Michael Jordan's Top 15 Sports Cards of All Time

Michael Jordan is widely considered the greatest basketball player of all time. He won six NBA championships with the Chicago Bulls, five MVP awards and ten scoring titles, and he was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame (HOF) in 2009. His cards drove the growth of the modern hobby: early serial-numbered parallels, on-card autographs, game-used memorabilia and high-grade slabs all hit new heights because of Jordan. These are the 15 Jordan cards we think matter most. Sale prices below are reported sales at the time they happened; values change.

1. 1997-98 Metal Universe Precious Metal Gems Green #23 (/10)

Precious Metal Gems debuted in 1997-98 Metal Universe and quickly became the most famous parallel of the 1990s. Every player's PMG is serial numbered to 100: copies 1 through 10 are emerald green, and the other 90 are red. That makes the Jordan Green one of just ten copies. In February 2019 one sold on eBay for $350,100, a record for a Jordan card at the time, and it is still treated as the crown jewel of 1990s Jordan inserts. Copies almost never come up for sale today, and collectors expect the next one to bring well over $1 million.

2. 1997-98 Upper Deck Game Jersey Autograph (/23)

This card combines an on-card Jordan autograph with a piece of game-worn jersey, and Jordan hand-numbered each copy to 23, his jersey number. The swatch comes from the jersey he wore in the 1992 NBA All-Star Game in Orlando. It was an early landmark of the memorabilia-card era, and in October 2021 copy 6 of 23 sold for $2.7 million in a sale brokered by Goldin. A PSA 7 copy had sold for $1.44 million at PWCC earlier that year.

3. 1998-99 Metal Universe Precious Metal Gems #1 (/50)

The second year of Precious Metal Gems dropped the green and red split and numbered each card to 50. Jordan is card #1 in the set, and the set came out after his second retirement in 1999. The base 1998 Metal Universe Jordan is far easier to find, which makes the serial-numbered gold version a standout in any Jordan collection.

4. 2003-04 Exquisite Collection Limited Logos Autograph Patch (/50)

Upper Deck's Exquisite Collection launched in 2003-04 at roughly $500 a pack and changed what high-end basketball cards looked like: thick card stock, on-card autographs and large patch pieces. The Limited Logos card pairs a Jordan autograph with a multi-color logo patch and is numbered to 50. Jordan was in his final NBA season with the Washington Wizards that year.

5. 2009-10 Exquisite Collection Limited Logos Autograph Patch (/10)

Six years later Upper Deck brought Jordan back to Limited Logos, this time with a print run of just ten. The large Bulls patch and on-card signature make this one of the most visually striking Jordan autographs ever produced, and with only ten copies it rarely changes hands.

6. 1997-98 Metal Universe Precious Metal Gems Red #23 (/90)

The red PMGs are serial numbers 11 through 100, so there are 90 of them. They are still among the rarest and most sought-after Jordan inserts ever made, and even mid-grade copies like this PSA 6.5 draw serious attention whenever they surface.

7. 1997-98 E-X2001 Essential Credentials Now #9 (/9)

Essential Credentials came in two parallels. "Now" cards are numbered to the player's card number, and "Future" cards take the inverse. Jordan is card #9, so his Essential Credentials Now is numbered to just 9 and his Future is numbered to 72. The Now version is one of the scarcest Jordan parallels of the decade.

8. 1986-87 Fleer #57 Rookie Card

The most recognizable basketball card ever made. The 1986-87 Fleer #57 is Jordan's classic rookie card, and its red, white and blue border is iconic across the hobby. It is widely available in lower grades, but gem copies are tough because of the set's centering and edge problems. A PSA 10 sold for $840,000 at PWCC in July 2021, and in June 2025 a PSA 9 copy with a PSA 10 autograph sold for $2.5 million at Joopiter.

9. 1984-85 Star #101

Star's 1984-85 Jordan is his first NBA card. Star sold its cards in bagged team sets rather than packs, so every Bulls set included Jordan, and Beckett lists it as an XRC (extended rookie card) rather than a true rookie. Ink problems and miscuts kept the print run small, and PSA has never graded one a 10. A PSA 9 reportedly sold privately for $925,000, and a BGS 9 like the one pictured brought a grade-record $387,484 at Memory Lane's 2026 Winter Rarities auction.

10. 1997-98 E-X2001 Jambalaya #6

Jambalaya is a 15-card die-cut insert set celebrating the league's top dunkers. Stated odds were 1 in 720 packs for any Jambalaya card, which works out to roughly 1 in 10,800 packs for the Jordan. The bright, irregular die-cut design makes it one of the most distinctive inserts of the era.

11. 1986-87 Fleer Sticker #8

Released alongside the 1986-87 Fleer base set, the Jordan sticker is the rookie-year companion to the #57. Stickers were inserted in packs, so they share the same era of condition problems, and high-grade copies like this PSA 10 are scarce.

12. 1996-97 SPx Autograph #8

Upper Deck's SPx line used holographic die-cut fronts, and the autographed version of Jordan's 1996-97 SPx card was distributed through a redemption trade card. It is one of the earliest certified Jordan autographs from Upper Deck, which held his exclusive autograph rights for years.

13. 1996-97 E-X2000 A Cut Above #5

A Cut Above is a 10-card die-cut insert set shaped like a saw blade, inserted at 1 in 288 packs. That puts the Jordan at roughly 1 in 2,880 packs. Die-cut edges are fragile, so high-grade copies are especially hard to find.

14. 1987-88 Fleer Sticker #2

Jordan's second-year Fleer sticker follows the 1986-87 design. It is more affordable than the rookie sticker, but PSA 10 copies remain scarce and are popular with Jordan set builders.

15. 1985 Nike Promo

Nike issued this promotional card in 1985, the same year it released the first Air Jordan shoe. It came as part of a small Nike set of featured athletes and is not an NBA-licensed card, but it captures the start of one of the most important athlete partnerships in sports history.

Shop Michael Jordan Cards

We stock graded Jordan cards across his career, from a 1986 Star #3 BGS 9.5 to the 1998-99 Metal Universe #1 (the base version of #3 above) and 1990s classics like the 1991 Upper Deck #69 PSA 10. Browse every Michael Jordan card in stock or shop the full Basketball category.