Just because Jared McCain happens to be in his second season in the NBA on a rookie contract worth nearly $20 million doesn’t mean he’s throwing caution to the wind when it comes to his spending habits as a sports card collector.
Case in point, the Oklahoma City Thunder guard signed one of his best and rarest rookie cards — a one-of-a-kind 2024-25 Panini Flawless NBA Logoman patch card from his time with the Philadelphia 76ers — with his name and the inscription, “I need this card back.”
The card is set to change hands from its original owner after selling for $73,505 via auction through Goldin on March 14.
Whose hands, though? Not McCain’s. At least not yet.
“Everybody thought it was me,” McCain said. “I was like, ‘Guys, I am not spending $70,000 on a card.’ Yeah, I do need it back. But you know, maybe that’s a second-contract-type purchase. I don’t know if that’s a rookie contract purchase.”
-
McCain’s 1/1 Panini Flawless Logoman rookie card, inscribed with “I need this card back.” (Courtesy of Goldin Auctions)
McCain admits he’s terrible at opening wax packs, and his mom isn’t too happy sometimes when he spends his money on cards or jumping into box breaks on live streams.
Still, the 2024 first-round pick possesses the same passion as many hobby enthusiasts in collecting the “GOATs” in terms of players — Michael Jordan, LeBron James, Kobe Bryant and Stephen Curry. He’s also looking to add Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Tom Brady and Patrick Mahomes (McCain owns a few gold Kaboom cards, which are serial-numbered to 10).
McCain will be putting his hobby knowledge to work Thursday evening when he hops on an eBay live stream with Goldin Auctions to sell cards of many of the players he collects, like Jordan, Bryant, Curry, Shaquille O’Neal, and, of course, McCain himself.
The former Duke star talked to The Athletic about his passion for sports card collecting, what’s untouchable in his collection and his desire to obtain an oddball item from one of his favorite “GOAT” players.
What do you make of this growth in the hobby, and how long have you been into it?
Yeah, it’s really awesome to see because when me and my older brother were younger, he used to have a huge collection, and I used to just go in and mess up cards and bend them and didn’t know anything about anything. But I had a collection, and we would always go to the (Michael) Jordan camp in Santa Barbara. You were allowed to get one thing or two things signed. And so we still have a few cards of Michael Jordan signed and some posters.
And so that’s kind of where it started a little bit. Then it kind of died down from my middle school years. Then I got back into it more and looked at it a little bit more in college. Then my rookie year, when I got hurt (meniscus tear in left knee), it was like, “Oh wow! This is amazing!” And then it just exploded from there. It’s gotten so big over the past year and a half or so. It’s really cool to see. I love seeing all these people send me their cards and even just signing cards for kids or people outside the hotels. It’s really cool to see more and more people getting into the hobby because it is fun and it’s a cool thing to do.
How many people come up to you with cards because they know you’re into this?
Yeah, I feel like it’s a lot. A lot of the questions, even whenever I go outside the hotel or when I see people and they know I’m gonna be there, it’s like, “What have you been collecting?”
You mentioned some of the Jordan autographed stuff you own. But what are the one or two things in your collection that are untouchable, no price, you’re never getting rid of them?
I’ve been collecting all my favorite players’ jerseys, and a lot of them are personally given to me. Like, LeBron. He wrote my name on it when he signed it and gave it to me, which is insane. My personal jersey collection, that’ll never be touched for sure. I’m gonna frame that in my house.
I’ve got LeBron, KD (Kevin Durant). I still haven’t played against Curry. I think I’m 0 for 4 playing when he hasn’t played and I’ve played, and then I was hurt last year. So I’ve got (Jalen) Brunson, Jimmy Butler in his Heat jersey, which is nice. (Tyrese) Halliburton.
It’s funny. I asked Shai (Gilgeous-Alexander) for his when I was on the Sixers. And I think he forgot or whatever. I probably should’ve pressed him about it, actually. But he texted me when I got traded. He’s like, “You still want that jersey?” And I was like, “Oh, I can wait on it. I guess I’m good.” But I definitely still want it, of course.
And then I have this one Kobe. I don’t know the exact name of the card, but it’s a gold medal card from when he was on Team USA. I have always loved Kobe’s Team USA number 10 jersey. That was one of the first main cards I got, and it’s a really nice one. I’ll probably never, ever sell that one.
Is there an image you’ve seen of yourself playing that you would like on a card that’s not on one yet? Like a moment for you or a dunk or a big shot.
Not many dunks out there for me. I feel like they’ve gotten from the pictures I’ve seen, they’re pretty spot on with the ones that I would like. I don’t know if there’s a card from when I first came back from injury, and I scored my first bucket, and I’m running down the court with my hands in the air. I think that’d be a cool moment to capture.
Is there a piece, like a card or a piece of memorabilia of any athlete out there that you don’t currently have that you would like to have?
Wow! There’s so many things. It’s probably a Curry (item). It’s something Curry. And I think it’d be really cool to have a signed golf club of his because I know he’s really into that. Other than a game-worn jersey, I don’t know what shoes he’s rocking nowadays, but I think a golf club would be a pretty cool one to have.
Have you made any crazy trades or any good finds?
I went to the National (Sports Collectors Convention) last year. I was walking around, and someone was like, “You want to do a trade?” And I was like, “Sure.” I’m looking for this Curry card that he had. It’s the classic (2009 Topps Chrome Curry rookie card in a BGS 9.5 grade). Not the Refractor, but it has that shiny look. I was looking for that, and he said, “If you beat me in a Pop-A-Shot (basketball game), then I can get it for free.” I was like, “Well, this is a perfect deal.” Then I forget what I had to give up (if I lost). I was a little scared because Pop-A-Shot, it’s not real basketball. You never know how good someone could be. But I clutched it up, and I was able to get that for free. It was a great bargain for me.
The Athletic maintains full editorial independence in all our coverage. When you click or make purchases through our links, we may earn a commission.