Stan Wawrinka reflects on his final Monte Carlo Masters appearance

Don’t look now but the Victor Wembanyama market is doing what the Shohei Ohtani market did during the offseason.

According to ALT, Wemby’s market, which was already quite expensive, has risen almost 20% over the last 30 days. Why? Well, his team is clawing at the Thunder’s heels for first place in the West and he’s almost certainly going to win the Defensive Player of the Year award and he’s one of the top-two contenders for this season’s MVP.

That’s insane. For anyone, let alone a 22-year-old.

So, Wemby is living up to the hype and the market is responding in kind. Which means, what? There’s no opportunity to be had? Not. So. Fast.

Here’s where I, an idiot who is not giving you financial advice by any means, am looking for some soft spots in his market. Buckle up, everyone, this is going to be dumb and full of well, maybe’s and whatnot.

1. Victor Wembanyama 2023-24 Topps Chrome Refractor in a PSA 9 - in a nine? Hell yeah. There are 223 PSA 10’s, with one just this past weekend selling for $2,000 (up from a prior high the week before of $1,500, followed by $1,933). There are still only 790 copies in a PSA 9 and those have been selling anywhere from $200-$250. That’s an insane valley between the 9 and 10 and still a relatively low pop rate for both. Consider this, there are over 2,500 PSA 9’s of Wemby’s Silver Prizm rookie card and those sell for over $800. I know you’re going to make the licensing argument but that doesn’t seem to be factoring into the historic rise of his PSA 10 refractor - right? I would argue for the scarcity that the PSA 9 Topps Refractor ultimately offers.

2. 2022 Bowman Chrome University #101 in a PSA 9 - this is his “1st Bowman” card (literally, it’s denoted as such) and honestly I still feel like the PSA 10 isn’t insanely expensive. It is considered a SP, there are only 307 PSA 10s and just over 500 PSA 9s. The 9 has been selling for a hair under $200. I know collectors tend to only care about 1st Bowman baseball cards, but the SP nature of this card makes it pretty appealing.

3. 2023 SI for Kids Uncut Sheet - you knew I was going there. Don’t act surprised. There are so few of these cards graded, and while I know it’s long shot to get anything above a PSA 7 (considering the printing errors and perforated ridges), a PSA 7 goes for like $800+ and even a graded version of the magazine has sold for over $600. And, guess what? You can get the magazine or an uncut sheet for around $150. There’s tons of historical significance to this card as well, since it was technically his first U.S.-produced card.

4. 2023 Panini Instant #32 aka Slenderman Card PSA 10 - hell yeah. There was a 15k+ print run of this amazing card but there’s only 233 versions graded in a PSA 10. And, guess what, this oddball amazing rookie card sells for around $120. This card might be a Top-10 coolest card ever made and it’s a Wemby rookie and it’s well-under $150.

5. Whatever this thing is - everyone, everywhere, should own it.

While, yes, there’s a ton of Wemby cards that are generally out of reach for the average collector there are also some really fun and somewhat affordable killer collectibles out there.

Hey, a bit of a mea culpa on my part. Those McDonald’s K-Pop Demon Hunters cards (the whole meal, if you ask me) are absolutely underwhelming. There were also too many nuggets.

Speaking of, I very much hope (but very much expect…) that this Popeye’s x One Piece drop isn’t as underwhelming as the K-Pop meal was. There’s also the potential for a little “Who’s on First” Abbott and Costello moment: “Hi, yes, I would like One Piece chicken please…” “No, no, sorry, I ordered One Piece chicken… not one piece of chicken…”

Remember when Topps used EQL to sell Bowman Chrome Basketball and your anticipated wait time was “81 minutes” and you didn’t wait because that’s an insane amount of time to wait for something that you’ll lose a ton of money on but you’re pissed because you wanted to buy it and and lose money instead of being happy that the 81-minute wait time saved you a lot of money? Remember? Yeah. Sigh.

A few years back I bought a bunch of super cheap Cheyenne Woods (aka Cheyenne Hicks) autograph cards for like $10. You can still get them that cheap. She’s the “half-niece” of Tiger Woods. Her market is “down” less than Tiger’s card market over these last 7 days. Yay, me.

Finally, are we about to hit a Pokemon market crash? I love me some “Bostoncardhunter” - he’s the best - but man that chart should scare everyone, not just Pokemon collectors. Every collectibles market is doing that up-up-up thing. Anyway, have a great week!