week.

It's just like over I mean, who who's get who's getting hurt next on the fever. Right? We just talked about Kelsey Mitchell, and next thing you know, she's gonna go down or, God forbid, Aliyah Boston.

Although I'll say it, looks like the fever making some moves, releasing stuff, maybe to open it back up and get a return of Caitlin Clark. Please help me, God. So, yeah. Happy to have that card. Wow. Yes. Good card, nevertheless.

Let's move on to collector of the week. I'm super excited to shout out our collector over the week at beads sports cards on Instagram. They're a WNBA and college oriented, Instagram account, perfect for today's topic.

They also have an eBay store. I'm just gonna shout them out. They have an incredible eBay store of a lot of these cards you see on their page are available online.

Not all of them, but some of them. And I have a lot of these in my my watch list on eBay. So check that out. And let me just shout out, I think Beav is a bit of a Rekia Jackson hoarder if you click on that most recent one up there.

We've got four Rekia Jackson one of ones. Just crazy stuff happening at beef sports cards on Instagram. Keep posting these.

These are exciting cards. Amazing. Great collection. Alright. Should we round out today's conversation with some mailbag questions, Brett? Let's go. We have a lot of them. I don't think we're gonna get to all of them today.

So if we don't make it to your question, perhaps we'll move it to next week. We already talked about, fee MVP pick, and so shout out at w sports collector, for that question. We talked about that at the beginning.

But why don't we start with a funny question from Kevin m Cormier. Which big would you like to ban from taking three pointers? Who needs to be saved from themselves? And if you need a moment to think, I will propose my answer, bro.

Do you go? You go. Yeah. No one's jumping off the page for me. So for me, I looked up worse three point percent, percentages, and Kia Stokes came up. I think she should be banned from playing basketball in general.

So Yeah. I would they'd probably her. But the more fun answer is her teammate, Melissa Smith, which despite the fact that the last game I was watching, she made two three pointers, and I was very impressed.

I think the sole reason she should be banned from shooting three pointers is that when she shoots, her knees touch each other almost.

They're like so so crooked. And AJ Wilson and Jack Young were both making fun of this, on the sideline during the game.

So I think this is a fair play of me. I would I would ban Melissa Smith from taking three pointers. What's fun we're we're hitting, like, fever lineage, and I'll just throw a fever player out.

Demarest Dontes, no more threes for you. I'll tell you see the production in Brazil, and it's, like, 35 points for team Brazil. And every time she gets into the game, she tries to gun it, and it never goes in. It pisses me off so much.

I'm like, pass the ball. Swing it to Mitchell. Throw it to down low to Boston. Nope. I'm gonna gun it, and it's gonna break every time. Kevin, you got me fired up with that one. That was a fun question. Thanks, Kevin.

Let's go on to a three pronged I like this. Kyle underscore collects submitted a three pronged question, Brett. So let's go rapid fire here. Okay. First part of the prong, which team is more underrated, Atlanta or Phoenix?

I'll say Atlanta just because I feel like it's more understood that based on the players on the Mercury, that they're a really good team that can compete for a trophy. But I feel like Atlanta maybe flies a little more under the radar.

Okay. Well, I said Phoenix. So, obviously, we've been disagreeing a lot on this app. It's kinda nice. I I feel like sometimes we don't wanna just, like, be saying the same things.

I'll say Phoenix because people just start talking about Satu sahibly enough, and I think that she's going under the radar a lot. Okay. Second prong. Seattle, LA, and Washington are in a near tie for the final playoff spot.

Who do you think takes it? I like what's happening with the sparks right now. But I also really like Kelsey Plum. And I think she's had a really solid season, and I feel like they're rising at the right time.

Okay. I'm gonna take a different team. I'm gonna take Seattle. I think that team, any given night can constrict a team, on defense and can shoot lights out.

It's just a matter if they're on or not. I think they're they have a consistency problem, but I'll take Seattle in the last spot. I am surprised neither of us said our our, league pass team, the Mystics.

You're right. Yeah. Final prong of Kyle's question. What WNBA team has the worst GM? It has to be the sky. Right? Chicago. No. This just absolute dumpster fire mess. Yuck. Definitely Chicago.

Definitely Chicago. And shout out Kyle for being a Sky fan. Yeah. I'm sorry that you have to deal with that. I'll throw in just for the sake of having a different answer, the Dallas wings. I don't know what's going on down there.

I'd be curious to see how that's how their GMs maybe the Chicago and Dallas, GMs should swap jobs and then it would I'm sure that would just solve every problem. Okay. Let's move on. I think we've got time for maybe one or two more.

I I like this question. This is from at big John collectors cards. Is it right for people who don't watch WNBA games to comment on the WNBA card market? I think, I don't like this is this is where this is America.

Like, I believe in freedom of speech, but also, like, that comes with a, like, hey, you look like an idiot. And so if you wanna look like an idiot, for sure, like, do everything you can.

But I think it's very obvious and easy to see that the people who don't watch the games when they comment or have commentary, it's usually very, very ignorant.

So I'm not gonna tell people what to say or how to say stuff, but to me, it's very, very obvious, and I usually don't engage with those people.

I was gonna say the same thing, which is that everybody has a right to express their opinion. But when I call you out for it or when I think in my head, wow, this person clearly does not watch the WNBA.

Just know people can tell. You can tell, and there's no hiding behind that. So, we know that you guys, if you're listening to this, are watching the WNBA, so feel free to share your opinions, loud and proud.

Okay. Let's round out today's conversation. One of the frequent listeners and question submitters at m j s underscore sports cards.

Aesthetics only, Brett. Rank prism based gold designs from 2020 to 2024. I'm going 2024 at number one. I think it's the my favorite design. After that, I'm going 2024, then 2020.

Then I will go '21, '23, and then '22. Wow. We were very similar, Brett. I put I swapped 2020 and 2024 to say 2020 was the best, and 2024 in a second place. But the rest of us, the rest of them, we agree.

So, the bookings are what we like. Yeah, exactly. I mean, yeah, next year 2025 will probably be, making its way up the conversation, hopefully. I'd be interested to hear what the listeners think.

If you guys disagree, let us know. Thank you guys all for listening. These these questions are so fun to get into each and every week, and we appreciate you guys being here. We'll see you next week.