There is no shortage of Darius Garland rookie cards for collectors to chose from.
In my opinion, the best Darius Garland rookie card, for basketball card collectors, is his 2020 Upper Deck Goodwin Champions Tribute Exquisite Rookie Patch Autograph card; It’s up there with his most valuable cards.
I’ve covered that, and his other key first-year cards below, with varying levels of value and scarcity levels – The big value is found in the lower-numbered parallels that accompany many of his base rookies.
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Quick Summary - Top 3 Picks
What Are The Best Darius Garland Rookie Cards?
2019-20 Panini Prizm Darius Garland #288
It comes as little surprise that the 2019-20 Panini Prizm Darius Garland rookie card is one of the most popular options amongst collectors.
For me, this is the best unsigned Garland rookie card.
The base card is a sought-after affordable option, but, as expected with Panini Prizm, it comes with a large selection of parallel options.
The popular Silver Prizm line adds a layer of scarcity and appeal, which increases the value, while still being readily available to collectors.
The big value can be found in some of the more premium and lower-numbered Prizm parallels.
A copy of the Gold Shimmer parallel (/10) sold for $15k in 2022, which made it Garland’s most expensive rookie.
2019-20 Panini Obsidian Darius Garland #197
The 2019-20 Panini Obsidian Darius Garland card is one of the rarer chromium Garland rookie cards, which is slightly tougher to find.
While it is one of the more valuable base Darius Garland rookie cards, it isn’t as much as you’d maybe expect, given its scarcity.
There are also multiple parallels, which hold more value than the base card.
2019-20 Donruss Optic Darius Garland #195
Donruss Optic Rated Rookie cards have long been a popular go-to for collectors who want budget rookie cards, and the 2019-20 Optic Darius Garland is a solid option.
Optic adds the chromium finish to the regular Donruss set, and it gives the Rated Rookie design that extra edge and appeal.
There are lots of parallel options as well, which offer a harder, and more valuable chase for collectors with a bigger budget, particularly the low-numbered cards.
A copy of the Choice Black Gold parallel (/8) sold for $10k, back in 2022.
2019-20 Panini Flawless Darius Garland #86
A high-end option for a Garland rookie card comes from the premium 2019-20 Panini Flawless set.
Limited to just 20 copies, and featuring an embedded diamond gem, it’s Darius Garland’s rarest base rookie card.
There are a few lower-numbered parallel options, which feature a different embedded gem.
Even with those parallels included, the total number of cards is still just 39, so if you can find one, be prepared to pay a lot more than you would for other base Darius Garland rookie cards.
2019-20 Panini Select Darius Garland #10 Concourse, #126 Premier Level, #204 Courtside
Working with a tiered base card system that we’re accustomed to seeing from Panini Select, the 2019-20 set includes three different Darius Garland rookies.
All three base cards have their own designs and images, and also varying scarcity.
The first card in the checklist (#10) is the Concourse card, and is the most common. There’s also the Premier Level card (#126), which is less common, and finally the Courtside card (#204), which is the rarest, and most valuable of the three.
Similarly to Panini Prizm, and other chrome-based releases, the high value is found in the many parallels that are on offer, with all three cards having their own set.
2019-20 Panini Revolution Darius Garland #150
Panini Revolution has a reputation for bold card designs – It offers something different to other releases, with a throwback of sorts to big designs of the past.
The 2019-20 Revolution Darius Garland rookie card is something of an alternative for collectors.
With the holographic stock and foil details, the card really stands out – There are also numerous parallel options.
2019-20 Panini Mosaic Darius Garland #249
The 2019-20 Panini Mosaic Darius Garland rookie card is a Prizm-style chrome option, with tiled background and mosaic pattern design.
Like many of its chrome style counterpart sets, the main chase comes from the wide array of parallel options, which add color and value to the base card.
Top Darius Garland Inserts From His Rookie Year
While inserts aren’t considered traditional rookie cards, some are often amongst the most popular and valuable cards in a player’s first-year releases – Here’s a couple of the key first-year Darius Garland insert cards.
2020 Upper Deck Goodwin Champions Tribute Exquisite Rookie Patch Autograph Darius Garland #O3T-DG
The Upper Deck Exquisite basketball cards of the early 2000s changed the landscape of the basketball card hobby, with high-end autograph and relic cards that became instantly popular.
The 2020 Upper Deck Goodwin Champions release isn’t solely an NBA product, but it does include a subset tribute to the popular 2003-04 Exquisite Collection autograph patch cards, and Darius Garland is one of the few basketball names on the list.
The card is serial-numbered to 99 copies, and features the relic patch and on-card signature with the iconic 03-04 design.
In my opinion, this is the best Garland rookie card out there.
In 2023, a copy of this one sold for $10k.
2019-20 Panini Crown Royale Kaboom! Darius Garland #22
Bold, comic book-style designs are what Panini’s very popular Kaboom insert line is known for.
Kaboom cards are very desirable and highly sought-after amongst collectors, but they’re also very rare, so they usually hold big values.
Darius Garland was on the 25-player checklist for the Kaboom subset in the 2019-2020 Panini Crown Royale set, and, as expected, his card is much more expensive than his base rookie cards.
A PSA 10 graded copy of this one sold for $3k in 2022.
2019-20 Panini Spectra Color Blast Darius Garland #9
Another popular first-year Garland insert card comes from the 2019-2020 Panini Spectra set – The vivid Color Blast card offers collectors something different, with its exciting design.
The eye-catching burst of color, which resonates well with collectors, and makes for a popular insert card. Garland also has a Color Blast card in the Panini Prizm Draft Picks 2019-20 set, but it isn’t worth as much as the Spectra one.
A PSA 10 graded copy of this card sold for $2.4k in 2023.
When Was Darius Garland’s Rookie Season?
Darius Garland’s rookie season was the 2019-20 NBA season – He was selected as the 5th overall pick by the Cleveland Cavaliers in the 2019 NBA Draft.
Darius Garland: A Background
After the Cleveland Cavaliers selected Darius Garland with the 5th pick of the 2019 Draft, he had a slow start to life in the NBA, with a tough rookie season, which saw him often ranked amongst the league’s worst players.
However, a steady rise and improvement over the first few years of Garland’s career led to his breakout 2021-22 season, which earned him his first All-Star appearance. Along with rookie Evan Mobley and center Jarrett Allen, he brought life to Cleveland.
