Wemby card sells for $5.11 million in private sale…

May 26, 2026 No Comments

Victor Wembanyama card sells for $5.11 million in private saleDan HajduckyMay 26, 2026, 11:53 AM ETClose

Dan Hajducky is a staff writer for ESPN. He has an MFA in creative writing from Fairfield University and played on the men’s soccer teams at Fordham and Southern Connecticut State universities.

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Victor Wembanyama’s 1-of-1 numbered 2023-24 Panini Prizm Black parallel has sold for $5.11 million in a private sale via Fanatics Collect, Fanatics verified to ESPN. It’s by far the most ever spent on a Wembanyama card, and the fourth and 11th most spent on a basketball and a sports card, respectively.

It’s also the most expensive known sale of a non-autographed NBA card and the third sports card sold for $5 million in 2026.

The previous most ever spent on a Wembanyama card was $860,100 in a February 2025 Goldin auction, on a different 1-of-1 numbered parallel from the same Prizm set. Notably, there are no licensed Wembanyama autographed rookie cards; Wembanyama has an unique deal with Fanatics, who took over the unique NBA trading card license in October. The unique licensee during Wembanyama’s rookie year was Panini.

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The card — graded a 10 by Professional Sports Authenticator — was pulled in a live break by NorCal Sports Cards and has a controversial lore. In a 2024 video, the card’s then-owner and shop owner Thomas Lindenthal brings the card to (PSA parent company) Collector’s headquarters for grading, where Lindenthal thanks Kurt’s Card Care upon the 10 grade reveal. Kurt’s Card Care makes products “to safely clean collectible cards, restore and treat edges, “removes minor issues that affect the cards surface,” and “gets them back to a factory like finish when possible.”

Card cleaning and altering are decried in the collecting space, and PSA won’t grade cards it finds to be altered. PSA’s grading standards prohibit cleaning, and it will return cards with “no grade” definitions ranging from evidence of trimming, restoration or recoloration, questionable authenticity, altered stock, not meeting minimum factory size requirements, evidence of cleaning, or miscutting. Both “N5 Altered Stock” and “N7 Evidence of Cleaning” cover “when any foreign substance is applied to the surface of a card such as cleaning spray or wax.”

Wembanyama recently became the NBA’s first unanimous Defensive Player of the Year, was the lone unanimous selection for the NBA’s All-Defensive First Team and finished third in the NBA MVP voting this season.