Michael Jordan's 5 most graded basketball cards

The numbers Michael Jordan recorded on the court throughout his Hall of Fame basketball career are legendary. PSA has graded more than 1.7 million Michael Jordan basketball cards in its history. Five Jordan cards have been graded more than 30,000 times, and while some of Jordan's key cards come from an era of mass production in the sports card hobby, the iconic cards help tell the story of arguably the greatest career in NBA history.

Arguably the greatest team-sport athlete in history, Jordan is a six-time NBA champion, six-time NBA Finals MVP, five-time NBA MVP, 14-time NBA All-Star and 10-time NBA scoring champion. What’s equally impressive is that Jordan’s impact on the basketball card market rivals the body of work put together over 15 NBA seasons with the Chicago Bulls and Washington Wizards.

According to GemRate, PSA has graded more than 1.7 million Jordan cards in the company’s history.

Many cards produced during Jordan’s prime years as a player coincided with the sports card hobby’s Junk Wax Era, when manufacturers willingly printed cards at a breakneck pace. Still, the release of “The Last Dance,” ESPN’s 10-episode documentary covering the Bulls’ dynasty of the 1990s led by Jordan, coinciding with the sports card market exploding during the 2020 pandemic had caused a wave of collectors, dealers and investors to flood PSA with Jordan cards in hopes of obtaining a prestigious Gem Mint 10 grade.

Six of the 11 basketball cards PSA has most often graded all-time are Jordan cards. Each of the five Jordan cards PSA has most frequently graded has been done so at least 25,000 times, with Jordan’s 1989 Hoops All-Star (#21) card on the verge of joining the club (24,961 times graded as of Aug. 15).

Five All-Time PSA Graded Michael Jordan Basketball Cards

1990 Fleer (#26)

Michael Jordan 1990 Fleer PSA 9 — The 1990 Fleer Michael Jordan (#26) card has been graded more than 64,000 times by PSA. | Jeff Howe

The iconic image of Jordan dunking the ball against the New York Knicks, with Hall of Fame teammate Scottie Pippen trailing behind, while Knicks Hall of Fame center Patrick Ewing and guard Gerald Wilkins watch helplessly at the other end of the floor, has been graded by PSA more than 64,000 times (64,075 as of Aug. 15).

No basketball card has been graded more often by PSA, with Kobe Bryant’s 1996 Topps (#138) rookie card a distant No. 2, with 47,614 graded copies on PSA’s population report. The only sports cards that outnumber Jordan’s fifth-year Fleer card in all-time cards graded by PSA are three Ken Griffey Jr. rookie cards — 1989 Upper Deck Star Rookie (#1), 1989 Topps Traded (#41T) and 1989 Fleer (#548) — and Mark McGwire’s 1985 Topps (#401) Team USA card.

1989 Hoops (#200)

Michael Jordan 1989 Hoops basketball cards graded a PSA 9 — Michael Jordan's 1990 Hoops (#200) card has been graded more than 35,000 times by PSA. | Jeff Howe

Jordan and Hall of Fame center David Robinson, who had two rookie cards in the set (#138 and #310), were among the marquee cards collectors searched for in the inaugural production of NBA Hoops.

Jordan’s base card in the Hoops debut is one of eight basketball cards PSA graded more than 35,000 times, with a total of 35,409 cards graded. Joining Jordan’s first Hoops card in the 35K club are the 1990 Jordan Fleer, Bryant’s Topps rookie card, four ultra-modern rookie cards from Panini Prizm — Victor Wembanyama in 2023 (#136), Zion Williamson (#248) and Ja Morant (#249) from 2019 and Luka Doncic from 2018 (280) — and Shaquille O’Neal’s 1992 Topps (#362) rookie card.

1988 Fleer (#17)

Michael Jordan 1988 Fleer basketball card — Michael Jordan's 1988 Fleer (#17) card was produced after one of the best seasons of his career. During the 1987-88 season, Jordan averaged a league-high 35 points per game, was voted NBA MVP, was named NBA Defensive Player of the Year and was MVP of the All-Star Game. | PSA

Jordan’s third-year Fleer has been graded 29,189 times, making it the ninth most-graded basketball card in PSA’s history. The next most-graded 1988 Fleer card of all-time, with 15,836 entries on the PSA population report, is Scottie Pippen’s rookie card (#20), meaning the Jordan base card has been graded at almost a 2-to-1 ratio higher than the Hall of Fame rookie card of his running mate in Chicago.

Pippen is one of four Hall of Fame rookie cards in the 1988 Fleer set. The others are Dennis Rodman (#43), who won three championships alongside Jordan and Pippen with the Bulls (1996-98), Reggie Miller (#57) and John Stockton (#115).

1986 Fleer (#57)

Michael Jordan 1986 Fleer rookie card PSA 10 — PSA has only issued 335 Gem Mint 10 grades out of the more than 29,000 1986 Michael Jordan Fleer (#57) cards the company has graded. | PSA

Arguably the most iconic basketball card in the history of the hobby, the crown jewel of one of the most important sports card sets ever manufactured has been graded 29,160 times by PSA. Jordan gliding to the basket in his rookie season with the Bulls is the image Fleer used for a card, for which PSA has only ever issued 335 Gem Mint 10 grades, resulting in a gem rate of one percent.

1989 Fleer (#21)

Michael Jordan 1989 Fleer Scoring Average Leader card (#21) — Michael Jordan's 1989 Fleer (#21) base card commemorates one of his league-leading 32.5 points per game average during the 1988-89 season, one of his 10 NBA scoring titles. | Jeff Howe

With a photo similar to the 1986 Fleer, the front of Jordan’s fourth-year Fleer card recognizes the league-leading 32.5 points per game he averaged during the 1988-89 season. Jordan’s fifth NBA season saw him average a league-high 40.2 minutes per game while playing in 81 games en route to the third of his 10 first-team All-NBA selections and a runner-up finish to Magic Johnson in the voting for NBA MVP.