Inside the World of a WNBA Trading Card Collector

The success of women's sports is quite literally in the cards . . . the trading cards, that is. For the very first time, the average price of WNBA trading cards officially surpassed the price of NBA trading cards, speaking to the heightened popularity of women's basketball. This historic disparity is largely thanks to Caitlin Clark's highly sought-after rookie cards, with Panini's 2024-25 Prizm set currently selling for an average of $1,175 a box, and the NBA's version selling at $450, per Waxstat. But make no mistake — fans of women's basketball were in this game before prices started to soar.

"I would see NBA cards all the time, but I never really saw WNBA cards," says Lynadia Whiting, a sports fan and content creator who started collecting trading cards in 2022. Inspired by her fiancé's trading card collection, she started searching for WNBA cards at Walmart and Best Buy, but at the time, the selection was still pretty minimal. Most of the time, it was hard to find any WNBA trading cards at all.

"Finally I started seeing them, but they were always on sale," Whiting says. "There was always one random box in the midst of 30 NBA boxes, and the WNBA box was like $12." Still, she would buy any boxes she could find, furthering her love of the game as both an avid basketball fan and a player herself. Sometimes — through the years as a fan — she'd even get to meet her favorite WNBA athletes in real life. "It's just been really cool to experience something like, 'Oh my gosh, I have this card, I have this picture, I see you play on TV, [and] now in person,'" Whiting says.

When asked about her favorite cards, Whiting says the Arike Ogunbowale one is a standout, since she had the chance to meet her in person. Whiting unwrapped that particular card on social media, pulling back the green foil before revealing the card to her followers. As for future cards, "I'm sure everyone is probably on the hunt for a Caitlin Clark," Whiting laughs. But she'd also be interested in some throwback WNBA cards featuring legends like Dawn Staley.

With women's basketball continuing to boom, collecting WNBA trading cards is a bit different than it was three years ago. "I haven't even seen them in stores now. They're only online," Whiting says. "And now it's like $150 for one box, rather than $12." Even with the influx of new fans driving prices up, Whiting is still having fun.

For new WNBA trading card enthusiasts, her best advice is to start slow and try not to get carried away. "You don't have to get every single box you see right away," she says, adding that she struggled with this herself in the beginning. "Especially now, it's kind of expensive, so just take your time with it and enjoy it as it comes."

Chandler Plante (she/her) is an assistant health and fitness editor for PS. She has over four years of professional journalism experience, previously working as an editorial assistant for People magazine and contributing to Ladygunn, Millie, and Bustle Digital Group.