The Glove Still Fits: Gary Payton’s Most Memorable Trading Cards
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Crouched in his defensive stance, head slightly cocked, Gary Payton would spit trash talk from the corner of his mouth, getting inside his opponent’s jersey and his head as he shadowed him up and down the floor.
And then after shutting down his man and telling him all about it, “The Glove” would turn around and pick him apart offensively, muscling his way in the post, gliding to the rim for a finger roll, or flipping a lob high into the air for Shawn Kemp to go get.
As ’90s basketball nostalgia continues to drive the hobby, Payton’s blend of skill, swagger and personality has given him even more staying power with card collectors than stats alone ever could.
Gary Payton 1990 Rookie Year Nostalgia
Had he come into the league only a couple of years later, Payton would’ve had dozens of rookie cards and first-year inserts. But alas, he only has one mainstream 1990 base card from each of the three major manufacturers at the time, raw copies of which can still be found in dollar bins.
It’s hard to get more ’90s than GP on his Hoops #391 rookie, holding a rotary phone receiver to his ear in a bunched-up, oversized brown suit on draft night, looking absolutely thrilled to join Dale Ellis and Xavier McDaniel in Seattle.
A PSA 10 sold for $125 on September 29, more than double its price just six months ago and up 155% year over year, according to Card Ladder.
His Fleer Update #U-92, which pictures Payton in a No. 2 jersey that will never look right, has seen a similar bump, with a PSA 10 rising 73% over the last year to $90.
And finally, his SkyBox #365, showing the Sonics draftee actually smiling in a tailored suit with a glowing basketball hovering on his fingertips, has held steady around $60 in a PSA 10 slab.
Payton's Sensational Skybox Metal Universe Seattle Cards
As is the case for most star players who were in the league during the late ‘90s, most of Payton’s highest-selling cards are numbered parallels from Skybox Metal Universe. For some reason, they all depict the Hall of Famer gliding to the rim rather than ripping the ball away or scowling in someone’s face.
The only public sale of his 1997 Precious Metal Gems Green, limited to just 10 copies and featuring a Sonics jersey color match, brought $50,040 in a PSA 5 slab. That was in April 2023 and Card Ladder now values the card at over $80,000.
While the 1997 PMG Red is comparatively easier to find, only 11 copies have changed hands publicly since 2020. The three cards moved this year, all PSA 6s, have sold for an average of $9,450. The most recent auction for a PSA 7 ended at $16,800 in September 2025, making it the second-biggest standalone Payton card card, just ahead of his 1997 Metal Universe Championship in the same grade, which brought $14,400.
Rounding out his all-time top 10 is a PSA 8 1997 SPx Grand Finale /50 #40, which reached $13,800 on September 13, more than double its previous $6,300 price tag from last July.
Payton Super Teams and Super Cards
One of the most baffling trades in recent memory came in February 2003, when the Bucks sent 27-year-old Ray Allen, plus an even less explicable first-round pick, to Seattle for Payton, who, at 34, once seemed destined to finish his career with the franchise that drafted him.
After 28 games in Milwaukee, Payton went ring-chasing with the Lakers, and then bounced around from Boston to Atlanta (for 10 days) and back to Boston again, before finally capping off his career with a championship in Miami.
Those moves around the league led to several higher-end cards on which No. 20 shares the spotlight with other superstar teammates. While his brief tenure in the backcourt with Sam Cassell on the Bucks is sadly not commemorated, there’s a 2004 Exquisite Collection Dual Logoman Autograph of Payton with Paul Pierce. The one-of-one of the Celtics duo sold for $40,800 in March, the second-highest price ever paid for any card that includes GP.
And technically, his third-highest sale, at $18,300, is a 2015-16 Panini Immaculate Collection Quad Autographs, on which he makes a cameo alongside fellow Lakers legends Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal.
And yet, while those cards are fun trips down a less-traveled memory lane, they don’t quite hit the same as the Seattle ones that best capture Payton at his peak, not as a supporting cast member but as the do-it-all, motor-mouthed star of the show.
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Alex Kramers is a Florida-based sportswriter who has covered the NBA and NFL since 2009. He served as a Sacramento Kings reporter and digital media coordinator from 2012-2014 and has written regular feature stories for the team's website. He has also covered the Miami Dolphins for DolfansNYC, and has produced content for publications including HOOP Magazine and Orangetheory Fitness. An avid sports-card collector since childhood, he has amassed one of the biggest Mitch Richmond collections in the world, and seeks out Florida Panthers cards and memorabilia with his son.