Why are 1997 Metal Universe Basketball Cards Suddenly Exploding in Value?

Something unusual is happening with 1997 Metal Universe basketball cards. A Tim Duncan PSA 9 rookie base card from this set just sold for $395. A PSA 9 of this card sold for around $35 in April. That is an increase of more than 1,000 percent in less than five months.

The PSA 9 Michael Jordan 1997 Metal Universe #23 sold for $300 on May 27th, 2025. On September 7th, 2026, a PSA 9 sold for $3,183. That's a 961% increase in just over 15 months. Kobe Bryant’s card has followed the same path. A PSA 9 Kobe 1997 Metal Universe #81 sold for $154 on September 6th, 2025. On September 8th, 2026, another sold for $1,650. That is an increase of about 971 percent in almost exactly one year.

These are not serial-numbered cards or rare inserts. These are base cards from a set released almost 30 years ago. The sports card market has been extremely strong in 2026, but Jordan, Kobe, and Duncan did not suddenly become 10 or 20 times more popular. Tim Duncan’s Card Ladder index has increased 37% in the last three months, but this specific rookie card in raw condition has gone up 841% in the same time span.

Something appears to be happening specifically with the 1997 Metal Universe set. Are collectors finally realizing how historically important this set is? The 1990s produced hundreds of memorable basketball card sets, but there has never really been one that is viewed as an equivalent to the 1986 Fleer. 1997 Metal Universe may be making a case to become the definitive basketball card set of the decade.

The Precious Metal Gems Effect

This Kobe Bryant PMG sold for $3.15 million in April. | Card Ladder

It is impossible to talk about 1997 Metal Universe without talking about Precious Metal Gems. The red and green Precious Metal Gems (PMGs) have become some of the most desirable basketball cards ever made, and they are extremely rare parallels from this set. A BGS 8.5 green Kobe Bryant PMG (serial-numbered out of 10) sold for two million dollars in 2022, and a PSA 5 red Michael Jordan PMG (serial-numbered out of 90) sold for $640,000 this past March.

The player images and artwork match on the base cards and the PMGs. The iconic Michael Jordan image that collectors see on the incredibly valuable PMG is also on the regular 1997 Metal Universe Jordan base card. That is more important than it sounds.

Collectors have spent years seeing these images attached to the iconic PMGs. Collector Mark Tanaka believes that connection is a major reason the base cards are finally taking off. “The 1997 Jordan is not special because of the year. It is because the PMG Jordan is so iconic,” Tanaka said. “That is the story the hobby has not fully digested.”

The iconic status of the PMGs is finally spilling over into the base set. An average collector can't afford a Michael Jordan PMG, but they can own the exact same image on his regular Metal Universe card.

The Designs Are More than Just Recognizable

There is an additional, and much simpler, reason why collectors are chasing 1997 Metal basketball cards. The cards look awesome. They look heroic. This is not a coincidence. Fleer/SkyBox was owned by Marvel Entertainment at the time, and SkyBox used Marvel artists to help create the comic book-style artwork found throughout the 1997 Metal Universe set.

The Marvel influence is obvious when you look at the cards. The designs are everything people remember about 1990s sports cards. There are planets, moons, fire, strange shapes, and futuristic landscapes. The cards look like they are straight out of a futuristic comic book.

Jalen Brunson — Many of the hobby’s most popular modern inserts, including Kabooms, also use comic book-style designs. Their popularity shows that the “coolness factor” can be an important part of what makes a sports card iconic. | Card Ladder

The Michael Jordan card is the best example. Jordan is soaring toward the basket with a flaming basketball while planets appear behind him. Nothing about it is subtle, and that is exactly what makes the card memorable. Metal Universe created artwork that makes other flashy 1990s basketball inserts look bland in comparison.

With so many options, collectors want cards in their collection that stand out. Additionally, collectors who grew up in the 1990s are older now and have more money to spend on the cards they remember. Metal Universe looks and feels unmistakably like the decade it came from. The nostalgia factor of these cards is off the charts.

1997 Was a Perfect Time for Basketball Cards

The year also gives the set a lot going for it. Michael Jordan was still leading the Chicago Bulls dynasty and would win his sixth NBA championship that season. Kobe Bryant was entering his second season. And at the same time, Tim Duncan and Tracy McGrady were rookies.

Additionally, Shaquille O’Neal, Hakeem Olajuwon, David Robinson, Patrick Ewing, Grant Hill, Scottie Pippen, Karl Malone and many other legends were still in their prime. Allen Iverson was entering his second year after one of the most memorable rookie seasons of the decade. The set captures several different generations of NBA superstars. Very few basketball card products represent the decade so well.

Jordan, Kobe, Duncan, and Shaq Moved First… Who’s Next?

There has been a pattern developing within the set. Jordan and Kobe moved first because they are the two biggest names (along with LeBron James) in basketball card collecting. Then attention started moving toward the Tim Duncan rookie card.

Duncan’s card has already experienced a massive increase. His card in raw condition went from under $10 earlier this year to over $60. His PSA 10 recently reached $2,280 despite selling for around $250 in April. Shaquille O’Neal’s PSA 9 card #50 was sold for around $30 in May, and one just sold for $550 on September 9th. Shaq’s entire card market has been on fire over the past few months, but it is incredible to see his base card from this set more than 10X in a few months.

Tracy McGrady could be part of the next group collectors focus on. McGrady’s PSA 10 recently sold for $600. In April, it was selling for around $100. That is a massive increase for a player who is not heavily collected in the hobby.

Attention could eventually move toward other Hall of Famers in the set. Allen Iverson, Kevin Garnett, and other Hall of Famers could become more important as more collectors start viewing 1997 Metal Universe as an iconic set instead of simply chasing individual players. Whether that happens remains to be seen. But the movement in Jordan, Kobe, Duncan, and Shaq makes these other Hall of Famers worth watching.

Could This Become the 1986 Fleer of the 1990s?

There will never be another set quite like the 1986 Fleer Basketball set. Not only does it contain Michael Jordan’s rookie card, but it also features the rookie cards of Charles Barkley, Hakeem Olajuwon, Patrick Ewing, Karl Malone, Clyde Drexler, and Isiah Thomas. There will never be another rookie card class that comes close to the one from 1986 Fleer.

The 1990s are different. There were so many products, sets, inserts, and parallels that no single basketball set has clearly separated itself. But 1997 Metal Universe could begin to establish itself as one of, if not the definitive set of the decade.

The population reports are also interesting. Michael Jordan’s base card #23 has a PSA 10 population of only 154 and a total PSA population count of 8,263. Those numbers are not incredibly low compared with rare 1990s inserts, but they are not huge either. For comparison, the 1986 Fleer Michael Jordan has a PSA 10 population of 341 and a total PSA population of 31,361.

Besides being somewhat rare in high grade, 1997 Metal Universe checks a lot of boxes. It has Michael Jordan, a second-year Kobe Bryant card, Tim Duncan and Tracy McGrady rookies, a loaded checklist, unforgettable 1990s artwork by Marvel artists, and one of the strongest nostalgia factors of any 1990s set. Most importantly, it is the set that gave us Precious Metal Gems. The PMGs became legendary first, but collectors are now looking at the cards underneath them as iconic as well.

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