When Panini released their much anticipated 2019-20 National Treasures product on June 12th, 2020 a feeding frenzy ensued among case breakers to pull a Zion rookie. The coveted Rookie Auto Patch—RPA if you speak their language—of a top NBA rookie is always the number one incentive to spend big bucks on your own case or buy a share in a live case break online. Our consignor did the latter and essentially won the card lottery with this offered gem. The #108 Zion Williamson 3-Color RPA is numbered to 99, yet you would think the edition count is single digits from the eBay results. Several examples (none graded) have sold for an average of $81,398 as of a couple months after the initial offering of the set! A recent result for a PSA 8 brought $104,600 and the listed example did not have an auto grade. Considering the recent prices of contemporary RPAs, that could turn out to be a bargain.
The former Duke standout got a late start to his 2019-20 rookie campaign with the New Orleans Pelicans. But as soon as the 6’4”, 285-lb. behemoth stepped on the floor, it was obvious this kid will likely be the face of the NBA for years to come. Zion scored 22 points in just 18 minutes of action in his regular season debut, including 17 straight in the 4th quarter. He then became the first teenager in NBA history to tally 20+ points in 10 consecutive games. Williamson was averaging nearly 24 points on 60% shooting before the season got shut down due to COVID-19. With the 2020-21 season already in full swing, Zion is averaging 25.1 PTS, 6.8 REB, and 3.1 AST after 29 games. All stats are big improvements over the previous 24 game sample.
The PSA NM 7 card presents much better than the grade awarded, and his clean blue autograph grades a perfect GEM MINT 10. Probably got docked for a tiny scratch on the lower front below his shoes and a microscopic imperfection in the top left corner. Overall tremendous eye appeal on this one and might warrant a review when all the dust settles over at PSA.