After a quick start to his career in the NBA, Giannis Antetokounmpo rookie cards gained attention in the basketball card collecting hobby, and there’s no shortage of options for collectors and investors.
For me, the best Giannis rookie card, for a high budget, is his 2013-14 Panini National Treasures Rookie Patch Autograph card; For his best low/mid budget rookie, his 2013-14 Panini Prizm card would be my pick.
I’ve covered those 2 cards, and his other best rookie cards further down. Panini released lots of first year Giannis cards, ranging from the entry level, to the high-end premium products, there’s price entry points for any collector looking for an Antetokounmpo Rookie.
Table of Contents
Key Takeaways: Top Picks
Here’s a quick look at my top 3 Giannis rookie picks:
The Best Giannis Antetokounmpo Rookie Cards
2013-14 Panini Prizm Giannis Antetokounmpo #290
In terms of Panini NBA chromium lines, Prizm is probably the most well-known and popular. This 2013-14 Prizm card is one of the best and most popular Giannis rookie cards.
While the base card isn’t hard to come by, there’s a wide array of prizm parallels, with varying levels of scarcity and value – The card offers the most choice in the Prizm rainbow, which is part of the big appeal, and something I personally love about Prizm – There’s usually an option for all budgets.
A copy of one of the lowest-numbered parallels, the Gold Prizm (/10), sold for $528k in 2022, which made it his most expensive rookie ever sold.
2013-14 Panini Titanium Giannis Antetokounmpo #115
A Giannis Antetokounmpo that was only found in retail packs, the 2013-14 Panini Titanium card.
Something that gives this one big appeal is the limited print run of just 149 copies for the base card, making it a bit harder to get hold of, and somewhat more valuable than the mass-produced base Giannis rookie cards.
There’s also numerous parallels, which are even more limited than the base card.
2013-14 Panini Innovation Giannis Antetokounmpo #82
The 2013-14 Panini Innovation set offered basketball card collectors something different in terms of card design – With a mix of design styles and stocks, which certainly aren’t dull.
Rookies, including Giannis, featured in the set with framed cards and a plastic backdrop, making them slightly see-through.
The base card is limited to just 199 copies, although unlike the limited Titanium base rookie card, this one isn’t numbered on the front of the card.
It’s not an easy card to get hold of, due to its scarcity, and it also has a few more limited parallels.
2013-14 Panini Elite Giannis Antetokounmpo #229
As one of the oldest Panini sports card brands, Elite has a recognizable dark foil stock, which is no different for the 2013-14 Elite Antetokounmpo rookie card.
In the earlier days of the Elite line, the foil background would’ve been considered a premium feature of the card – In recent times that’s no longer the case, but the factor which helps this Giannis rookie card value is the fact it’s numbered on the front of the card, to 999 copies.
There are also a few limited parallels for this one.
2013-14 Panini Court Kings Giannis Antetokounmpo #125
Panini Court Kings cards take an artistic approach with their design, similar to the baseball card brand Diamond Kings.
The 2013-14 Panini Court Kings set includes four choices for rookies, including Giannis, starting with the ‘Rookies 1’ card (pictured above), which is the most common, and is considered to be the rookie card. The other cards include ‘Rookies 2’ and ‘Rookies 3’, with the rarest being the ‘Rookies 4’ card – All 4 cards have a different design.
There are no parallels to the 4 base cards in this set.
2013-14 Panini Select Giannis Antetokounmpo #178
The Panini Select set is similar to Prizm, with the chromium card stock.
The 2013-14 Select Antetokounmpo base rookie card is on the cheaper end of the scale for his rookies. There are some more scarce prizm parallels, which hold more value – There weren’t the large numbers of parallels that we’re more used to seeing from Select these days, though.
The 1-of-1 Black Prizm parallel of this one sold for $156k, in 2022, making it one of Antetokounmpo’s most expensive unsigned rookies.
2013-14 Panini Hoops Giannis Antetokounmpo #275
The 2013-13 Panini Hoops Giannis Antetokounmpo rookie card holds some significance as it was his first release – It gives it a little extra value compared to some of his other similar rookies.
Its design features a distinctive looking Hoops border and style, featuring an image of Giannis in action for the Milwaukee Bucks.
There are numerous parallel options for this card.
The Best Autographed Giannis Antetokounmpo Rookie Cards
2013-14 Panini Gold Standard Giannis Antetokounmpo Autograph Patch #231
A premium option for a Giannis rookie card is the 2013-14 Panini Gold Standard card, which is by no means cheap, but is decent value for a higher-end card with an on-card signature and jersey swatch. The design of the card itself is also nice.
The slight downside to this one is the fact it’s not serial numbered.
It does also come with a couple of very limited, and valuable parallels, like the Platinum version (/10), which sold for as high as $61.3k in the past.
2013-14 Panini Prizm Giannis Antetokounmpo Autograph #33
The 2013-14 Panini Prizm set also includes this autographed Giannis rookie card, which features a similar design to the regular base card, but with a different image of him, and the addition of the signature.
While the autograph has the downside of being a sticker, and not on-card, it’s still an appealing addition for collectors who want the chrome Prizm cards, and the parallel options, but with a signature as well.
The base card holds good value itself, but again, the low-numbered parallels are the big hitters; The elusive 1-of-1 Prizms Black parallel version sold for $384k in 2020.
2013-14 Panini Immaculate Collection Giannis Antetokounmpo Autograph Patch #131
Normally near the top of the list for premium sports cards, the Immaculate line is considered very high-end.
The 2013-13 Immaculate Giannis Antetokounmpo rookie card ticks all the boxes – An on-card signature, patch, and limited print run of just 99 copies (with a /34 jersey number parallel), numbered on the front of the card, with an overall high-quality design and feel. This one isn’t cheap, and is hard to come by.
2013-14 Panini National Treasures Giannis Antetokounmpo Autograph Patch #130
Saving the best till last, this is the most expensive Giannis rookie card, if you exclude parallels – The 2013-14 Panini National Treasures rookie.
While Immaculate cards are popular, the National Treasures line has the edge, and is very much in a league of its own.
It has the on-card signature, big relic patch, and a limited print run of 99 copies (plus some more limited parallels), to go with its faultless design – The prestige of the National Treasures brand only adds to its value as well.
A copy of the base card sold for $318k, in 2022, and in terms of Giannis’ base rookies, nothing comes close in price.
When Was Giannis Antetokounmpo’s Rookie Season?
Giannis Antetokounmpo’s rookie season was the 2013-14 season – In the 2013 NBA Draft, the Milwaukee Bucks drafted him with the 15th overall pick.
What Is The Most Expensive Giannis Rookie Card?
Excluding parallels, the most expensive Giannis rookie is his 2013-14 Panini National Treasures Rookie Patch Autograph card, which has sold for multiple-hundreds of thousands multiple times in the past.
A base version of the card has sold for as high as $318k previously.
The lowest-numbered parallel versions of his 2013-14 Panini Prizm card are more valuable, like the Gold Prizms (/10), which has sold for as much as $528k before.
Giannis Antetokounmpo: A Background
Giannis Antetokounmpo, who’s often referred to as the “Greek Freak”, has built a reputation for his dominant and exciting style in the NBA.
The Greek native power forward became an NBA champion in 2021 with the Milwaukee Bucks, where he was named the finals MVP. He was also named NBA MVP in 2019 and 2020.
After being selected as the 15th overall pick in the 2013 NBA Draft, the multiple time NBA All-Star has made a name for himself as one of the best in the NBA.
