Cooper Flagg’s one-of-one is found as sports card market hits new highs originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
It took just four days for one of the biggest cards in basketball to be pulled.
Topps released its 2025-26 Chrome Updates Basketball set on August 6, bringing Rookie Debut Patch Autographs to the NBA for the first time. On Monday night, Cooper Flagg’s one-of-one was pulled in Rhode Island.
The 19-year-old was the No. 1 pick in the 2025 NBA Draft and went on to win Rookie of the Year after averaging 21 points per game, which helps explain the frenzy around his card. The Mavericks had even put together an offer for whoever pulled it, including season tickets, signed memorabilia and other perks.
SmackTok is tapping into that same collector energy. The social daily fantasy app has built physical collectibles into its rewards mix, and cards were part of the pitch from the start. “Win prizes worth bragging about,” CEO Jordan Rothstein wrote when he introduced SmackTok earlier this year. “Sports cards, collectibles, events and more.”
The app mixes skill-based pick'em contests with team-specific Huddles, a social feed and creator subscriptions. Fans can compete for cash where eligible, while free-to-play contests can put PSA-graded cards, merchandise and other collectibles up for grabs. Users also earn Smacks through play and community activity, which can be redeemed for rewards.
So far, fans appear to be showing up. SmackTok has reached 30,000 downloads, with monthly active users growing 40% month over month. The company has also raised $3.2 million in pre-seed funding from investors including UTA co-founder Jeremy Zimmer and Creators Inc. founder Andy Bachman. Rothstein says a Hooters marketing campaign is set to launch around NFL kickoff.
SmackTok isn’t alone in bringing collectibles deeper into the fan experience. Fanatics ONE lets members use rewards on live card breaks and purchases through Fanatics Collect, while Topps’ NBA Collect app mixes digital cards with real-time scoring contests and opportunities to win physical hobby boxes.
There’s no shortage of competition for the good stuff, either.
Flagg memorabilia was commanding serious money before his debut patch card was even released. The jersey he wore during the first half of his first NBA game sold privately through Sotheby's for $1 million earlier this year, setting a record for the most expensive NBA debut jersey sold in the same season.
The appetite extends well beyond Flagg. Single sports-card sales on eBay reached $1.36 billion in the first half of 2026, up from roughly $816 million during the same period a year earlier. PSA, meanwhile, is in the middle of a $200 million expansion after processing more than 19 million cards in 2025.
And at the high end, single cards are reaching eye-popping prices. In March, a one-of-one 2013 Aaron Judge Bowman Chrome Draft autograph sold for $5.2 million, the highest publicly known sale of a modern baseball card.
What Flagg's card ultimately fetches remains to be seen. When he signed it at Fanatics Fest in July, he was asked whether he'd ever buy it himself. “Maybe eventually,” he said. “I might have to wait until I get my second contract.”
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