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Welcome to the Stacking Slabs, a podcast for sports cards collectors. There's been a tremendous amount of change to our Hobby over the last few years and the one constant has been the passion from the collecting community. Stacking Slabs is built by the collector and lives to tell stories for the collector.
Welcome back, loyal listeners of the stacking slabs podcast two season three episode one of the WNBA card podcast.
My name is Caitlin. I go by at cold lunch cards on the Instagram machine and everywhere else on the Internet, and I'm joined by my amazing cohost, Brett McGrath at stacking slabs.
And we're excited to continue to bring collector driven and community focused content to your headphones, to your radio, to wherever you're listening to us today.
We're excited to have you here. Brett, how are you doing? I'm well. I wanna just admit upfront. Last time you heard from us, we were hoping that the finals would continue to, extend, and we'd have more basketball to watch.
And, boy, were we wrong. So, the champion has been crowned. Congratulations, Las Vegas aces. And Asia Wilson, enters uncharted territory, which felt appropriate.
And I know all of you loud Asia Wilson collectors out on Instagram. You know who you are. We know you listen. We know you are there. We know you are there. This one, especially, is going to be for you.
I love it. I can't wait to get into it, Brett. Like you said, it was a disappointing end to the season for both of our teams, but very impressive and historic campaign from Asia and the aces.
So we've got a lot to cover. But before we get into it, I think we have to plug our sponsors today for the first episode of season three. We're excited to announce that Great Lakes trading cards is coming back and sponsoring us.
There are grassroots campaign here talking all about local card shops and supporting your local card shop. My plug to Great Lakes this week is that they're going to be having that women's only sports card show.
So that means that at least half of each and every case in the show has to be full of women's sports cards, which I think is super cool.
I haven't heard of that kind of thing happening before. That'll be, it got moved to November 2 at Dual Citizen Brewery from twelve to five. That's in Saint Paul, Minnesota.
So if you're in the area, be sure to check it out. I'm excited to see how it goes. Just excited to have Great Lakes back, for season three. And, Brett, I think we have another partner joining us for season three.
Yeah. I wanna say, first of all, on the Great Lakes Trading Cards front, you shared a cool video that someone a reel that someone shot of walking into the store, and the store looks incredible, and also plugged, the WNBA card podcast.
So that was super cool, and I love seeing that.
Absolutely. Shout out to them. We'll post that to our, page so you guys can see it once this, episode drops. Shout out to our new sponsor here on the WNBA card podcast, Card Ladder, the official data provider of the WNBA card podcast.
So much of what we use to prepare for these episodes is Card Ladder, and Card Ladder has been such an instrumental, piece of technology and platform for stacking slabs in general.
And had an amazing conversation with Christina on the Card Ladder team not too long ago, and I just love it. She's like, we wanna get involved.
We wanna be a part of this, and it's just so amazing to have, partners like Card Ladder who see the same, potential and opportunity that we do with this group or this audience of collectors, and that's you, the WNBA, card collector.
So fired up. We'll be featuring card ladder as we always do, but it's awesome to get them on board to support this show. So go support them. Absolutely. If you guys don't have Card Ladder, go check it out.
I use it every day. I use it, when I'm on the plane, I use it. When I'm at shows, when I'm at home, it's the perfect companion. So, yeah, I'm excited, and and thanks to the Card Ladder team for supporting us.
We appreciate it. Thank you so much. So let's see here. We have a lot to talk about. And like I referenced upfront, if you are a fan of Asia Wilson and you collect her cards, you're gonna wanna tune in and listen to this.
Three championships, two finals MVPs, four league MVPs. We'll just, like, set this party off right with a question.
And I've been reading articles, been reading commentary, but my question to you, Caitlin, because we haven't talked about this, is Asia Wilson now the undisputed GOAT of the WNBA?
And if so, why hasn't her card market caught up yet? So maybe just take on the goat part, and we can get into the card market part of it as well.
Yeah. So I don't wanna be too controversial here, but I do think there's a little caveat to the term goat, which is that it's just greatest of all time.
It doesn't have any sort of, qualifier. It doesn't say greatest shooter of all time, greatest winner of all time, greatest player of all time.
So interpreting goat means different things to different people depending on who you ask. If we're talking about Asia Wilson, I believe, and I am here to say she is the greatest player of all time.
Now I texted Brett and I said I listened to to Chaney before game four of the finals, and she said, Asia Wilson is the greatest player of all time, but Maya Moore is still the greatest winner of all time.
And so that's my kind of cop out to this question is, yes, I am here to declare that I believe Asia is the best player in basketball period.
But, you you know, maybe one more and we can get to the winner conversation. And it's and it's up to the to the fans and to basketball fans on if, greatest player or greatest winner means more to you.
But I think that's my starting point is, yes, I can see that Asia is the greatest player of all time. And to hit on others go ahead. I I just comment on this.
I think what's what whether you agree with what Caitlin said or whether you don't agree, the fact that we're talking about Asia Wilson in the same breath, and then in in some instances, in a higher tier that with my Amores, and she's still, like she she's not retiring.
She's just coming back, and she's coming back for more. And I love to see her. She enjoys her off season.
She enjoys, you know, getting her nails done and, sleeping in a little bit, which if anyone enjoy should enjoy a at least a month without basketball or anything, like, I would say let your hair down, but we we have a little bit of a haircut.
So it's like, why don't you sit on the couch and watch Netflix? I know Bam's starting up the season on his end, but hopefully you get some quality time together.
Absolutely. She deserves it. What a run it was for the aces. Before we get into that kind of recap, I did wanna address the second part of your question, which is kind of, the cards of it all and why hasn't the market caught up.
And I just think I'll preview my answer because I get in we'll get into this later. But I think it's really about supply and demand, and it's not a demand issue.
It's a supply issue. And that's kind of my, high level take on what's going on here, the disconnect. And we'll dive into that as we get into this episode, but just wanted to preview my my initial reaction to your question.
So when we first started this c or a couple seasons or last season when the season was going on and, you know, we talked about teams even before the season, and I'll say, like, I'm not gonna go pat myself on the back for picking the aces.
Like, they were, like, third favorite or whatever.
You're right, Brett. You were right. So I I want some credit there. I but but my pick as we went throughout the season was not looking good. The aces weren't looking good, and then it changed.
And I don't know. I think about, like, the aces the other aces runs and their wins, and it was almost like, wow, this is the Juggernaut. This is the team. And this year, it just felt different.
So I don't know, like, with this championship and with these MVPs, like, what do you think this means for Asia's overall legacy? I think this really cements any concerns or doubts or whatever you wanna call it around leadership.
Like, not that I had any personally, but I think a lot of people could draw on the talent surrounding her on the team, the coaching, the situation. She really was, like, in a nice in a nice situation is all that I'm trying to say.
And this this year proved that it doesn't really matter, that if if you're kind of struggling, you know, they had a they were at the point of losing to the link spread, which was the August, they lost by 53 points to my Minnesota links, and they were fourteen and fourteen.
They didn't lose another game after that. Like, to show Asia Wilson's resilience, I think that was the story this year. And I think that, like, is just another pillar of, why she's considered one of, if not, the greatest of all time.
So, I think that was kind of the storyline that this championship proved compared to other ones is that, you know, even if you get knocked down, you can never counter out.
I remember that I was in my hotel room in Rosemont, Illinois watching that Lynx and Aces game, and I couldn't really believe what I was seeing.
Maybe just because we probably won't mention, her maybe again in this episode, but I think this is so important in sports and especially when you have great players.
Like, how big of a role do you think the Asia Wilson plus, Becky Hammond has in all of this?
Like, would this would this happen without, like, this infrastructure and what has been built, or do you just say, like, this is one of the greatest of all time?
She would have done it in any scenario. I mean, it's it's hard to say. Let's just like, to to remove them because they're so attached at the hip now.
Like, without Asia, who is Becky, and without Becky, who is Asia? And I think, obviously, Becky benefits a lot more from having Asia than Asia benefits from Becky, but they're kind of one in the same now.
And, you know, you heard during the press conference that the owner, Alde is it Mark Davis? Mark Davis. Yeah. Davis said they asked, like, oh, how come Becky isn't the highest paid coach?
And he was like, wait. She's not? And so, I imagine she has a big contract coming for her. But, yeah, my my whole point with saying that is I think they both feed off of each other.
They've become kind of, two peas in a pod. But I don't think it having a different coach, I don't think it would take away from Asia's accomplishments.
She would figure it out with, Chris Conklin's at the head. I think she she would still be winning. So jumping back into cars before we jump into the discussion, did a look at AJ Wilson's card ladder index and did an all time filter.
There now in the index, there are 11 cards. These cards are probably what you expect, like the Rittenhouse rookie, like, some of these base cards, but I think this helps tell the story.
Her cards, since they since they debuted and started coming out, are up 401 all time. I think that might seem staggering. It might seem like, oh my god.
But I feel like when we start digging into maybe some of these sales and numbers and figures based on what has happened since then, we're all going to be asking maybe our question of being like, this is my my my thing is, man, she seems like she still got a lot of room to grow.
And if her market is growing, that likely means really good things for the rest of the WNBA card market.
But let's talk about the goat on the floor. And I think it would be interesting. And I just put some names out here, Caitlin, and you can talk about those names or other names.
But, like, breaking down her resume and her being Asia Wilson in comparison to some of these other, great players of all time, Teraci, Lisa Leslie, Candace Parker, Stewie.
Like, how do you compare and contrast what we're seeing from, Wilson with some of these other all time greats?
I think when you're comparing them to each other, like any other sport and category of athletes, it's important to remember the context in which they played.
So it's so hard to compare somebody that was playing WNBA basketball in 1997 to somebody who's playing in 2025, and I think that's a good thing.
But with that being said, I pulled up just, like, the hardware case of each of those players that you named and was like, okay.
Who's got it filled the most? How much weight do I put on different trophies? Whether that be an MVP, an all star appearance, an all WNBA team, a finals MVP, a rookie of the year.
You know, these kind of, like, career making trophies that you build up. And once they start stacking upon each other, it's, like, easier to compare across across time periods.
And so I looked at them and I said to myself, there's one glaring thing sticking out to me, which is Asia Wilson has done this so much quicker than everybody else in the most competitive time in the w.
I don't think that that is controversial to say at all. I think since the inception of the league, players have only become more talented.
It has only become a more competitive league both by quantity of players, meaning there's more teams than ever before, but there's also just you know, as we progress through the sport, people are gonna get better at it, especially with the heightened media attention, more pay, more incentives.
This is just natural. So Asia Wilson was able to impress me the most with her her hard case or her hardware case despite only being in the league since 2018.
And so when we compare that to Stewie, who's been in the league for two years longer, Candace Parker was in the league for fifteen, DT for 20, and Lisa Leslie for twelve, Asia's breadth of her accomplishments are more impressive, and she's only done it in in, like, half the time that some of those players have.
As I was formatting this episode, and it's so hard for me because I'm creating content for a lot of different categories, and I'm like, sometimes similar topics, like, overlap.
And as I was going through this, I that what you just suggested in the time to accomplish, like, what stood out to me, and I've never thought about these two athletes in the same light, but, like, I feel like because they're the same era, it's forcing me to.
But I I thought of, like, Patrick Mahomes.
Like That's that's what we said on our NFL WNBA comp post was that Asia was the Patrick Mahomes of the WNBA. So I think that's only natural. I it it I obviously saw that but forgot about it, but maybe that seed was just planted.
But I think that, in this whole preview kind of what we're going to be talking about, but you think about, like, football cards, and you think about Mahomes, and you think about the amount of money that is put in to Mahomes cards because of his greatness and what he's already done.
It's like, hey, everybody. Like, Wilson's doing it over here and, like, likely doing at an even higher clip than Mahomes.
And I think opening up the conversation to that, not saying, like, Wilson's card should be as much as Mahomes, but at least entertaining the conversation is, like, what I'm hoping to accomplish here in today's episode.
Yeah. I love this comparison. Let me just say I did listen to card letter confidential on the Patreon where you, Chris and Josh talk about Mount Rushmore. And I think we have a similar question framed by the mailbag.
But I do think it's interesting to call out what Chris said, which is what I didn't realize, which is if you add up a player's regular season MVPs and their championships and just give that a number, Asia is the only active player with six, and Patrick Mahomes is the only active player with five.
And if that doesn't put it into perspective for folks, I don't know how to get it through your head that Asia is generational. Okay. So let's let's get into it. And I will say this.
I'm not saying that the WNBA card collecting community has not caught up because I believe and I've seen this more AJ Wilson cards bought, more posted. I'm mention I'm saying this from the reference of the hobby as a whole.
What do you like, and we're talking about why her market maybe hasn't caught up from the context of some of these other time all time greats. What is what do you think is holding AJ Wilson's market back from exploding?
Well, I certainly don't think it's collector attention, which I think is the easy cop out to say is that, you know, because the WNBA makes up a smaller portion of the collecting ecosystem, that people don't want to buy them at higher prices.
I don't think that's what it is.
I actually think that people that are buying Asia Wilson cards think they're getting them at a deal. And I think that's because of the like I previewed at the beginning of the episode, it's because of the supply.
I think it's because despite Asia Wilson being the face of the league, which is undoubtable in terms of talent and in terms of winning at this point, at least for an active player, her card ecosystem or her catalog of selection of cards is lagging behind, especially cards that collectors are immediately drawn to, which would be rookie cards.
Not only do they come from a previous era where, you know, a lot of us that came back to the hobby came or back into WNBA collecting whether either of those things.
It was in the pandemic era, which was Panini owned, and Asia Wilson came from kind of the old guard of Rittenhouse.
And so when people are looking to learn more about her rookie cards, it's uncharted territory. They don't have a lot of context. They can't compare it to, say, Patrick Mahomes or a different segment that they collected.
And because of that, I think there's not a deep kind of bench of parallels or options for collectors to choose from, which, you know, can be a little it can be not as fun to explore for some folks, you know, just based on their what they bring to the table in collecting.
And I think that, you know, there's kind of a a combination, like I said, of collector passion and collector attention.
But then the other part is the market infrastructure, meaning the card catalog, the availability, the accessibility, etcetera.
And we're kind of missing that second piece right now. I think we'll catch up, but I think people understand that that's lagging behind Asia's dominance and greatness. The do you think because I I totally agree with what you're saying.
Because Wilson's rookies are on the tail end of Rittenhouse and not quite in the Panini era, and we tell ourselves, like, maybe as collectors entering WNBA cards that we're just sticking with the Panini stuff, do you think that presents maybe an opportunity for those that look are looking a level or two ahead of any, of other groups of casuals in just saying, like, at the end of the day, she could could be, or I could even say it now, is the goat.
And I don't care which era her cards are in.
Like, I'm just trying to get her rookie cards. And I think the further we get away, especially time wise, but also manufacturer wise, we don't really know what's going to happen with Panini's licensing with the w.
They've been very clear about what's happening happening in other segments, but the w is kind of a gray spot. I think as we continue to move away from that, the pull to the earlier cards is gonna become even heavier and stronger.
And so I I definitely think that that's a phenomenon that we're seeing long time collectors already putting into practice, and, you know, I think we'd all be well poised to follow their lead there.
It feels natural to go to the to the rookie cards of it all despite the fact that they might not be from something that we're as familiar with in other lanes.
I've been having not exact conversations like this, but I've been having a lot of conversations this week, and a theme has been, like, supply and demand.
And I'm like, I'll, like, try to go one direction, and then, like, the the person I'm talking to will, like, bring it back to supply and demand. I'm like, yeah.
It's just, like, simple economics here. But how much of this do you think is tied to Asia Wilson's, card supply in her catalog and those product cycles that we've been talking about throughout the history of the WNBA card podcast?
I definitely think it has more weight, like I said, than other factors. To kinda walk folks through, if you don't know already, we have lots of Asia collectors, so I'm sure they'll just be hearing this.
But, you know, we start with 2018 Rittenhouse, which was her rookie card. This is long standing, deal that they had with the WNBA. The cards weren't as short print.
You know, there's the platinum adapt or the platinums, but it really wasn't as short print. There weren't a lot of parallels. It wasn't associated with a particular brand that NBA collectors were even familiar with.
And then we move into her second year, her sophomore year, where we get into Panini with Don Russ. And that was interesting because this finally kind of brought Asia into the recognizable brand.
People could draw comparisons across lanes, but it still had a very limited checklist. It didn't have too many parallels, and it wasn't, like, distributed at a high rate.
I mean, I still remember hearing folks talking about how at the twenty nineteen national, they could buy cases and cases of it because nobody else wanted it. Looking back, you know, we all should have been doing that.
But that that was kind of what was happening in 2019. And then finally, by the time Panini scaled up with Prism in 2020, we saw a little bit more attention with the incoming rookie class including Sabrina.
But by the time we got to 2020, Asia was already in the year for or in the league for two years. She was established. People already understood that she was going to be very good.
Maybe not as good as we know she is now, but she was going she had high expectations. And she wasn't seen as, like, this new toy to play with for prospectors or for people looking to make a quick buck.
So she missed that kind of natural rookie hype cycle that we see a lot. And I think that's a direct result of the product distribution, like you said, or the the card supply that was available at the time.
I'm so fired up that we can, like, bring content like this to the listeners because this is the stuff that I think matters, and I love digging into it.
When, on the flip side of this, and you hit a point that is so true, it's like Asia Wilson didn't benefit from having rookie cards in a hyped up product like Prism.
Mhmm. But, conversely, there are a lot of players, Sabrina, Caitlin, Angel Reese, who have big time.
Because the hobby chases that, do you think that has caused Asia Wilson's cards or market to suffer because she wasn't a part of that hype cycle?
And other players, especially now with Paige even this year, other players continue to, be a part of that.
Do you think that hurts kinda her overall market at all? Maybe. I'd I'd have to look more into the data to make, like, a very substantiated claim, so maybe card ladder could help us out there in the future.
But I think that, generally, one player's success or one player's hype market doesn't necessarily diminish another.
In fact, I think it usually is more of, like, a rising tides lifts all boats kind of thing. We need the data to support that, but that's at least how I'm seeing it from my vantage point is not necessarily.
I just think it's it's two different two very different markets, and people are starting to really merge the two. So we're starting to have these conversations.
But but no. I I don't think that's a good way to look at it either of, like, just because the new Caitlin, Paige, angels are doing super well in their world, that Asia isn't doing well in her world.
It's it's relative. You know? It's hard, Caitlyn, because we are, in this. Hell, we do a podcast about it. And I often ask, or ask, like, the question about just overall visibility.
Yeah. And, the the the individuals who I'm talking to about WNBA cards in the WNBA understand how good AJ Wilson is when wherever we're talking about leagues best, like, her name always comes up.
What's the perception do you like, outside of these circles? Like, you talk about all of the greats now, Mahomes, and you talk about, like, previous greats, you know, Brady, you know, Montana, Manning, I gotta throw out there.
Like, people know how great they those players are, but I often questions, like, do do individuals who don't have WNBA league pass?
Like Yeah. Is Asia Wilson in their, periphery as, like, being the great? Like, what's your read on the situation from the outside looking in?
Oh, it's so tough, Brett. Everybody I associate with, I've converted to be a WNBA fan in some capacity. Even like my mom and dad who probably did not care about the WNBA at all, I'm, like, talking their ear off about it.
My friends all watch the w. Most of my card collector friends are are aware of the WNBA, and, you know, they are drawn to the dollar signs that Asia commands.
So but I'm trying to make an objective point of view here, but I would say this. I'll start with historically. I think historically, there was a visibility issue.
I think we can all recognize that. And, you know, I think Asia's visibility was very strong in the past within the WNBA community, Meaning that people that watch the WNBA could not deny her greatness.
But she wasn't really necessarily part of that viral conversation that happened with Caitlin Clark Iowa, with Paige Beckers, with Angel Reese, with these players that kind of blew up the pattern that the WNBA was experiencing.
And I think that pattern has been interrupted. And I think that's starting to change in terms of the visibility with Asia's back to back titles.
I misspoke earlier saying six. It's actually seven. So I just wanna correct that. She had four MVPs and three, championships. So it's actually seven. And I think that further demonstrates how it's impossible to ignore her greatness.
And even if you aren't a WNBA fan, it's it's it's not possible to deny that, because it's so strong of a resume that it permeates these other leagues or these other fans.
And I think that, you know, off the court presence coupled with the resume, it's pretty hard to ignore Asia's shoes being in every Dick's Sporting Goods.
It's hard to ignore her commercials all over ESPN. It's hard to ignore the money. It's hard to ignore the parades every other year.
You know, these types of things that happen, they stack upon each other, and people just can't tune it out anymore, especially with increasing media attention and, you know, the push for equality in women's sports being on the front page of news with media deals being secured with ESPN, with more accessible ways to watch, whether that be through, like, the ESPN deal or women's only women's women's sports only bars.
It's much easier to consume the media that is showing Asia's greatness, And I think that that's bringing more mainstream collectors in, and there's not really a way to say to argue against it.
And I think that that just shows her greatness.
And so while I still believe that, you know, awareness doesn't necessarily equate to immediate hobby traction, it certainly helps. And I think that's where we're at right now. Alright. Let's dig into some card ladder data.
And this was the most fascinating report I ran all week by a mile. And this was like Christmas every time I, like, hit the filter because I kept being more and more surprised, and I'm like, should I be surprised?
But this is what we're gonna do. We're gonna go from 21 to 25. I ran a filter in card lighter.
Agent Wilson card selling for a thousand dollars or more. Here we go. So should I do this should I do this in descending or ascending order, Caitlin? Start from today. Twenty twenty five. I I think you're right. Twenty twenty five.
How by the let me let's just reinforce this one more time. How many championships and MVPs total does Asia Wilson? Okay. Seven. How many years left do you think Asia Wilson has to play, by the way? I think she should play till she's 40.
I think she could pull a d t. I just don't know if she sees the value because she's already really done everything, but I'd love to see her play till twenty thirty eight. How old is Asia now? 29. Oh, good lord.
She's not even 30. Hey. Later on in your career, if you Asia, if you're listening, if you wanna make a stop here in Indiana, we'd love to have Oh my god. Greed. This is the greed they talk about in the Bible right here. Uh-huh. Okay.
Alright. So 2025, this year, a thousand dollar sales or more. Asia Wilson has had 51. Her highest sell selling card, we've talked about on this podcast, twenty eighteen platinum rookie Rittenhouse out of 25, which sold for $11,215.
Okay. I'm just gonna go through this, and we can react. 2024. Now 2024 has the we're we have two more months of data. There was 52.
So you can imagine, especially after this last championship, AJ is gonna move past that '24 number, but it's close. And her highest selling card was the a Rittenhouse Auto rookie PSA 10 with an inscription LV aces for $5,400.
Caitlin, we have a we have a bit of a drop off next. We've got twenty twenty three, only four cards sold for a thousand dollars or more. In '22, one card. In 21, zero cards.
That to me, based on the subject we're talking about and based on the data, Even if you think Asia Wilson's market is heated up and at an all time high, I can't even begin to express, like, my belief on how much more room this thing has based on everything that this podcast is built and structured off of.
But we're gonna I'm I wanna get your reaction to this before we do kind of, like, some comparative analysis.
My reaction is who is the person that bought the one card in 2022? I'd love to hear them and hear their thoughts because that's incredible.
And my second reaction was, okay, we started tracking the tracking that you did was from 2021 to 2025. That means the earliest that we're tracking here was three years after she entered the league.
And it's not like she came out of nowhere, folks. Like, she was highly rated out of South Carolina. We all knew what was gonna happen. We didn't know she was gonna be coming to go, but we all knew she was gonna be really good.
And she won rookie of the year in her debuts in her rookie season. It's not like, oh, Asia was kind of just like riding the bench and then came out of nowhere in 2021 and just exploded. Like that to me is the most crazy part.
And let me just say this, the twenty twenty five fifty one is so low. I'd imagine that it goes up more, like you said, with the last two months of the year remaining, but I'd expect this number to just absolutely skyrocket next year.
And I just think people are are it's undoubtable that we have to catch on at some point. How many years can we go without recognizing this as a, like, as a hobby?
I just this data is flooring to me. So let's let's let's, inject some more flooring data. So we talked about Mahomes earlier, and we know that there's way more football cards than WNBA cards.
But, again, maybe this is the point. Patrick Mahomes in 2025, a thousand car a thousand dollars or more sales, 5,157. And even if you're like, oh, come on. It's Mahomes and it's football.
Of course, it is. Just think of the delta between the two of those, and it is just it's insane. So you can go across even if it's an a a category outside of WNBA, and there's an all time great actively playing.
It's like that kind of distance between in sales volume just is completely alarming to me. So I know you did the graphic where, you know, you paired Asia with Mahomes. Like, what are your thoughts based on the Mahomes data of it all?
Yeah. I think my first thought goes to supply, which is that Mahomes clearly had more of a catalog in his rookie year of 2017 onward, but that does not change the delta like you said.
I think that it actually creates a story that I like more as a collector in the Asia Wilson world where it's like, I want the best rare and scarce cards.
I don't want this overprinted common silver prism rookie that everybody has or everybody's flipping or investing in on a daily basis.
And I think that the short like, the the lower supply of Asia cards should, in my mind, lead to higher prices and more sales, but the opposite is happening.
So it's it's kind of an interesting, point midpoint that we're at right now, and I I'm trying to figure out when we're going to like, when when are we all gonna catch on and start buying Asia Wilson cards?
We've had three seasons of this not like, we're going into the third season of WNBA card pod, and I bought one Asia Wilson card.
Then every week, we talk about Asia Wilson. It's like, when am I going to put that into dollars and start buying her cards? Because if this trend shows anything, it's that we're not at the peak of her market.
And I think I don't think that's controversial at all to say. You referenced the, people buying her cards, you know, when she was a rookie or the first sale of Yeah.
Who's the one person. I just wanna say this, and I know you're listening out there. If you were collecting and buying this stuff when it first came out, congratulations to you.
Keep doing what you're doing because we need people like you in order to continue to build and elevate this segment that we all love, and I just think that's amazing.
Yeah. I I wanna say one thing, which is that the I talked about her rookie year, reading rookie of the year, and then in 2018, and then 2019.
And then 2020, she won MVP Brett. So she had two more seasons before a a sale went over a thousand dollars. And I think that's more indicative of the segment itself and the growth we're seeing.
But, boy, were we late to the party here. Big time. So I wanna close it out with maybe what needs to be true for Asia's, market to take off here in the future.
And, also, like, as I was thinking about this, and I'm drawing, like, comparisons with other sports, but I'm thinking about the aces and what they've just done.
And, like, the one thing I hadn't thought about up until, like, putting this episode together was, like, the warriors of it all and just, like, team legacy and dynamic and winning championships in a certain amount of time.
So that was, like, something that stuck out in my mind. And I know, like, great WNBA players can and great WNBA teams and products can stand on its own, and it should stand on its own.
But I do think that, like, when sports fans start comparing and contrasting across sports of, like, teams, legacies, players, I I think it's it it it helps paint the picture in people's minds of, like, how great certain teams or players really are.
So that was something that came to my mind, especially in light of thinking about this from a collectability perspective.
But maybe, like, what do you think as we kinda round this out? Like, what do you think needs to be true, in order for kinda Asia's market to take that next step?
My response is what more do you want? She's done at all. Like, you can compare to any team, any player in any sport, and Asia has a resume that is respectful next to it and if not better.
And I think that it's just time that people wake up and understand that. I think that we'll see it catch up. I don't think it's a matter of taking off.
I think it's just a matter of catching up. I think people are here and they're they want to buy Asia Wilson cards, and they like I said, I think they just think they're getting them at a great deal.
Even, like, personally, as somebody who's won Asia Wilson card, that one of one origins that I bought, I feel like I got a killer deal on that.
And, honestly, it feels like you can't go wrong. And that's such an interesting point. That's all I have to say about, like, taking off is I feel like we're taking off right now.
But the one thing that could help, I think, is is just, like, more. Why not just, like, pile it on to the point of, like, this is ridiculous? Like, at this point, with her resume, she could stop playing and could be considered the go.
She'd be done, and nobody would expect anything else. But if she continues to pile it on, it's gonna become a chase that's almost like, she's won.
She's won the chase. And I think if that happens, her hobby with or her hobby, prices, and significance are just gonna be skyrocketing out of control.
Let's move this over to the one card that sold this week brought to you by our good friends at Card Ladder, and it should be of no surprise to anyone.
We're talking about a Asia Wilson card. So out of that out of that dataset of a thousand or more, this is one of them.
And the card I have on the screen here is her 2018 Rittenhouse Asia Wilson rookie autograph. This is the the card where she is in her uniform portrait shot, PSA 10, with the go Vegas exclamation inscription and the number inscription.
This thing sold via fixed price, been smashed for $4,999, which is a super strong sale. Caitlin, to me, the story of this is and this is just for those who like opportunities and for those who get excited about, you know, potential.
If let me see if I can find this here, move some stuff around. There was a sale of this card on 06/17/2025 for $2,222, obviously, before the latest, hardware she added to her case.
But that that that and that wasn't via auction. So you're seeing these cards go at auction for $2 and then, you know, months later being been smashed for 5,000.
So there are people out there that don't care if they're paying way more because whoever's smashing Ben on the five k sale that we're highlighting here, in all likelihood, is probably keeping that card in their collection for a very long time.
Wow. The regret that I feel not buying in June.
And June was a rough month for the aces folks. It was not going well. So somebody made a smart investment and believes in Asia, and I think that's a testament here to the strength of her her market and the growing market.
I I also I also really like those Rittenhouse rookie cards because it's her full auto. She's kind of, like, changed it up a little bit in recent years. So just another, tally in the cool card reasons why that's a cool card.
Did you pick up it? I'm on a a big dry spell, Caitlin. All the cards I want are people want too way too much money for them right now, and I just can't get anyone to bend.
And I'm trying, but the well has been dry for me for a while, which it's the off season now, and maybe it's time to be more aggressive. I don't know. We'll see. But did you pick up anything this week? No.
I haven't picked up anything. But at the time of recording, I have an offer out on a card. Okay. It's I'll say this. It's an Angel Reese rookie card. So that's I'm hoping that they say yes, and they're like, of course, you can have it.
But I I've really been looking for an angel to add to the collection, and I think, with us approaching, she's obviously not her rookie deal right now, but with us approaching the biggest free agency ever, she could get some nice pieces.
She could think long term about moving.
I think she has some potential to grow. She's really been hindered by her supported cast in the organization, and I think she's gonna be one of the one of my favorite players to watch in the upcoming years.
So I'm trying to get my hands on a card, but that would require the seller to respond to my messages.
So we'll see. If yeah, that's always tough. If this one doesn't work out, I might have another one coming back for p from PSA that we can maybe we can maybe talk about because we'll we'll we'll we'll we'll see.
But, yeah, you mentioned free agency, and we're not we we're not gonna dive into that, but, man, I can't wait to have the free agency episode.
It is going to be crazy. I am excited that the fever brass and this is where we're at here in 2025. It's like they've made the statement. It's like, our number one priority is to retain Kelsey Mitchell.
It's like, damn damn right. It is so, like, it's fun to see these teams, like, already, like, making public statements to, like, make their superstars, like, feel like, okay.
I'm about to get paid. And we've got the whole CBA and the whole all that into play. It's gonna be a is this is this going to be the wildest off season we've ever seen in Undoubtedly going to be the most wild off season.
And I'm excited because, you know, this is our first season of WNBA card pod in the off season. Yes. We have a lot to talk about despite the fact that they're not gonna be playing on the court.
There's gonna be a lot of fun stuff coming out each and every week. I got a lot of questions. Is this still running while the WNBA is not happening?
It certainly is. And I think it might even be more interesting. Exactly. I'm excited to deep dive into those conversations. I think the homework that we put in, on the off season really helps inform my fandom during the season.
So I'm excited to put that work in. Alright. Collector spotlight. Yeah. Let's do our collector of the week. This week is at Ram Jam Sports Cards on Instagram.
Their bio is, quote, collecting WNBA, women's college basketball, Valkyries, Janelle Salon, Veronica Burton, Juju Watkins, and Kitron, which if you guys know, you know, that's, Kiki Irifin and Sonia Satron.
This is a frequent listener of the pod who is always engaging in WNBA Wednesdays with super cool cards, a great underappreciated account with a great variety of parallels and players across both the college and the pros.
So if you haven't checked out at Ram Jam Sports Cards on Instagram, go give them a follow. Awesome. I'd certainly, before this episode, gave Ram Jam a follow, so appreciate, everyone checking out her page.
Caitlin, you wanna talk about Mailbag here? Let's talk about Mailbag. So this week, we're gonna go, Brett and King Caitlin ask each other the questions they've been dying to ask each other instead of listeners.
We'll be back next episode for fielding the listeners' questions. But we've got three questions, Brett, that I wanna ask you.
Are you ready to to field them? Let's go. Okay. Number one. As we transition into the off season, what's one lane, meaning either a player, parallel, or a set, that you want to intentionally explore?
This could be for the podcast or for information or education, or it could be for your PC. And then add give me a reason as to why you picked that.
I want to spend way more time focusing on the pre Panini stuff and maybe not buying it, but giving it a chance and seeing if it is something for me. Now I understand going into it, there's already a hurdle.
We've talked about it. A lot of this stuff is already buried deep inside collections. But oftentimes, I'll see cards pop up at auction and that I'm, like, interested in, but won't pursue because I'm like, that's not my lane.
So I want to, this offseason, make sure I'm giving myself the, opportunity to decide. Are these potentially for me or for not? I respect the history of WBA cards and feel like I should give it some energy.
What about you? That's a really good place. I would love to do that as well. I think that'll be a focus for me. But what I wrote down was Jackie Young slash black finites.
And so I kinda cheated, I think, too. I mentioned last pod that Jackie Young really captured the hearts and mind of me, after her finals performance and her playoff performance.
And, I want to include her in my PC. And then, black finites, I've never owned one, which is crazy to say out loud, but, like, I've never had one, and I've never had one of a WNBA player.
And I'd be really excited to figure out if that's something that I see as worthwhile for a chase.
As somebody who's been mostly kind of cornering themselves into the gold prisms of Panini Prism, I wanna explore that that different technology and see if it's for me. Once once you once you, pop, you just don't stop, Caitlin.
I know. I'm a little scared. Be careful out there. Alright. Let's move on to the second question, which is, throughout season three, what's one thing that you wanna emphasize, or what's one thing that listeners can expect?
I think for me, this is a continuation from last season, but I feel like we really emphasized it. And for me, I believe we created, more informative and quality content.
And the best part about this is we've got a partnership in place, but it's the data. Like, I wanna continue to bring data to this program, and we saw that in the Asia segment on just a thousand dollar or more sales.
It's like, I know no one else is present bringing this data to the table, but I think this data is really important. So just continue to emphasize that.
And this is I'll tell you, the listener. The more I spend time in card ladder running reports, doing these segments, the more confidence I have in my own purchasing of these cards in this in this category.
And I've said it a lot, but, like, I believe that, like, the most undervalued from a supply perspective cards in the hobby right now are WNBA cards.
And so I I hope that, like, I know probably a lot of you feel that way, but I I I don't want it just to be feels. Like, I wanna bring data and information.
So just continue to emphasize that. I love that. I'm looking forward to it too, especially with card ladder being on board this season. I think for me, what I wrote down is that I'm excited to talk about the other leagues.
So, obviously, we're called the WNBA card podcast, and that's the main feature here. But we're entering into uncharted territory without any, on the court performances.
And so I think diving into, you know, whether that be the CBA negotiations or the other leagues, whether that be college or pro, unrivaled, NCAA, etcetera, just covering those and giving those some some breath, I think, is really important.
And I think eventually, you know, with unrivaled, eventually having, the Panini deal that is somewhere, I don't know what's happening with it, we'll see momentum growing around these other leagues.
So I think while I love the WNBA, it'll be exciting to explore those other those other leagues.
I I just by the way, I just, this as you mentioned, unrivaled. Not a bad year for Chelsea Gray. I saw it. So she won for everybody that doesn't know.
She won unrivaled championship and then WNBA championship. And I saw on her way to the finals, she had to knock out, and each team there was a player on her unrivaled team that she needed to get there.
I was like, oh, that's that's a special kind right there. Unfortunately, it was Lexi Hall in in the, the step before the the finals.
But, yeah, she's she had some moments for sure. But Jackie we talked about Asia Wilson. Jackie Young, talk about moments this run. She I I wanna buy more. I wanna buy her cards.
Yes. Me, me, and Brett outbidding each other on eBay for a Jackie Young black finite. We're gonna be like, how come this is the most expensive Jackie Young card ever sold? Yeah. I see it. Now I can see it now. Okay.
Let's round out with question three that I kinda previewed, in the middle of this episode, which is that I listened to card card letter confidential, and you, Chris, and Josh named your Mount Rushmore of Panini era athletes across sports.
I want you to name your Mount Rushmore of Panini era WNBA athletes.
And we gotta do it according to my rules, which is they have to have a Panini rookie card to qualify. Caitlin, I looked at your list, and I know we agreed on our the other list too.
And I can't I can't I can't poke any holes in there's, like, one maybe slight modification that I'll introduce, but because I looked at your list ahead and I'm like, this is my list too, I'll let you share the list.
Okay. My list was number one, Caitlin Clark. Number two, Sabrina. Number three, Paige. And number four, Aliyah Boston.
The the I would say there could be an argument of replacing Aliyah Boston, which I love Aliyah Boston with all my heart, but I'm trying to think about this outside of my own fandom with maybe an Angel Reese.
But that outside of that, it's it's really hard for me to make any tweaks.
And I just want the listeners to know, if you're not listening to card ladder confidential, I did represent the WNBA community and talking about Panini as a whole.
Caitlin Clark was on my Mount Rushmore, which I thought for category elevation in and of itself. But, yeah, I saw your list, and I was like, it's it's really hard to poke holes in this.
Right. I think it's gonna be exciting. We're only, what, five years into Panini WNBA ish, how this list changes, into the future and if anybody's gonna elevate.
It's gonna be interesting to see, but that that's all I had for our questions to each other, our mailbag this week, Brett. What a way to round off the first debut episode of season three.
We're we're three seasons into it, Brett. It's been fun. I can't wait to continue this train. Thank you so much, for supporting. Definitely follow us at WNBA card pod on Instagram. Thanks, Thanks, everyone. See you next week.