Are Ace Bailey cards an overlooked bargain?
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The NBA season kicked off this past week. Many collectors were eagerly awaiting the debut of star players like Kevin Durant making their first start for their new teams or hyped rookies like making their NBA debut. To coincide with the start of the NBA season, Topps released their first officially licensed NBA product since 2009. The product included autograph cards of many big name veterans like Steph Curry and Victor Wenbanyama along with rookies such as first overall pick Copper Flagg. One name rookie that appears to be flying under the radar is Jazz rookie forward Ace Bailey.
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For those unaware, Ace Bailey was considered one of the best players available in the 2025 NBA draft with some sites ranking him behind only Copper Flagg in pre draft rankings. However, unlike other top draft prospects, Bailey’s pre draft process was not without drama. According to NBA experts such as Shams Sharina, Bailey refused to take any individual workouts or meetings with teams in effort to steer his destination. Supposedly, Bailey’s team wanted him to go to a team where he would have the potential to be the clear cut number one option.
Although they were not considered a preferred destination of Bailey, the Utah Jazz stopped Bailey’s slide and drafted him fifth overall. Since then, Bailey reported to the Jazz without any incident and took part in all Jazz Summer League games. In fact, Bailey put up strong numbers both at the summer league and during the preseason. Something that should have had collectors excited about his potential.
However, it seems that as the season started Bailey’s hobby market has been more tepid than what would be expected based on his potential. Currently Bailey rookie base autos are selling for around $180-$200. While that’s a respectable sales value, it’s significantly lower than former Rutgers teammate and current Spurs rookie Dylan Harper whose autos are selling for $300 and above. Also in checking available sales on case breaks, the Jazz spot sells for around $110 for hobby cases and $145-$150 for jumbo breaks.
The question now is why is Bailey who was equally as hyped selling for so much less. It’s possible that collectors were turned off by how the draft process played out for Bailey even though since then Bailey has not been a problem and even moved on from his previous management team. Being drafted by the Jazz could have hurt his market although being drafted by less prestigious teams doesn’t affect NBA rookies as much as it does for MLB rookies. Whatever the reason may be, Bailey’s lower hobby market presents an excellent buyers market for collectors. Ace Bailey still has a lot of potential and those collectors that get in now could be rewarded down the line if he comes close to reaching said potential.
