What started as a dollar bin card has become a sought-after pop culture collectible that blends basketball, music and Hollywood in one image — Ja Morant’s 2019 Panini Chronicles No. 116 rookie card.
Ja Morant’s viral rookie card. (Photo: eBay)
The card captures the NBA superstar flexing his muscles, posing in a classic Grizzlies throwback uniform. In the crowd behind him are Memphis rappers Key Glock (standing behind Morant), Young Dolph and Crunchy Black (both on the right side, behind the cameraman). When Young Dolph was killed in November 2021, the card became a point of interest for sports and music fans, boosting sales of the common base rookie card from a couple of dollars to about $30. After the card initially went viral, collectors also discovered that Sean and Leigh Anne Tuohy, who were portrayed in the 2009 film The Blind Side, were also sitting in the stands (front row, left side). Some even believe that actor Todd Bridges (blue shirt, upper left) is also in the picture. The card then jumped in value to around $65 in May 2022, and has had several smaller spikes since then as it has cycled through social media.
The fluctuations in the value of Ja Morant’s 2019 “Young Dolph” card (ungraded) from 2021-present. (Chart: Market Movers)
In an interview with Our Generation Music, Key Glock said fans have given him the card on multiple occasions.
“I got gifted about 10 of them at my meet and greets,” Glock said. “After my shows, certain fans, they’ll just give me certain little gifts and I always get them cards. They’ll give me one for myself, thinking I don’t have one, but they’ll keep one for me to sign.”
For collectors who enjoy variety when opening packs and boxes, Panini’s Chronicles line delivers a diverse product that brings together multiple Panini brands. Instead of creating a set that focuses on one card design or brand (such as Topps or Donruss), Chronicles combines various Panini brands into a single product. The set has a strong emphasis on first-year players, which means it contains a large number of rookie cards. Morant has more than 15 Chronicles rookie cards spanning across brands like Prestige, Score, Phoenix, Threads and more. Among Morant’s Chronicles rookie cards, the unique cameos in his No. 116 rookie card unquestionably make it the most valuable and well-known.
This card may remind collectors of another one that exploded in popularity thanks to a background cameo — Mark Jackson’s 1990-91 Hoops card, which happens to include the Menendez brothers sitting courtside. The brothers were famously convicted of the murder of their parents in 1989 and became a major focus of national news at the time. The photo was from a game that took place after the murders happened but before the brothers were arrested. As sports card content expanded across social media and mainstream outlets in 2018, the card went viral, driving its value from just a dollar to around $20 ungraded and more than $500 in a Gem-Mint PSA 10 grade (population: 290).
PSA graded population and current market value
Before Young Dolph’s death and social media catching wind of the background cameos, the Morant card was selling for less than $5. At the peak of its popularity in late 2021, ungraded sales on eBay skyrocketed as high as $100, while Gem-Mint PSA 10s surpassed $400. Prices have since cooled, with ungraded copies selling for about $30 and PSA 10s fetching roughly $200.
With around 10,000 PSA graded examples, Ja Morant’s 2019-20 Panini Chronicles No. 116 rookie card remains one of his most popular among collectors, trailing only six of his other rookie cards in total PSA submissions. PSA 9s (Mint) are the most common grade with around 5,300 examples, and currently sell on eBay for around $75. In comparison, Gem-Mint 10s aren’t that much rarer, with about 3,000 earning PSA’s top grade.
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