Signed AJ Dybantsa Bowman Card with Piece of Nike KD 18 ROTY Sells for $20,000

AJ Dybantsa’s one-of-one Bowman Now signed trading card now has a new owner. The card was sold for $20,000, making it the third-highest Dybantsa card that’s been sold to date. Along with the card being signed by Dybantsa, the Bowman U piece also commemorates his first game at BYU and includes a Swoosh from the Nike KD 18 sneaker that he wore.

AJ’s Ultra-Rare Nike KD 18 Inspired by Durant’s Rookie of the Year Card

The appearance of a Nike KD 18 with a green Swoosh and yellow outline might sound like something that came out of Nike By You, but there’s actually a unique story behind it. Dybantsa’s Nike KD 18 is one of only 18 pairs that were made to commemorate Kevin Durant’s time as a member of the Seattle SuperSonics, his Rookie of the Year award, and his Topps rookie card. It’s been nearly 20 years (deep sigh over the inevitable passage of time) since KD suited up for the Sonics for one season before the franchise moved to Oklahoma City, but the memories live on for him and the city. The Sonics KD 18 was made exclusively for Fanatics Fest 2025. Dybantsa ended up with one of the 18, although that number should now be 17 after his pair has been cut up and used for relic pieces to be embedded into his trading cards.

Beyond the card being a cool representation of Dybantsa’s very first college game, the use of a relic from that actual event is actually quite noteworthy. After debuting in the 90s to plenty of fanfare and demand from collectors, sports cards with pieces of game-worn jerseys and other memorabilia have lost not only a lot of their luster but some of their credibility. With little acknowledgment of what day and what game these jerseys were being taken from, fans were feeling less connected to the piece of fabric that was on their card. Combine that with the proliferation of memorabilia cards that now say “player-worn” and not “game-worn” or “game-used,” and it’s become less and less personal. Dybantsa’s signed card being game-dated with a piece of his sneaker from that same game should be the standard and not the exception.

Similar Cooper Flagg Card Goes For Big Numbers Last Year

In 2024, Bowman U dropped a similar type of card for Cooper Flagg, this time with a piece of Flagg’s Nike Kobe 6 EYBL that he wore during his time with Duke. The chase for that card was not too dissimilar to the madness of the past month when everybody was buying up boxes of 2025-26 Topps Chrome Update Basketball so they could score Flagg’s Rookie Debut Patch Autrograph card that is expected to bring in millions of dollars when it goes up for auction via Fanatics Collect. Don’t believe me? Check out this guy opening a thousand packs of Bowman U hoping to get the Flagg. Spoiler: he didn’t get the one-of-one, but he also didn’t walk away empty-handed.

Between Dybantsa, Darryn Peterson, Caleb Wilson, and Cameron Boozer, expectations are high for this rookie class to deliver the same way that Flagg, Dylan Harper, and Kon Knuepel did this past season. While a Dybantsa card from his college days can command a $20,000 premium price, the numbers will go up exponentially once he suits up for the (checks notes) Washington Wizards. If Dybantsa wears the shiny candy red Nike KD 19 or something else that’s new and shiny opening night? You can bet Topps will be there waiting in the wings.

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