Josh Giddey came to the NBA in 2021, after being selected as the 6th overall pick by the Oklahoma City Thunder, after a spell playing with the Adelaide 36ers of the National Basketball League. He won the 2021 NBL Rookie of the Year award.
His best rookie card is his 2021-22 Panini National Treasures Rookie Patch Autograph card, in my opinion; I’ve covered that card, and some of his other top options further down.
Table of Contents
Summary: A Quick Glance At Giddey's Best Rookies
Before I go into more detail on the best Giddey rookie cards, here’s a quick look at the top 3 picks:
The Best Josh Giddey Rookie Cards
After some good early signs in the NBA, Josh Giddey’s rookie cards gained some good early attention in the basketball card hobby.
There are plenty of options from Panini, who exclusively had the NBA license during his rookie year, for collectors who are looking for Giddey’s rookies, with a variety of rarity and values. Here are the best options:
2021-22 Panini NBA Hoops Josh Giddey #202
The 2021-22 Panini NBA Hoops set was one of the earliest releases for the season – The Hoops Josh Giddey rookie card is a popular one, it was one of the first opportunities for collectors to pick up a Giddey rookie.
The card features an image of Giddey in the Oklahoma City Thunder uniform, in action with the ball, framed by a distinctive NBA Hoops border design. It’s a nice looking card, which resonates well with collectors.
The base card comes with numerous parallels, varying in scarcity, which are more valuable.
2021-22 Panini Donruss Rated Rookie Josh Giddey #202
The Panini Donruss sets are most known for the Rated Rookie line. It’s one of the most popular NBA yearly releases because many collectors look to Rated Rookie for the season’s rookie cards.
Josh Giddey features as one of the first-year names within the Rated Rookie set for 2021-22 – It’s a popular and sought-after rookie card, with a distinctive design that collectors love.
The base card can be picked up easily, and is more of an entry-level option, but there’s also numerous more valuable, and limited parallels, which offer a harder chase for collectors; For example, the Black Gold parallel (/8) sold for $3.1k in 2023.
2021-22 Panini Court Kings Josh Giddey #69
The artistic approach to Panini Court Kings cards offer collectors something a bit different for a Josh Giddey rookie card.
The 2021-22 Panini Court Kings set includes four different base card choices for every player on the list, starting with the ‘Rookies I’ card (pictured above), which is the most common, to ‘Rookies IV’, the rarest – All 4 cards have a different design.
Unusually, this set doesn’t come with parallels for the base cards, which is disappointing to some, but the 4 different base cards with varying scarcity means there is variation in the price entry level.
2021-22 Panini Crown Royale Josh Giddey #11
The 2021-22 Panini Crown Royale features this nice looking Josh Giddey rookie card. Giddey doesn’t have a card from the Kaboom! Line, which is usually the headline of Crown Royale, but the base card offers collectors a solid option.
With the distinctive die-cut crown shape on the card, it’s not the easiest to find in good condition, but the base card isn’t too hard to get hold of.
There’s also an array of more limited crystal parallels, for collectors with a bigger budget.
2021-22 Panini Origins Josh Giddey #56
The 2021-22 Panini Origins Giddey rookie card is another with a colorful and artistic approach to the card design.
Origins cards have a particular look, with an abstract nature to them – That’s the case with this rookie card.
While Giddey isn’t one of the 10 players to have an image variation version, there are numerous parallels for his base card.
2021-22 Panini Revolution Josh Giddey #111
The 2021-22 Panini Revolution set was less about hits and more about limited parallels. This is a Josh Giddey rookie card option with a colorful and bold approach to the design.
The style of the card has a bit of a throwback feel to it, and it really stands out with the contrast of colors and the foiled background
There are also plenty of parallel options, which have alternative foil patterns.
2021-22 Panini Prizm Josh Giddey #301
One of the biggest yearly NBA releases, and a popular set for rookie cards – The 2021-22 Panini Prizm Josh Giddey rookie is one of his most popular and best options.
The base card is mass-produced and easy to get hold of. It’s an entry-level option in terms of value for a Giddey rookie, but as always, Panini Prizm is known for its wide array of parallels, with varying scarcity – The parallels offer collectors a more valuable and harder chase than the base card.
A copy of the Gold Prizm parallel (/10) sold for $6k in 2023.
The Best Josh Giddey Autographed Rookie Cards
2021-22 Panini Donruss Rated Rookie Signatures #202
A premium version of the popular Rated Rookie design, for collectors with a bigger budget, is this autographed version.
This autograph version of the Josh Giddey Rated rookie has added appeal, which has the slight downside of being a sticker signature, instead of a hard-signed autograph. It’s one of the more valuable Giddey rookies.
2021-22 Panini Contenders Rookie Ticket Josh Giddey Autograph #106
The 2021-22 Panini Contenders set includes some of the most sought-after Josh Giddey rookie cards.
One of Giddey’s most popular rookies is this Rookie Ticket auto card, which is another premium option with big appeal; For me, it’s one of Giddey’s best rookie card options.
The ticket style card is popular among collectors, and the addition of the hard-signed autograph really adds to the value.
It comes with some rare parallel options, and also a variation version of the base auto card, Identifiable by a ‘V’ on the back of the card – That variation card has its own set of parallels.
2021-22 Panini Flawless Josh Giddey Patch Autograph #5
This Panini Flawless Patch Autograph Josh Giddey card is one of his best rookies, and a high-end option.
Flawless is established as one of the hobby’s most premium brands, with classy designs and low-numbered autograph and relic cards.
While Giddey has multiple high-end options in the 2020-21 Flawless set, I think this one is the pick of them.
The base card is limited to only 25 copies, which is fewer than the National Treasures RPA card, but it’s not worth as much as the NT card, so it offers a good alternative.
There are some parallel options for this one too; The 1-of-1 Platinum parallel sold for $15k in 2023, making it one of his most expensive rookie card sales ever.
2021-22 Panini National Treasures Josh Giddey Rookie Patch Autograph #114
Usually near the top, or at the top of premium basketball card releases, Panini National Treasures features this very high-end Josh Giddey rookie patch autograph card, and for me, it’s his best rookie, for collectors who have a high enough budget for it.
It’s Giddey’s most expensive rookie card; The hard-signed autograph, jersey patch and limited print run of just 99 copies gives it the high value, but also the finish to the card is very high quality.
It does come with numerous limited parallels, which hold even more value; In 2022, a Gold parallel (/10) sold for $34.8k, graded BGS 9.5.
When Was Josh Giddey’s Rookie Season?
Josh Giddey’s rookie season was the 2021-22 season – In the 2021 NBA Draft, the Oklahoma City Thunder drafted him with the 6th overall pick.
How Much Are Josh Giddey Rookie Cards Worth?
Popular and mainstream unsigned rookie cards, like the 2021-22 Panini Donruss Rated Rookie and the 2021-22 Panini Prizm cards, sell on the secondary market for around a few hundred dollars.
High-end premium Josh Giddey rookie cards with signatures and patch swatches, like the 2021-22 Panini National Treasures card, sell for over ten thousand dollars in high grades.
What Is The Most Valuable Josh Giddey Rookie Card?
The most valuable and epxensive Josh Giddey rookie card is his 2021-22 Panini National Treasures Rookie Patch Autograph card.
The base version, which is limited to only 99 copies, has sold for as much as $8.4k before, and the parallel versions are even more valuable.
The Gold parallel version, which is serial-numbered to 10 copies, has sold for as much as $34.8k in the past.