The Michael Jordan cards every ‘90s kid wanted, and how much they’re worth now

For decades now, Michael Jordan cards have been some of the most coveted and valuable in the sports card hobby. Back when Jordan was winning NBA championships in bunches during the 1990s, manufacturers flooded the market with his basketball cards (and even some baseball, golf, movie cards, etc.). But some stood out from the mountains of others as the special few that every kid at the time seemed to be chasing.

Last year, we looked back on the Jordan cards that everyone seemed to have in their binder pages. Now these are the cards that everyone (except maybe New York Knicks fans) wished they had.

This was arguably the most popular Jordan card produced in the ‘90s. Part of a 10-player insert set in Ultra Series 1 with odds of one in every 36 packs (about one per hobby box), they weren’t the rarest cards ever produced, but the image of Jordan mid-flight with bolts of lightning behind him was just about the coolest thing any kid at the time had ever seen.

Today, PSA (Professional Sports Authenticator, the leading trading card grader) has graded more than 3,700 examples of the card, but only 97 have earned a Gem-Mint 10 grade, the highest possible. The last publicly known PSA 10 sale was in early April for $30,000, but even a PSA 8, with a population over 1,200, last sold for $4,000 (up from around $1,000 in the spring of 2025) as the nostalgia-laced love for this card continues to grip collectors more than 30 years later.

1993 Power in the Key insert. (Photo courtesy of eBay)

This is another insert from 1993-94 Fleer Ultra, this time in Series 2. Aside from the 1991 Skybox set (which was mentioned here), I don’t think any design leans into the early ‘90s aesthetic more than the Power in the Key inserts. These cards look like they’re straight out of the “Saved by the Bell” intro sequence. Again, these weren’t super rare (one in every 37 packs), but they are more limited than the aforementioned Scoring Kings.

It’s common practice for Series 1 of a set to be more heavily printed than Series 2, and that was the case for 1993-94 Ultra, according to CardChannel, which puts the print run at 10,000 for each Scoring Kings card and 7,800 for each Power in the Key that year.

PSA has graded over 3,200 examples of the Jordan Power in the Key card (total graded population for the nine-card set: over 4,600) with just 46 of them graded a 10. The last PSA 10 to sell went for $22,500 in February, according to sales database Card Ladder. If another were to hit the market today, that number would likely be a bit higher.

1992 Beam Team insert. (Photo courtesy of PSA)

Like the Scoring Kings, this is one of Jordan’s most iconic cards ever. The dazzling laser design frames a dunking Michael Jordan. As far as early ‘90s cards go, it doesn’t get much better than that. The 1992 Beam Team inserts were also one in every 36 packs, but with a 21-player checklist (including a rookie Shaquille O’Neal) it was harder to pull a particular name.

PSA has graded over 4,200 examples of the 1992 Beam Team Jordan (as well as another 1,600-plus of the Member’s Only variation that was only available in complete factory sets). There are 111 graded a PSA 10 (and another 68 Member’s Only 10s), with a last sale of $13,000 (and $15,000 for the last MO PSA 10).

Beam Team inserts have now been a popular part of Stadium Club releases across multiple decades and sports. The Jordan Beam Team cards from 1993 and 1995 are also very popular (and valuable), but the 1992 edition was the first and most recognizable.

1996 Upper Deck SPx #8 (sometimes referred to as #NNO) autograph

This card marked a major turning point for the hobby. One in every 34,560 SPx packs contained a redemption for an autographed Jordan card. It was one of the first times Jordan autograph cards were made available through packs (there was also his 1995 SP Top Prospects Autograph, but that was a baseball card). Beyond the autograph chase, what set SPx packs apart at that time was that they contained just one card and were priced at $3 each.

Expressing a desire to buy a pack of SPx at a card shop at the time would elicit a stern warning from the shop owner — “You know it’s just ONE card in that pack, kid” — and whichever adult drove you there would instantly look at you like you just said you wanted to light their entire wallet on fire. If you managed to convince them this was a sound decision because all of the futuristic die-cut, holographic cards in the set looked so cool, you would then have to pretend to be thrilled to unwrap a solitary Mitch Richmond base card and not the Jordan autograph you were certain you would find. (And yes, I still bear the scars of this one.)

The record sale for one of these cards was $63,000 in November 2021. Since then prices have curiously fallen, with the last known sale coming in April at $35,400. Given the place in history these cards hold and the rate at which many Jordan cards have skyrocketed in value lately, that decline may be surprising. But it can be difficult to tell which versions of the signed Jordan SPx base card from this set were the original redemptions and which were signed by Jordan through other means, and that may have something to do with the price action.

1997-98 Metal Universe Precious Metal Gems #23G

The 1997 Green PMG, numbered 1 out of 100. (Photo courtesy of PSA)

Now we’re getting to the cards that aren’t just some of Jordan’s biggest, but some of the best across all sports cards ever made. The introduction of PMGs in 1997 was another milestone moment for the hobby, putting an emphasis on rarity that helped the industry out of the Junk Wax Era. Serial numbered to 100 with the first 10 being the more limited Green foil background version and the other 90 in red, PMGs quickly became some of Jordan’s most desirable cards. Yet, with a Green valued at $9,000 in 1999, an issue of Beckett Basketball Card Monthly that year put it atop a list of the most overrated cards (stay tuned for more on No. 3 from that list). Collectors clearly don’t agree with that assessment, however.

Because of the delicate green and red foil, these cards are extremely condition sensitive. PSA has graded six of the Greens, with all earning below a PSA 7. In 2020, one of the two that PSA graded Authentic (below a 1) sold for $915,000. Today that card would sell for millions. A Red in a PSA 5 grade sold in March for $640,500. If one of the highest grade Greens were to sell today, it could challenge the all-time record sale for a trading card ($16.5 million for Logan Paul’s 1998 Pikachu Illustrator Pokemon card in February).

1997 Upper Deck Game Jersey #GJ13

1997 Game Jersey autographed insert card, numberd 13 of 23. (Photo courtesy of PSA)

After giving collectors the ability to pull a Jordan autographed card out of a pack, Upper Deck introduced its next innovation of the era: cards bearing pieces of Jordan’s game-worn jerseys inside them. Jordan was part of a 22-player checklist for Game Jersey cards in 1997-98 Upper Deck Basketball with stated odds of finding one in every 2,500 packs. Numbered to just 23, the Jordan cards included pieces of his 1992 All-Star Game jersey.

Along with the 1997 PMGs, these are now some of Jordan’s most valuable cards in existence. One sold privately in October for $4.25 million, the most ever paid for a Jordan card with no other players featured on it. There have been four other sales of these cards between $990,000 and $2.7 million since 2021. And yet, these were also included in that 1999 Beckett Basketball Card Monthly list of overrated cards, despite also being named the magazine’s card of the year. Valued at $12,000 each at the time, the writer argued “for that price you can go out and get a WHOLE autographed jersey!”

Full, autographed Jordan jerseys have also risen in value since then, with one worn during a preseason game before his rookie campaign selling for $4.215 million last year.

1998 Dunk ‘N Go Nuts insert. (Photo courtesy of eBay)

In the late ‘90s, Skybox sets raised the bar for insert creativity, but in one instance their odd source of inspiration led to a particularly eye-catching design that has long been rumored to have proven problematic. The Dunk ‘N Go-Nuts inserts only appeared once, in 1998 Skybox E-X Century, but that was enough to make an impression on a generation of collectors.

With a name, font and color scheme clearly modeled after Dunkin’ Donuts, and printed on acetate (a clear plastic alternative to traditional cardboard), the Dunk ‘N Go-Nuts cards developed a cult following that would build over the ensuing decades amidst rumors of Dunkin’ threatening legal action, prompting an abrupt end to the insert after just one edition. Naturally, the Jordan card was the most popular of the 20 in the set, which landed at a rate of one per 36 packs (around one in every two boxes). PSA has graded more than 300 examples of the Jordan card with 65 earning a 10 grade. As more collectors have discovered these cards, the value has risen, with PSA 10 examples of the Jordan now selling for around $30,000 each.

1986 Fleer rookie card in a PSA 10 grade. (Photo: VALERIE MACON/AFP via Getty Images)

This is it — the one card everyone wanted as Jordan cemented his legacy throughout the ‘90s. Before the ‘90s Jordan cards with patches, autographs, glittering designs and manufactured rarity ascended to top-tier status, the ‘86 Fleer rookie card was in a class by itself.

Though it was released two years after his rookie season, there wasn’t enough interest in basketball cards at the time to entice the major cardmakers to produce traditional NBA sets between the 1981-82 season and the 1986-87 season. That changed as a wealth of young talent flooded the league in that window and started to grow the NBA’s fanbase.

In 1984 the Star Company was producing the only licensed NBA cards, which they released in small quantities via team sets (rather than traditional, randomized packs) sold through select retailers. Star released several Jordan cards at that time, including his #101 card, which has gained popularity in recent years with a growing number of collectors recognizing it as another, or even Jordan’s one true rookie card.

But in the ‘90s it was all about that ‘86 Fleer.

The Fleer card isn’t rare — PSA has graded more than 27,500 examples of it, with 334 achieving a 10 grade — but the demand is still so high that it remains an expensive card today. A PSA 10 last sold for $341,600 and an autographed PSA 9 sold for a record $2.7 million last fall. Ungraded (and not autographed) this card sells for around $6,000.

It’s one of the most recognizable sports cards ever made and will always hold a special place for any kid who stared at one inside a card shop display case and dreamt of one day taking it home.

There are many other Jordan cards that kids in the ‘90s were desperate to get their hands on — Platinum Portraits, Platinum Medallions, the early Topps Refractors and on and on — so if you remember a different Jordan card topping your wish list, please share it in the comments below.

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