Caitlin Clark answered every question in her incredible rookie season.
Any doubts as to her ability to deliver on the unprecedented hype from her historic NCAA career as an Iowa Hawkeye have been summarily dismissed. The Indiana Fever guard established herself as a certified star, setting a WNBA record with 337 assists and a rookie record with 769 points.
Clark has all but secured the title of WNBA Rookie of the Year as the Fever enters the playoffs Sunday as the No. 6 seed.
Having already set the record price paid for any WNBA card back in May when her 2024 Panini Instant WNBA Blue Viper 1/1 Autograph card sold for nearly $25,000 via Dutch Auction on Panini America’s website, just like on the court, the Fever guard has little to prove when it comes to the price of her memorabilia.
Yet, Thursday night, as Clark wrapped up the season in a loss against the Washington Mystics — a game which drew the largest crowd in WNBA history at 20,711 according to ESPN — the bar was raised once again.
Clark’s Blue Viper 1/1 Autograph card, the most expensive variant of her first professional card, originally sold for $10,000 minutes after being made available on the Panini site as part of its Instant Draft Night Series in April.
That same card, which at the time marked the sixth-most expensive sale of any Clark card, fetched $84,000 at Fanatics Premier auction Thursday night, establishing a new high for any Clark or WNBA card ever sold publicly. Since its original purchase from Panini, it had since been graded Authentic by CGC.
RELATED STORIES:
- Caitlin Clark gets new card collection from Panini
- Caitlin Clark-signed WNBA debut ticket sells for record $10,492
- Caitlin Clark autograph card sells for $4,999 in just seconds
- Caitlin Clark collectibles craze: The quest for her shoes, jerseys
The sale tops the $78,000 paid for her 2022 Bowman University Superfractor autograph card, which depicts Clark in her Hawkeyes uniform, back in January.
It’s tough to find a player with more buzz in the card market. Clark was the fourth most-graded professional basketball player by PSA in May, behind only NBA Rookie of the Year Victor Wembanyama, LeBron James and Michael Jordan.
While her record sale remains a fraction of the top prices paid for her male counterparts, with names such as Cade Cunningham notching higher sums (his most expensive card ever sold was a rookie 1/1 Logoman which went for over $200,000 in November 2022), Clark is seemingly on her way to closing the gap between the market for her cards and those of NBA players.
The only female athlete to have a card sell for more than Clark is Serena Williams, who remains the only woman to have a card eclipse $100,000 and owns the top seven spots on the list.
Will Stern is a reporter and editor for cllct.