A Cooper Flagg rookie card became one of the most expensive cards ever publicly sold.
The one-of-one Cooper Flagg 2026 Topps Chrome Updates NBA Debut Patch autographed card sold for a jaw-dropping $8.04 million in a Fanatics Collect auction filled with some of the best available NBA Debut Patch cards that ended early Friday morning. This ranks as the fifth highest publicly known sports card sale ever, according to online card sales database Card Ladder. For perspective, this is higher than the most expensive publicly sold T206 Honus Wagner card ($7.25 million), often referred to as the holiest of grails within the sports card industry.
The $8.04 million price tag far exceeded the previous record for a Debut Patch card in any sport held by Paul Skenes when Dick’s Sporting Goods paid $1.11 million for his card in March 2025. Flagg’s previous record card sale was only $366,000 for his 2025-26 Topps Chrome Sapphire Padparadscha one-of-one autographed card.
Skenes doesn’t even rank No. 2 or No. 3 on the Debut Patch price list anymore.
The Dylan Harper Debut Patch card also leapfrogged Skenes, selling for $2.88 million in the same auction as the Flagg card. The San Antonio Spurs guard’s previous most expensive card went for $320,860 through a Goldin auction last week (his 2025-26 Bowman Chrome Superfractor one-of-one autographed card). Charlotte Hornets sharpshooter Kon Knueppel’s Debut Patch card was also in the same Fanatics Collect auction and went for $2.34 million.
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7627366/2026/09/25/cooper-flagg-debut-patch-card-sale/