The Michael Jordan cards every ‘90s kid wanted, and how much they’re worth now

For decades now, Michael Jordan cards have been some of the most coveted and valuable in the sports card hobby. During the 1990s when Jordan was winning a large number of NBA championships, manufacturers flooded the market with basketball cards of him (and even some baseball, golf, movie cards, etc.). But some of them stood out from others as special people whom every child was following at that time.

Last year, we took a look at the Jordan cards that were in everyone’s binder pages. Now these are the cards everyone (except maybe New York Knicks fans) wishes they had.

This was arguably the most popular Jordan card produced in the 90s. Part of a 10-player insert set in Ultra Series 1, with a possibility of one in every 36 packs (about one per hobby box), they weren’t the rarest cards ever made, but the image of Jordan in mid-flight with a lightning bolt behind him was the coolest thing any kid at the time had seen.

Today, PSA (Professional Sports Authenticator, the leading trading card grader) has graded more than 3,700 examples of cards, but only 97 have earned the Gem-Mint 10 grade, the highest possible. The last publicly known PSA 10 sold for $30,000 in early April, but a PSA 8 with a population of just over 1,200 also last sold for $4,000 (up from about $1,000 in the spring of 2025) as the nostalgic love for this card continues to grip collectors more than 30 years later.

This is another insert for the 1993-94 Flir Ultra, this time in Series 2. Other than the 1991 Skybox set (which was mentioned here), I don’t think any design leans more on the early 90s aesthetic than the power in key inserts. These cards look like they came straight out of the “Saved by the Bell” intro sequence. Again, these weren’t super rare (one out of every 37 packs), but they are more limited than the Scoring Kings above.

According to CardChannel, it is common for Series 1 of a set to be printed in much heavier quantities than Series 2, and this was the case for the 1993-94 Ultra, keeping the print run at 10,000 for each Scoring Kings card that year and 7,800 for each Power in the key.

PSA has classified over 3,200 examples of Jordan Power in key cards (total classified population for the nine-card set: over 4,600) of which only 46 are graded 10. The last PSA to sell sold for $22,500 on Feb. 10, according to sales database Card Ladder. If another one came to market today, that number would probably be slightly higher.

Like Scoring Kings, this is one of Jordan’s most iconic cards of all time. Bright laser design frames a dunking Michael Jordan. As far as early 90s cards go, it doesn’t get much better than this. The 1992 Beam Team insert was also one in every 36 packs, but with the 21-player checklist (including rookie Shaquille O’Neal) it was hard to pull out a special name.

PSA has graded over 4,200 examples of the 1992 Beam Team Jordans (as well as over 1,600 examples of the member’s only edition that was only available in full factory sets). 111 are graded PSA 10 (and only 10 for the other 68 members), with a final sale price of $13,000 (and $15,000 for final MO PSA 10).

The Beam Team insert has been a popular part of Stadium Club releases for many decades and sports now. The 1993 and 1995 Jordan Beam team cards are also very popular (and valuable), but the 1992 version was the first and most recognizable.

1996 Upper Deck SPX #8 (sometimes referred to as #NNO) Autograph

This marked a major turning point for the card hobby. One of every 34,560 SPX packs included a redemption for a signed Jordan card. This was the first time Jordan autograph cards were made available through packs (he also had a 1995 SP Top Prospects autograph, but that was a baseball card). Beyond the autograph rush, what made SPx packs different at the time was that they only contained one card and cost $3 each.

Expressing your desire to buy a pack of SPX at any card shop at that time would elicit a stern warning from the shop owner – “You know it’s just one card in that pack, kid” – and any adult who took you there would immediately look at you as if you had just said you wanted to set their entire wallet on fire. If you managed to convince them it was a good decision because all the future die-cut, holographic cards in the set looked great, you’d have to pretend to be thrilled to open a lone Mitch Richmond base card and not the Jordan autograph you were sure you’d get. (And yes, I still bear its scars.)

The record sale for one of these cards was $63,000 in November 2021. Prices have fallen dramatically since then, with the last known sale occurring in April at $35,400. Given the place these cards hold in history and the rate at which the value of many Jordan cards has skyrocketed recently, this decline may be surprising. But it can be difficult to tell which versions of the signed Jordan SPX base cards from this set were the original redemptions and which were signed by Jordan through other means, and this may have something to do with the price action.

1997-98 Metal Universe Precious Metal Gem #23G

Now we’re getting to cards that are not just some of the greatest Jordan cards, but some of the best of all sports cards ever made. The introduction of PMG in 1997 was another milestone for the hobby, placing an emphasis on rarity that helped the industry move out of the junk wax era. Serial numbered to 100, with the first 10 being a more limited green foil background version and another 90 in red, the PMGs quickly became some of Jordan’s most desirable cards. Still, with Green valued at $9,000 in 1999, an issue of Beckett Basketball Card Monthly that year placed it at the top of the list of highest-rated cards (stay tuned for more details on No. 3 on that list). However, the collector clearly doesn’t agree with that assessment.

Due to the delicate green and red foil, these cards are extremely sensitive to condition. The PSA has graded six of the Greens, all earning a PSA below 7. In 2020, one of two graded Authentic (below 1) by PSA sold for $915,000. Today that card will be sold for lakhs. A red in PSA 5 grade sold for $640,500 in March. If one of the highest-grade Greens were sold today, it could challenge the all-time record sale for a trading card ($16.5 million for Logan Paul’s 1998 Pikachu Illustrator Pokémon card in February).

1997 Upper Deck Game Jersey #GJ13

After giving collectors the ability to pick Jordan’s signed cards out of packs, Upper Deck introduced its next innovation of the era: cards featuring pieces of Jordan’s game-worn jerseys. Jordan was part of the 22-player checklist for game jersey cards in the 1997–98 Upper Deck Basketball season, with the odds of finding one in every 2,500 packs. Numbered only 23, the Jordan card included pieces of his 1992 All-Star Game jersey.

Along with the 1997 PMG, these are now some of the most valuable Jordan cards. One sold privately in October for $4.25 million, the highest ever paid for a Jordan card not involving any other player. Four other sales of these cards since 2021 have fetched between $990,000 and $2.7 million. And yet, these were also included in the 1999 Beckett Basketball Cards monthly list of overrated cards, despite also being named the magazine’s Card of the Year. Valued at $12,000 each at the time, the writer argued “For that price you could go out and get a whole signed jersey!”

The value of complete, signed Jordan jerseys has also increased since then, with a jersey worn during a preseason game before his rookie campaign last year selling for $4.215 million.

In the late ’90s, the Skybox set raised the bar for inclusive creativity, but in one instance their strange source of inspiration led to a particularly eye-catching design, which was long rumored to have proven problematic. Dunk ‘n Go-Nuts inserts appeared only once in the 1998 Skybox EX Century, but it was enough to influence a generation of collectors.

With a name, font, and color scheme clearly modeled after Dunkin’ Donuts, and printed on acetate (a clear plastic alternative to traditional cardboard), the Dunk ‘n Go-Nuts card developed a cult following that would grow over the coming decades amid rumors of Dunkin’ threatening legal action, leading to an abrupt end after just one edition. Naturally, the Jordan card was the most popular of the 20 in the set, which came at a rate of 36 per pack (about one in every two boxes). PSA has graded over 300 examples of the Jordan card, of which 65 have earned a grade of 10. As more collectors have discovered these cards, the value has increased, with Jordan’s PSA 10 examples now selling for around $30,000.

This is it – a card everyone wanted as Jordan cemented his legacy in the ’90s. Before ’90s Jordan cards with patches, autographs, flashy designs and manufactured rarities reached top-tier status, the ’86 Fleer rookie card was in a class of its own.

Although it was released two years after his rookie season, there was not enough interest in basketball cards at the time to entice major card manufacturers to produce traditional NBA sets between the 1981–82 season and the 1986–87 season. This changed when the league became saturated with young talent and the NBA’s fan base began to grow.

In 1984 the Star Company was producing the only licensed NBA cards, which they released in small quantities through team sets (instead of traditional, random packs) sold through select retailers. Starr released several Jordan cards at that time, including his #101 card, which has gained popularity in recent years and an increasing number of collectors recognize it as the second or even a true rookie card of Jordan.

But in the ’90s it was all about ’86 flare.

The Flir card is not rare – PSA has graded over 27,500 examples of it, of which 334 have received a grade of 10 – but demand is still high enough that it remains an expensive card even today. A PSA 10 last sold for $341,600 and a signed PSA 9 last sold for a record $2.7 million. This ungraded (and unsigned) card sells for approximately $6,000.

It is one of the most recognizable sports cards ever made and will always hold a special place for any kid who saw it inside a card shop display case and dreamed of taking it home one day.

There are plenty of other Jordan cards that kids in the ’90s were desperate to get their hands on – Platinum Portraits, Platinum Medallions, early Topps Refractors and the like – so if you remember a different Jordan card at the top of your wish list, please share it in the comments below.

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