Dallas Mavericks Make Lowball Trade Offer for One-of-a-Kind Cooper Flagg Topps Trading Card

August 6 marks the highly anticipated release of 2025-26 Topps Chrome Update Basketball. The second Chrome release for the already completed NBA season includes sought-after short-printed inserts such as Alter Egos that feature original art by Michael J. Blaskewicz, Moment in Time with iconic photography, and a collaboration with Illumination where Minions take on the personas of the league’s best players. Along with these cards are the usual slate of autographs from superstars, top rookies, and the filler that makes up the majority of the checklist, and elusive parallels with varying degrees of rarity. Hobby boxes are already sold out at the Topps website, while retail locations like Target and Dick’s Sporting Goods will stock Blaster and Mega Boxes that feature their own exclusive cards.

The biggest cards to chase in the 2025-26 Chrome Update are the Rookie Debut Patch Autograph Cards. For every NBA rookie’s first official game, Topps stitches an NBA Debut patch onto their jersey that will be removed after the game and embedded into a one-of-a-kind trading card that will also include the rookie’s signature. Players in this rookie class include Dylan Harper, Kon Knueppel, VJ Edgecombe, and the player the world is chasing after, NBA Rookie of the Year Cooper Flagg.

The program first debuted in baseball in 2023 and has led to some of the biggest trading card sales since. Currently, the record for the most expensive Topps Rookie Debut Patch Autograph Card belongs to Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Paul Skenes’ one-of-one that went for $1.1 million at a Fanatics auction. Some readers might remember the card for the totally normal offer made by Livvy Dunne, former LSU gymnast, internet personality, and Skenes’ girlfriend, that included 30 years worth of Pirates season tickets, signed swag, and the opportunity to sit next to her at a luxury suite during a game. May we never meet the person who would have taken the offer instead of the $1.1 million.

While baseball has the most passionate sports card community and the longest history, basketball’s worldwide fanbase brings in enormous amounts of money. With the exception of Shohei Ohtani, a trading card unicorn made of money who exists in their own universe, the largest single trading card sales over the past several years have come from basketball thanks to the Big 3 of Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, and LeBron James, with cameos from young stars like Victor Wembanyama and Luka Dončić.

And now, Luka’s former team, the Dallas Mavericks, is making a Livvy Dunne-esque bounty for Cooper Flagg’s Rookie Debut Patch Autograph Card with 100% less awkward social interaction that will probably end up being a forever meme. The Mavericks are offering 32 years for premium lower-level tickets, signed swag, meet and greets, and an all-expense paid trip to watch Cooper return home (he grew up in Maine) to take on the Celtics.

Depending on the seats, estimates range from $350,000 to $600,000 for the total value of the offer. However, there are reportedly offers for the Flagg card from private collectors that already surpass the $1.1 million mark set by the Skenes card, with some experts speculating that it could go for as much as $5 million at a public auction. With those kinds of offers being thrown around, the Mavs offer seems pithy and almost insulting by comparison.

Is there a lifelong Dallas Mavericks fan who does not feel betrayed by the Luka trade who would take the team’s offer? It’s possible to imagine a well-to-do supporter of the team who doesn’t need the life-changing money that the card would offer and would be content to have over three decades worth of season tickets and a couple of amazing perks that no money can buy. But unless that person lives within driving distance of American Airlines Center, the choice is obvious. Even Jay-Z himself would tell you to take the money.

Juan Martinez

From video game journalism to veteran of the sneaker blog era to podcasting about well, everything, Juan is smiling through it all and can't believe this is his life. After recently getting into Formula 1, he now has hot takes about who the greatest driver of all time is. Email: juan@soleretriever.com