Despite injury slowing down a stellar first season in the NBA, LaMelo Ball capped off the year being named as Rookie of the Year, beating Anthony Edwards, and others from the 2020-21 rookie class, to the award.
Basketball card collectors have a lot of options for LaMelo Ball rookie cards.
In my opinion, Ball’s best rookie card is his 2020-21 Panini National Treasures Rookie Patch Autograph card, but he has some great alternatives, with varying prices – I’ve covered the best picks below.
Table of Contents
Quick Summary - Top 3 Picks
The Best LaMelo Ball Rookie Cards
2020-21 Donruss Optic Rated Rookie LaMelo Ball Rookie Card #153
The 2020-21 Donruss Optic set is home to the key Rated Rookie LaMelo Ball rookie card.
The base Rated Rookie cards have long been a popular budget rookie card option for collectors, the Optic version, with the chromium finish, gives the Rated Rookie design that extra edge and appeal.
The array of parallels offer a harder chase for collectors with a bigger budget, particularly the low-numbered cards.
2020-21 Panini Crown Royale Kaboom! LaMelo Ball Rookie Card #23
While the base 2020-21 Crown Royale LaMelo Ball gives collectors the option of a nice and unique card, the key Ball rookie card from the set is the highly-popular Kaboom! insert.
Although it’s not a traditional rookie card, it is one of the key first-year NBA cards for him.
The popular comic style, bold design of Kaboom! inserts make them some of the most sought-after cards in the hobby – This LaMelo Ball Kaboom! card is not only popular, but also rare, so it’s one of his most expensive non-signed rookies.
You can expect to pay at least a few thousand dollars for this one, in the highest grades.
2020-21 Panini One & One Downtown LaMelo Ball Rookie Card #4
Again, because it’s an insert, it isn’t a traditional rookie card, but the key card from the 2020-21 One And One set is the Downtown insert, which is another popular and sought-after product in the basketball card hobby.
The artistic design resonates well with collectors, and its rarity contributes to its high value – The Downtown LaMelo Ball rookie card is another of his more expensive non-signed cards.
This one has a similar value to the popular Kaboom rookie.
2020-21 NBA Hoops LaMelo Ball Rookie Card #223
NBA Hoops is many collectors go-to set for budget rookie cards. The 2020-21 NBA Hoops LaMelo Ball card was his very first NBA rookie card.
The mass-produced card is in high supply, and is easy to get hold of, which certainly puts it on the lower end of the value scale.
2020-21 Panini Prizm LaMelo Ball Rookie Card #278
It probably comes as no surprise that one of the most popular base LaMelo Ball rookies comes from 2020-21 Panini Prizm – One of the top options among the unsigned base rookie cards.
The base card itself is highly sought-after, but there’s the ever-popular Silver Prizm parallel with added appeal and value. Values can really skyrocket for some of his low-numbered Prizms parallels as well.
Some of the parallels are among Ball’s most expensive rookie cards, and the most expensive unsigned rookies; A Gold Prizm parallel (/10) sold for $192k in 2022
2020-21 Panini Select LaMelo Ball Rookie Cards #63 Concourse, #183 Premier, #298 Courtside
The 2020-21 Select NBA set works on the tiered system we’re accustomed to seeing.
LaMelo Ball has 3 unique rookie cards from Select, of varying rarity, starting with the most common Concourse card, to the less-common Premier card, and finally the Courtside card, which is the rarest and most valuable.
Each card offers a choice of some parallels for a harder chase as well.
2020-21 Panini Flawless LaMelo Ball Rookie Card #63
A more premium LaMelo Ball rookie card option comes from one of the hobby’s key premium sets, Panini Flawless.
The 2020-21 Flawless set features this classy embedded gem card – the only cards that aren’t signed or offer relic swatches in the set.
The base, diamond embedded, rookie card is limited to just 20 copies, which is not only hard to get hold of, but expensive to buy as well, but it’s a great option for collectors who have the budget. There are also some lower-numbered parallels, with different gems embedded.
The Best Autographed LaMelo Ball Rookie Cards
2020-21 Panini Contenders Optic Rookie Ticket LaMelo Ball Autograph Rookie Card #105
The Rookie Ticket design has become a popular staple of the basketball card hobby, and this autographed version, from the chromium Contenders Optic set, offers collectors a highly appealing and sought-after card.
It’s one of LaMelo Ball’s best and most sought-after rookie cards, which also comes with some numbered parallels.
There’s also a Variations version, with it’s own set of parallels; It features the rookie ticket design, with a different image of Ball.
The coveted 1-of-1 Gold Vinyl parallel, of the Variation version, sold for $146.6k in 2022, which made it one of Ball’s most valuable rookies.
2020-21 Panini Prizm LaMelo Ball Autograph Rookie Card #26
One of the key LaMelo Ball autograph rookie cards comes from the 2020-21 Prizm set, which is to be expected considering the popularity of the brand.
This Rookie Signatures card offers collectors a Prizm card with even more appeal and lots more value than the popular base Prizm rookie card; he also has multiple other signature cards from the set.
2020-21 Panini Flawless LaMelo Ball Autograph Patch Rookie Card #2
Having already mentioned the base embedded gems Flawless Ball rookie card, collectors with a very big budget also have the option of this auto patch card from the premium set.
Although Flawless doesn’t quite have the brand power of National Treasures, the auto patch cards are still up there with the best, and at just 25 copies (with some lower-numbered parallels), it’s a lot rarer than the NT RPA.
It’ll cost a fraction of the price of his National Treasures Rookie Patch Autograph card, so I think it offers a great alternative.
A BGS 8.5 graded copy of the Emerald parallel version sold for $45k , back in 2022.
2020-21 Panini National Treasures LaMelo Ball Autograph Patch Rookie Card #130
Collectors with the biggest budget can look at the key RPA LaMelo Ball rookie card from the 2020-21 National Treasures set – its value makes it only attainable if you have a big budget
For me, and many others, National Treasures is number one for premium basketball cards, and this RPA, limited to 99 copies, is the top, and most expensive, high-end LaMelo Ball rookie card, thanks to the NT brand prestige.
There are low-numbered parallel versions for this one; A copy of the Gold parallel (/10) sold for $255k in 2021.
When Was LaMelo Ball’s Rookie Season?
LaMelo Ball’s rookie season was the 2020-21 NBA season – He was selected as the 3rd overall pick by the Charlotte Hornets in the 2020 NBA Draft.
What Is A LaMelo Ball Rookie Card Worth?
The value of a LaMelo Ball rookie card depends on which of his rookies you’re referring to – The mainstream, base rookies, like the base 2020-21 Panini Prizm card for example, are worth around $100-200.
There are some more valuable parallels of the mainstream base cards, but again the values can vary based on rarity and popularity.
Ball’s most premium and valuable rookie cards, such as the 2020-21 National Treasures rookie patch autograph card, has sold for over $200k before, multiple times.
What Is The Most Expensive LaMelo Ball Rookie Card?
The most expensive LaMelo Ball rookie card is the 2020-21 Panini National Treasures rookie patch autograph card, which has sold for multiple-hundreds of thousands in the past.
Ball’s most expensive unsigned rookie cards are the low-numbered parallels of his 2020-21 Panini Prizm card.
