10 Career-Defining Grant Hill Cards – Instant PC
One of the most popular players of the 1990s, Grant Hill put together a Hall of Fame career over the course of 18 NBA seasons spent with the Detroit Pistons, Orlando Magic, Phoenix Suns and Los Angeles Clippers. His numbers might have looked even better if not for an ankle injury that robbed him of his explosiveness and cost him the better part of four seasons in his prime.
He made a smooth transition from lead superstar to role player later in his career, serving as a key member of the Suns team that reached the Western Conference Finals during the 2009-10 season.
All told, there are more than 5,000 Grant Hill cards, according to the Beckett database.
So where does one begin putting together a Grant Hill PC?
The following 10 cards serve as an excellent representation of his playing career and footprint on the hobby, making them a great place to start.
1994 Classic #4 Grant Hill
Hill won a national title during his freshman and sophomore seasons, and when Christian Laettner left for the NBA following the 1991-92 season, he stepped into the lead role on the Blue Devils roster as a junior and senior. He was a two-time All-American and averaged 17.4 points, 6.9 rebounds and 5.2 assists per game during his senior year.
He has a handful of pre-NBA cards in 1994 collegiate products, including the 1994 Classic set where he is the most valuable base card in the set along with University of California point guard Jason Kidd.
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1994-95 Finest #240 Grant Hill RC
The Detroit Pistons selected Hill with the No. 3 overall pick in the 1994 NBA draft, behind Purdue big man Glenn Robinson and California point guard Jason Kidd. He won Rookie of the Year during the 1994-95 season, averaging 19.9 points, 6.4 rebounds and 5.0 assists for a Pistons team that won just 28 games.
He has 15 different Rookie Cards and his inclusion in the 1993-94 Finest set is by far the most sought after of the bunch. At a time when parallels and autographs were more an abstract idea than then norm, the ultra-premium product line from Topps was the cream of the crop.
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1995-96 Stadium Club Beam Team #B19 Grant Hill
In his second NBA season, Hill averaged 20.2 points, a career-high 9.8 rebounds and 6.9 assists, and the Detroit Pistons improved to 46 wins to reach the playoffs for the first time in four years.
The Stadium Club Beam Team cards were a hot commodity in the 90s, and they have held their value as well as any inserts from that era. Hill is part of the Series 2 portion of the checklist, and the Series 2 cards were a much tougher pull than their Series 1 alternatives at 1:36 hobby packs and 1:72 retail packs.
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1995-96 Ultra USA Basketball #2 Grant Hill
Following his stellar second season in Detroit, Hill suited up for Team USA in the 1996 Olympics. He averaged 9.7 points per game, a total that trailed only Charles Barkley (12.4), David Robinson (12.0), Reggie Miller (11.4) and Scottie Pippen (11.0) on an experienced, star-studded roster that went 8-0 and took home the gold medal.
A wide variety of different sets had Team USA cards leading up to the Olympics, and the 1995-96 Ultra insert set is among the best-looking of the bunch with a stars and stripes border around an action shot in Team USA apparel.
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1996-97 Collector’s Choice Mini-Cards #M25 Bobby Hurley/Christian Laettner/Grant Hill
The trio of Hill, Christian Laettner and Bobby Hurley won back-to-back NCAA titles at Duke in 1991 and 1992, and while Hill went on to have far and away the best NBA career of the three, he was the young up-and-comer on those championship teams.
The trio shared a card in the 1996-97 Collector’s Choice set, which featured one three-on-one mini card per pack. It’s a low-cost addition that should be a part of any Hill or Duke fan’s collection.
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1999-00 Metal #142 Grant Hill
Hill had the best scoring season of his career during the 1999-00 season, averaging 25.4 points per game to trail only Shaquille O’Neal (29.7) and Allen Iverson (28.4) in that category. It would also be his final season in Detroit, as he was traded to the Orlando Magic in a sign-and-trade deal for Ben Wallace and Chucky Atkins prior to the 2000-01 campaign.
It feels like a must to get at least one Metal card onto this list, and the 1999-00 option is as good as any to serve as a book end to his time with the Pistons.
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2000-01 Upper Deck Game Jerseys 2 #GHH Grant Hill
The Orlando Magic added Hill and up-and-coming star Tracy McGrady on matching seven-year, $92.8 million contracts prior to the 2000-01 campaign, but they improved by just two wins over the previous season and were ousted in the first round of the playoffs.
Most early release 2000-01 sets still pictured Hill as a member of the Pistons, while others settled for posed photos of him in his new jersey. The 2000-01 Upper Deck Game Jerseys patch insert took it one step further and gave you a piece of said jersey, and it stands up as one of his better inaugural Magic cards.
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2004-05 SkyBox Autographics #40 Grant Hill
Injuries derailed Hill’s time in Orlando and he played just 200 games over the life of his seven-year contract. That included missing the entire 2003-04 season recovering from ankle surgery, and playing just 47 total games in the three years prior. He returned for the 2004-05 season rejuvenated, averaging 19.7 points and earning the seventh and final All-Star selection of his career.
The 2004-05 SkyBox Autographics release is one of the best uses of facsimile autographs in a base set, and the design has held up well over the roughly 20 years since it first hit shelves.
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2009-10 Panini #284 Grant Hill
Following his disappointing tenure in Orlando, Hill signed a one-year, $1.83 million with the Phoenix Suns prior to the 2009-10 season, averaging 11.3 points in 30.0 minutes per game on a team that also included Steve Nash, Amar’e Stoudemire and Jason Richardson and went on to win 54 games and reach the Western Conference finals.
The 2009-10 Panini set was the company’s first retail-only basketball product, and with a $1.99 per pack price point it was geared toward a younger audience. The base set featured an ultra-clean design, and it’s something of a unique low-end product stacked up against what Panini is releasing these days.
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2012-13 Panini Prizm #54 Grant Hill
After five productive seasons with the Suns, Hill played his final NBA season with the Los Angeles Clippers during the 2012-13 campaign at the age of 40. He was used sparingly, averaging 3.2 points and 15.1 minutes in 29 contests to wrap up his NBA career.
He ranks in the top 100 all-time in NBA history in points (17,137, 99th), assists (4,252, 100th), steals (1,248, 84th), triple-doubles (29, 17th) and win shares (99.9, 89th), and was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2018.
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