[AlexRafco]

When it comes to basketball I really don't collect much, its always 2nd place behind baseball to me. Ive spent the last 6 months trying to stockpile lebron and kobe rookies. Mostly low-end stuff for low-end prices, last month or so I've begun to pull the trigger on some higher-end stuff in the 120-175 range. Before i take another step up i felt it would be a good question to ask basketball collectors, so who do you think will be a better investment, kobe rc's or lebron rc's? of course it all depends on which card. but lets take the 2002-03 finest lebron xrc which is around 200 for a 9.5 bgs, then a topps chrome kobe 9.5 which i cant get for less than 800 right now. in 2023 (10 years from now) would it be a better investment for me to buy one topps chrome kobe or 4 finest lebron xrc?

whatta ya guys think?

[djohn]

Lebron has more of his career left, so he has more potential upside for investment. However some of his current value comes from that fact the people expect him to continue to dominate. An additional championship for either Kobe or Lebron would increase their rookie values, but it would probably do more for Lebron than it would for Kobe. If I was investing in either it would be Lebron. However I think there are better players to invest in than either of them (in terms of potential return). Then again, higher return usually involves more risk. So players like Kyrie Irving, Kevin Durant and Derrick Rose could be great investments, but they could also end up never winning a championship or fizzling out (possibly due to injuries). With Lebron and Kobe you have proven NBA champions and scoring champions that have proven their talent for many years. So your risk of their prices going down is minimal unless something catastrophic happens to either of them.

[bballfrk44]

I also think Lebron cards have more value but that's because there are more rookies of his, and auto/jersey rookies. Kobe doesn't have those from 1996-97 so that adds to value to Lebron in my opinion. Kobe's top rookies are the Chrome refractors and Bowman refractors so those are the ones you'd get if you wanted the best. Lebron's XRC has 3 different versions of it and there's just more interesting cards (see Bazooka printing plates). Overall I think Lebron has more value but that's if you get most of the high end cards

[AlexRafco]

well what im thinking is to just start buying every LeBron xrc I can, because im thinking if I sit on them, in at least 5 years even worst case scenario I can get my money back. am I wrong assuming that?

[xstreaminsanity]

well what im thinking is to just start buying every LeBron xrc I can, because im thinking if I sit on them, in at least 5 years even worst case scenario I can get my money back. am I wrong assuming that?

No, you're not wrong, but you could be putting a lot of effort into nothing. You're likely to make some money from it, but it might not be much. And depending on how much time/effort you put into it, you could consider it a waste in the end.

My question to you would be is your primary dealing with cards simply for investment purposes, or do you enjoy collecting as well? If it's primarily for investing purposes, I personally think you'd be better by taking a class on selling stocks as you'll likely make money faster and much more of it.

[AlexRafco]

well in my sig, its that thing right below the content of the posts, the first two words are "I collect". that being said, no.

[xstreaminsanity]

well in my sig, its that thing right below the content of the posts, the first two words are "I collect". that being said, no.

Ok, no offense was intended. I simply ask because it seems that your most recent threads deal with "what's a better investment". The reason I worded my comment the way I did is because I very rarely come across collectors who are also looking at using cards for investment purposes. So while it states that you may collect certain teams, players, etc., I was curious if you "collected" them to invest in them. In my personal opinion (and I could be in the slight minority here) one cannot collect if they're thinking of the potential investment. Yes, some may worry about "what happens if I lose my job and I have to sell these, how much could I get for them" but at the same time, most collectors see that as a last resort. Most collectors collect because of some intangible connection to that team/player. Again, no offense intended.

[AlexRafco]

Ok, no offense was intended. I simply ask because it seems that your most recent threads deal with "what's a better investment". The reason I worded my comment the way I did is because I very rarely come across collectors who are also looking at using cards for investment purposes. So while it states that you may collect certain teams, players, etc., I was curious if you "collected" them to invest in them. In my personal opinion (and I could be in the slight minority here) one cannot collect if they're thinking of the potential investment. Yes, some may worry about "what happens if I lose my job and I have to sell these, how much could I get for them" but at the same time, most collectors see that as a last resort. Most collectors collect because of some intangible connection to that team/player. Again, no offense intended.

only my basketball threads include investment questions, as I said I really don't collect basketball