NBA-ийн шинэ тоглогч Купэр Флэггийн “Debut Patch” гарын үсэгтэй нэг хувь карт Род-Айленд дахь дэлгүүрийн багцын нээлтийн үеэр гарч ирсэн нь цуглуулагчдын анхаарлыг ихээхэн татаж байна.
Род-Айленд муж улсын Норт Кингстаун дахь “Baseball Cards of RI” дэлгүүрийн “Rhody Breakers” баг даваа гарагт “2025-26 Topps Chrome Updates Basketball” цувралын багцыг нээх үеэр Купэр Флэггийн “Debut Patch” картыг олжээ. Энэхүү карт нь түүний NBA-д анх тоглосон тоглолтод өмссөн өмсгөлөөс авсан хэсгийг агуулсан бөгөөд одоогоор спортын салбарын хамгийн эрэлттэй картуудын нэгд тооцогдож байна.
Уг картыг нээх үед хэрэглэгч Жэйсон Уильямс 515 ам.доллароор Даллас Мавериксийн бүх картыг авах эрхийг худалдан авсан байжээ. “Rhody Breakers”-ийн үүсгэн байгуулагч Крис Кардын мэдээлснээр, тус дэлгүүрийн 38 жилийн түүхэнд гарсан хамгийн чухал олдвор нь энэ бөгөөд уг картыг 5 сая гаруй ам.долларын үнэ хүрэх болов уу хэмээн таамаглаж байна.
Энэхүү карт олдсон даруйд Даллас Маверикс багаас 32 жилийн хугацаатай улирлын тасалбар, тоглогчийн гарын үсэгтэй өмсгөл зэргийг багтаасан саналыг тавьсан байна. Түүнчлэн олон тооны цуглуулагчид болон дуудлага худалдааны газрууд 1.5-аас 4 сая ам.долларын хооронд үнийн санал ирүүлжээ. Одоогийн байдлаар картын эзэн цаашид хэрхэх нь тодорхойгүй байгаа бөгөөд өмнө нь ижил төстэй “Debut Patch” картууд дуудлага худалдаагаар өндөр үнээр зарагдаж байсан түүхтэй.
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The one-of-a-kind Cooper Flagg NBA Rookie Debut Patch Autograph card with splashy public offers from the Dallas Mavericks and a variety of collectors and auction houses was hit on Monday night. Rhody Breakers, which operates out of Baseball Cards of RI in North Kingstown, Rhode Island, pulled the card for a customer in a box break of 2025-26 Topps Chrome Updates Basketball streamed live on YouTube.
The card features a patch worn on Flagg’s jersey during his NBA regular season debut that was then removed and used to create a one-of-one trading card meant to represent the ultimate rookie card for each player who has one. Flagg’s Debut Patch card is arguably the most coveted from the program, across all sports, to date.
The card, which will need to be redeemed by its new owner to receive it directly from Topps (a placeholder card was included in the pack so as not to damage the real one), was pulled by breakers Chris Card and Chris Louth for a customer using the name “Jason Williams.” Rather than purchase entire boxes individually, some collectors participate in breaks, where they can purchase the rights to a specific team or player and receive only the eligible cards from a set number of packs or boxes. The new owner of the Flagg Debut Patch card paid $515 to receive every Dallas Mavericks card in a break of three hobby boxes (a total of 60 packs, with four cards in each) of 2025-26 Topps Chrome Updates Basketball, which came out on Aug. 6.
Baseball Cards of RI was founded by Robert Mott and Jerry Mazzone in 1988 and the breaking operation, Rhody Breakers, launched in 2019. According to Card, who is also a professor at the University of Rhode Island, the shop has three full-time employees and Rhody Breakers is made up of a trio of friends running the operation outside of their full-time jobs. Card says this is easily the most significant card pulled by the business in its 38-year history.
“People have opened big cards out of the shop, but from our breaks — $10,000, $20,000, $30,000 cards here and there over the years,” the aptly named Card told The Athletic. “But the industry’s also changed, so modern cards didn’t have $3 million or $4 million bounties on them even just a few years ago when (the hobby) was still at its Covid peak. This blows it out. It’s not even close. I expect this card to fetch $5 million-plus.”
Video of Card and Louth pulling Flagg’s Debut Patch card spread rapidly across social media Monday night due its significance. Collectors quickly noticed the card was found by a smaller card shop rather than one of the hobby’s behemoth breaking operations, which can open hundreds of cases (12 hobby boxes are in one case) of a product for their customers. Even New York Knicks center and recently crowned NBA champion Karl-Anthony Towns entered the chase by opening 100 cases of the product on release day.
Hobbyists, who are used to celebratory screams from breakers following big hits, also noted Card’s calm reaction in the aftermath.
“Back in the day when we were doing this a little bit, I used to be a little louder and more hype because you want people to get excited,” Card said. “But it’s really not us, so we’re just more subdued. Honestly, it was a little more shocking for me. I didn’t even notice Flagg’s picture and name right away, so it took me a second to process. Chris (Louth) kind of flung back in the chair. He knew it right away.”
Cooper Debut patch has been hit by Rhody Breaks. Nice to see a big card get hit and people not yell and scream. pic.twitter.com/OTpO8mxiOr
— NEO Cards & Comics (@NEOCards_Comics) August 11, 2026
An interview request to the Flagg card’s new owner wasn’t immediately returned Tuesday, but Card did describe a phone conversation with the customer following the break to The Athletic.
“I said, ‘What’s up buddy?’ and he didn’t say hello,” Card said. “He just goes, ‘That’s what we do, brother.’ … It was an incredible phone call. And his opening line, it was just something that you can’t write, you can’t script.”
According to Card, the Debut Patch’s new owner has been a long-time Rhody Breakers customer that found the company during the Covid-19 pandemic. The customer was expected to fly into Rhode Island to pick up the redemption, which was on display in the shop for customers to see in person on Tuesday. A representative from Fanatics, which owns Topps, was already at the shop when Card spoke with The Athletic Tuesday morning.
Following Monday night’s pull, the card’s future will become a significant storyline for the sports card world. Prior to being discovered, a number of high-profile bounties had already been placed on the card, including one from Flagg’s own team. Last week the Dallas Mavericks offered a package that includes two premium lower level season tickets for 32 years, a Flagg signed, game-worn rookie jersey and a variety of other experiences in exchange for the card. Offers from various hobby personalities and content creators have ranged from $1.5 million up to $4 million. Goldin Auctions founder and CEO Ken Goldin offered a $1.5 million cash advance if the owner consigns the card with Goldin for an upcoming auction.
“We believe that Cooper Flagg has the potential to be a generational player,” Goldin told The Athletic. “For all of eternity this will be his best trading card ever issued. It’s not just a rookie card but a one-of-one with a patch worn during his first NBA game.”
It’s currently unclear what the card’s new owner has planned, though the majority of Debut Patches have ended up at public auction due to their secondary-market value. The highest public sale for any RDPA to date is the $1.1 million paid by Dick’s Sporting Goods for Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Paul Skenes’ Debut Patch card. Like the Mavericks, the Pirates offered a bounty for the Skenes card before it went to auction after being pulled by an 11-year-old boy on Christmas Day 2025. The card was eventually purchased by the retailer and placed on display in a Pittsburgh area store.
Card only hopes the Flagg Debut Patch provides publicity for the shop.
“It’s one of the older shops in the country, I would imagine,” Card said. “It’s something that feels really cool because these guys have been grinding for 38 years. Some years they weren’t even profitable and they kept the shop afloat themselves by reinvesting into it with their own money, so the exposure for the shop is cool.
“Hopefully people can appreciate that a shop like this that’s been grinding got lucky this time.”
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