With great fanfare, Topps announced in 2021 that it was returning to the basketball arena, again issuing NBA cards after a hiatus of more than a decade. Topps is commencing what might be called its fourth “generation” of hoops cards. The third generation lasted from 1992-2010 and included countless sets and cards, many of them high-tech and premium series with names such as Chrome, Platinum, Finest and Pristine. As to be expected from their names, all of them cost much more than the few cents that first- and second-generation packs went for. The cards were too numerous and expensive for the average collector and appealed mainly to speculators looking for the next hot rookie investment.
Of course, Topps’ first generation of basketball cards consisted of the single set of 80 cards issued in nickel packs for the 1957-58 season. The set is notable today for its high percentage of rookie cards, since it was the first national set of basketball cards since the Bowmans of 1948. The 80 cards include no less than 22 Hall of Famers with 20 being rookie cards. (Two of them, Andy Philip and Carl Braun, had appeared in the 1948 Bowman set).
The Hall of Fame rookies include such all-time greats as
