During the 2023-24 NBA season, the term “NBA” was searched more than 7,000 times per hour on eBay, per data provided to cllct Tuesday.
With the season now in the rearview mirror, a look at the most significant search trends on eBay provides a unique lens to gauge collector interest.
Two of the hottest stars in the hobby this season, Victor Wembanyama and Anthony Edwards, saw their popularity reflected in the numbers. Searches for Wembanyama peaked at more than 3,100 times per hour over the course of his Rookie of the Year season, and searches for “Anthony Edwards card” increased more than 1,850 percent in May 2024 (compared with the start of the season) as the Timberwolves made a run to the Western Conference finals.
Another playoff star, Jalen Brunson, saw a surge in interest registered in the form of a 910 percent increase in searches for his trading cards over the course of the season.
Fresh of their NBA title run, the Celtics’ Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, experienced significant jumps in search volume on June 17, the day Boston clinched the title. Searches increased 130 percent and 110 percent, respectively, for Tatum and Brown, compared to each of their average daily search volume during the week prior.
Finally, the top five active NBA players with the most items sold during the season were Wembanyama, LeBron James, Edwards, Luka Dončić and Tatum.
Will Stern is a reporter and editor for cllct.