Its rare that a rookie achieves the kind of success that would dictate prices above the superstars in the game, regardless of sport. Every once in awhile, a rookie performs at such a ridiculous level, that their hobby value not only eclipses the stars of the game, but they eclipse the value of those superstar’s rookie cards. Blake Griffin is doing just that. Although he doesnt have the flash and flare of LeBron James, the numbers dont lie. The guy is having a ridiculous season, and collectors are literally falling all over themselves to pick up his high end rookies. Because of the exclusive Panini NBA license, examples of high end cards have been reduced to a TINY number, which has elevated values even higher. In fact, its gotten to the point where Griffin’s cards have become so expensive that they are almost unbuyable.

This situation is very similar to what happened to LeBron James when 03-04 Exquisite Basketball became the first ever super high end product. Because no other products existed in that price range back then, his rookies sky-rocketed to be one of the most expensive modern rookie cards of all time. Nice examples of his Exquisite Patch Auto RC /99 frequently bring in thousands upon thousands of dollars, final prices of Blake Griffen’s National Treasures Patch Auto RC are getting to that level.

Check out these auctions and their CRAZY prices:

National Treasures 3 Color Patch Auto

National Treasures 3 Color Patch Auto Gold /25

National Treasures 3 Color Patch Auto

National Treasures Logoman Auto

I dont often care about basketball, especially when most of my PC is football centric, but this is crazy! For these prices, you could have an autograph of almost anyone, signed on the most prestigious of items. Blake Griffin is more than good this year, but he has miles of accomplishments to achieve before he is worthy of these prices. If he does end up winning a few rings, is there even any prospect for growth in these cards? Its one thing if you are a Clippers fan (if they truly exist anymore, haha), but its completely different if you are looking to drop THIS kind of money when the prices are already THIS high.

I often cite that people love to get in on the penthouse floor rather than the ground, as they did with Strasburg and many other examples, and 9 times out of 10, it ends up in a terrible result. On the tenth time, the values may rise or fall in small percentages, but there is only one Michael Jordan, and there is only one Albert Pujols and Alex Rodriguez. Think about where the prices would be if he had the type of career that someone like Kobe Bryant has. He might be worth a lot more, but so far, there havent been many people who can boast a resume like Bryant’s. He also played on one of the best and most collected teams in history. Griffin, so far, has none of these, not even on the distant horizon. When the Clippers will always play second fiddle to the Lakers in LA, why do people think that these cards will end up being on that podium like Bryant’s would be in a similar situation?

The bottom line is that I can count the players worthy of these values on one hand, minus one finger. Its Kobe, Lebron, Jordan and that’s about it. Will Griffin end up there? Odds are he wont. Who will then be holding the cards when they shouldnt have bought in the first place? A lot of the same types of people who bought Strasburg over the course of the 2010 Baseball season.