Caitlin Clark leads WNBA trading card and collectibles boom that's continuing to grow
Panini, which has the exclusive license to produce WNBA trading cards, will bank on the popularity of Caitlin Clark to continue to drive interest as the company says sales of its WNBA products have grown 'exponentially' since taking on the license in 2019.
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According to eBay, Clark was the third most searched athlete on its platform in April, behind only Michael Jordan and Jayden Daniels and ahead of J.J. McCarthy and Shohei Ohtani. During that month, her two Prizm WNBA base cards were among the four most transacted sports cards across online marketplaces, Market Movers data showed.
That's part of the reason why Panini will bump up their WNBA card portfolio to four traditional sets, after offering three for the first time last season, now adding Donruss (set to release in July) and a high-end product that will be revealed later this year (set to be released in September). The two new sets will join Prizm, Select, and the print-to-order Panini Instant line to provide collectors with more WNBA card variety than ever before.
Donruss' WNBA addition means Clark and other big names will appear within the wildly popular Downtown insert series. The new Downtowns should draw in buyers well outside diehard WNBA collectors given the hobby craze for the cards across all sports.
Panini won't kid themselves either, though. They're more than aware how much Clark's presence creates business for WNBA cards. The company also holds a long-term exclusive autograph and memorabilia rights contract with Clark. Earlier this month a release of 24 different variations of Clark autographed jerseys, basketballs, and photos ranging in price from $500-$1,250 quickly sold out on Panini's website.
Panini isn't the only major collectibles company that sees value in the WNBA, though. Funko made its first ever set of WNBA figures available for pre-order this week, with Clark, Angel Reese, A'ja Wilson, Breanna Stewart, and Lauren Jackson among the initial offerings.
Clark's two most expensive card sales occurred within the last two months, according to CardLadder, which tracks trading card sales across online marketplaces. Her 2024 Prizm WNBA Signatures Gold Vinyl autographed one-of-one rookie card sold for $366,000, a new record for any women's sports card, on March 29. A month later, her 2024 Prizm WNBA Throwback Signatures Gold Vinyl autographed one-of-one rookie card went for $244,000.
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'We started working through our exclusive with her in October 2023,' said Jason Howarth, Panini senior vice president of marketing and athlete relations. 'She was going into her final season in Iowa. We made a significant investment in Caitlin at that point. I think there were some people that were in our building that were not sure about it. And then there were certainly other people in our building who were like, 'If we're going to plant our flag, who are we planting our flag with?' And Caitlin was the answer for that.
'Everyone was going to start paying more attention and watching what was going to happen with Caitlin,' Howarth said. 'We knew that if we signed Caitlin, if there's one female basketball player that's going to show up on ESPN, with this being the measuring stick, right? If there's one female basketball player that's going to show up on ESPN SportsCenter every night, who is it? It's going to be Caitlin.'
Clark led all WNBA players with over 105,000 graded cards through industry-leading grader PSA during the offseason (May 2024-March 2025). For WNBA cards overall, PSA witnessed a 62 percent increase in graded cards as of March 2025 compared to May 2024.
WNBA players with the most cards graded by PSA in the offseason:
That's not to say there isn't still a market for players like the Chicago Sky's Reese, the Dallas Wings' Paige Bueckers — the No. 1 pick in the 2025 WNBA Draft — and the Los Angeles Sparks' Cameron Brink. As of Monday, via Market Movers, prices on Reese's graded rookie cards have increased by 9.4 percent in the past 30 days, ranking third among all basketball players (minimum 100 sales). Only the Indiana Pacers' Tyrese Haliburton and the Memphis Grizzlies' Jaren Jackson Jr. rank above Reese. Bueckers will likely see continued growth if she fulfills expectations in her rookie year and the same goes for Brink as she comes back from a season lost to injury.
Expanding Panini's WNBA presence also comes at a critical time for the card company.
Topps will take over licenses for the NBA in October and the NFL in April 2026. Without licensing for those two sports, as well as MLB and NHL, Panini's WNBA sets will be the most notable cards to possess team names and logos within the company's portfolio.
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Howarth sidestepped a question concerning the topic, instead pointing to other licensed products that will remain with Panini once the NBA and NFL leave, like LIV Golf, FIFA World Cup and NIL college deals, specifically with Texas quarterback Arch Manning. But Howarth firmly believes in the WNBA product. The current numbers validate his belief, even compared to the NBA.
According to Waxstat, which tracks pricing for sealed boxes and packs of cards, the average price for a 2024 WNBA Prizm hobby box in the last 30 days is $984.95. A 2024-25 Prizm NBA hobby box currently averages only $419.95, as the set's rookie class lacks star power. The WNBA hobby boxes even stand tall with 2023-24 Prizm NBA hobby boxes with Victor Wembanyama as the main chase card as those boxes average $1,149.95.
'We started with WNBA in 2019 and grew the sales exponentially in that first year. I think when we took over the license, it was at $50,000 in sales. It was very small,' said Horwath, who wouldn't reveal any sales figures other than saying the growth has been significant. Panini made $97,212.54 on the sale of a single Clark card through a Dutch auction in October.
'We felt like we would be a good ambassador for the WNBA as we continue to grow the brands on the NBA side of things.'
The Athletic maintains full editorial independence in all our coverage. When you click or make purchases through our links, we may earn a commission.
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