Pop Report: TCG Sees Huge Jump While Basketball Dips

PSA graded 196,136 cards last week for a 4% increase compared to the prior week. Ja Morant maintained his hold as the most-graded basketball player while Wayne Gretzky slid into the top spot for hockey.

Read this week’s Pop Report with GemRate for the latest trends in PSA’s grading.

From a category perspective:

• TCG increased significantly this past week (+37%). As a result, we saw all of the main sports with the exception of soccer decline in volume.

The mix of the top 50 players (and characters) graded during the period were as follows

21 – Basketball

12 – Baseball

10 – Football

7 – TCG

Below you’ll find a list of the top players graded for each category. 

An important consideration is what to make of this list. In the current situation where fears of junk slabs dominate the hobby, ranking high on this list likely is negatively correlated with price as that signals a meaningful number of slabs could move into the market in the near future. However, under normal circumstances, it could potentially be a leading indicator of positive price correlation as the list more accurately represents forward looking activity (i.e. bets being placed on players) and price potential.

BASKETBALL

Top 10 Most Graded Players & Top Graded Card (during the 1-week period)

Noteworthy moves:

• UP: Ja Morant, Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, Trae Young
• DOWN: Zion Williamson, Luka Doncic, RJ Barrett

BASEBALL

Top 10 Most Graded Players & Top Graded Card (during the 1-week period)

Noteworthy moves:

• UP: Bo Bichette, Kyle Lewis, Randy Arozarena, Yordan Alvarez, Gavin Lux,   
• DOWN: Mike Trout,  Juan Soto, Jasson Dominguez,
• OUT: Ronald Acuna Jr.

FOOTBALL

Top 10 Most Graded Players & Top Graded Card (during the 1-week period)

Noteworthy moves:

• UP: Patrick Mahomes II, Josh Allen
• DOWN: Jalen Hurts, Cedee Lamb

SOCCER

Top 10 Most Graded Players & Top Graded Card (during the 1-week period)

Noteworthy moves:

• UP: Cristiano Ronaldo, Youssoufa Moukoko, Kylian Mbappe, Christian Pulisic, Kevin de Bruyne, Jadon Sancho, Raheem Sterling, Mason Greenwood 
• DOWN:  Erling Haaland
• OUT: Weston McKinnie

Note: Hockey and soccer lists are more volatile because grading activity is lower. Much smaller moves in grading activity can have a big impact on these lists.

HOCKEY

Top 10 Most Graded Players & Top Graded Card (during the 1-week period)

Noteworthy moves:

• UP: Wayne Gretzky, Connor McDavid, Alexander Ovechkin, Alexis Lafreniere, Kirill Kaprizov, Cale Makar
• DOWN: Sidney Crosby, Jaromir Jagr, Mario Lemieux 
• OUT: Eric Lindros, Mats Sundin

Note: Hockey and soccer lists are more volatile because grading activity is lower. Much smaller moves in grading activity can have a big impact on these lists.

Data in the Sports Card Investor Pop Report series is provided by GemRate. Follow GemRate on Instagram and Twitter for more on the latest cards graded by PSA.

Track your collection and maximize your profit with Market Movers, the hobby’s most powerful sports card pricing platform! Learn more here.

Note to readers: If you purchase something through one of our affiliates, we may earn a commission.